Walter Bayley Madeley ( Woolwich, England, 28 July 1873 – Boksburg, South Africa, 12 May 1947) was a leader of the South African Labour Party and a cabinet minister.

Background

Madeley was born in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and got his schooling at Bombay Cathedral High School in India. In 1889, he became an apprentice at the Woolwich Arsenal. In 1896 he immigrated to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

where he was a fitter in a mine on the Rand. He joined the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and took part in various strikes. He was also the first vice-president of the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

Trades Council, but was one of five of its leaders sacked by

De Beers The De Beers Group is a South African–British corporation that specializes in the diamond industry, including mining, exploitation, retail, inscription, grading, trading and industrial diamond manufacturing. The company is active in open-pi ...

for their trade union activism. This led him to start giving public speeches, in opposition to

victimisation Victimisation ( or victimization) is the state or process of being victimised or becoming a victim. The field that studies the process, rates, incidence, effects, and prevalence of victimisation is called victimology. Peer victimisation Peer ...

. He relocated to the

East Rand The East Rand is a major urban area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is the urban eastern part of Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. The region extends from Alberton in the west to ...

to find work, but was repeatedly victimised, and was compelled to start his own business in order to make a living. Madeley was soon considered a leading figure in the Labour Party because of his exceptional ability. In the 1910 general election, he was first elected to the

House of Assembly of South Africa A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

as a Labour MP. He represented the districts of Springs (1910-1915), then Benoni (1915-1945). J.B.M. Hertzog's National Party formed a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

with Labour following the 1924 election in order to oust

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as P ...

South African Party The South African Party (, ) was a political party that existed in the Union of South Africa from 1911 to 1934. History The outline and foundation for the party was realized after the election of a 'South African party' in the 1910 South Af ...

government. In November 1925, Madeley joined the cabinet as minister of post and telegraph services and public works. Even as minister, he advocated socialist policies such as

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

of the means of production, to the embarrassment of his National Party colleagues. In 1928 he received, against the express wishes of Hertzog, a delegation of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union, an unrecognized union which had Black members and grieved the working conditions of Black employees in his department. Hertzog asked him to resign, but when he refused, Hertzog dropped him from the cabinet. This created a rift within the Labour Party whose leader,

Frederic Creswell Colonel Frederic Hugh Page Creswell DSO (13 November 1866 – 25 August 1948) was a Labour Party politician in South Africa. He was Minister of Defence from 30 June 1924 to 29 March 1933. Early life and family The son of Edmund Creswell, Dep ...

, supported Hertzog and remained in the government while Madeley's faction went in opposition and became known as "National Council Labour". The split continued until the 1933 election when Creswell's faction dissolved into Hertozg's National Party leaving Madeley to become undisputed leader of the Labour Party. With the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939, the Labour Party voted against the Prime Minister Hertzog's motion of neutrality and supported

, whose party had entered into coalition with Hertzog in 1934 to form the United Party with Smuts as deputy prime minister. Hertzog was forced to resign, and Smuts became prime minister for the duration of the war. Labour entered the wartime coalition government and Madeley served as Minister of Labour until the party left the coalition at the end of the war in 1945, he also served as minister of social affairs from 1939 to 1943. Madeley resigned as party leader in 1946 and died the next year.

References

Sources

* DJ Potgieter, ''Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa'', Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou) 1972. * BM Schoeman, ''Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976'', Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies 1977 * Peter Alexander, ''Workers, War & the Origins of Apartheid: Labour and Politics in South Africa, 1939-1948'', James Currey Publishers, 2000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Madeley, Walter 1873 births 1947 deaths Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa) Government ministers of South Africa South African people of English descent South African trade unionists Labour Party (South Africa) politicians British people in colonial India British emigrants to the Cape Colony