peterl
Green
Congratulations President Trump
Posts: 8,468 
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Post by peterl on Sept 29, 2021 19:28:52 GMT
At a meeting held at the Spiritualist Meeting Rooms, Bond Street, Dewsbury on the 21st of April, the minutes of the previous meeting revealed a row between the ILP and the District Trades and Labour council. Surprised they didn't have the minutes of the next meeting. At least the meeting wasn't cancelled due to unforeseen circustances! |
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Post by finsobruce on Sept 29, 2021 19:36:14 GMT
Surprised they didn't have the minutes of the next meeting. At least the meeting wasn't cancelled due to unforeseen circustances! There is a famous tv clip (somewhere) of a French conference on clairvoyance where an English reporter asks if there will be another one next year, to which the spokesman responds "We don't know yet". |
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 12, 2021 19:12:44 GMT
In 1850 the letters page of the North British Daily Mail published a letter commenting on the "unseemly squabbles that have recently taken place on the council board (in Leith)".
It particularly noted the attempts to expel one Councillor Wallace from the board calling it "ludicrous in the extreme , and can only proceeed from the policy of a certain legal functionary, well known to the worthy denizens of Leith"
It commented that " Perhaps there is not, among the whole precincts of the town a more respectable tradesman and patriotic citizen than Mr Wallace", concluding that since he was born here and had been involved in local affairs for forty years he could fairly be called " A Leither out and out".
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Post by gwynthegriff on Oct 12, 2021 19:19:02 GMT
In 1850 the letters page of the North British Daily Mail published a letter commenting on the "unseemly squabbles that have recently taken place on the council board (in Leith)". It particularly noted the attempts to expel one Councillor Wallace from the board calling it "ludicrous in the extreme , and can only proceeed from the policy of a certain legal functionary, well known to the worthy denizens of Leith" It commented that " Perhaps there is not, among the whole precincts of the town a more respectable tradesman and patriotic citizen than Mr Wallace", concluding that since he was born here and had been involved in local affairs for forty years he could fairly be called " A Leither out and out". A troublesome Cllr Wallace ? In Scotland ? Surely not.  |
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Post by gwynthegriff on Oct 12, 2021 19:35:41 GMT
In March 1883 the behaviour of Cllr Jas. Carey was discussed by Dublin Town Council. The Clerk suggested Counsel's opinion should be sought on his eligibility to continue in office as Cllr Carey had admitted he was "guilty of felonies".
Cllr Webb moved he be removed from office given "Carey had admitted his guilt of conspiracy to murder". This, he felt, meant Carey "was not a fit person to continue as a member of the Council".
Well, indeed.
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 12, 2021 19:37:22 GMT
In 1850 the letters page of the North British Daily Mail published a letter commenting on the "unseemly squabbles that have recently taken place on the council board (in Leith)". It particularly noted the attempts to expel one Councillor Wallace from the board calling it "ludicrous in the extreme , and can only proceeed from the policy of a certain legal functionary, well known to the worthy denizens of Leith" It commented that " Perhaps there is not, among the whole precincts of the town a more respectable tradesman and patriotic citizen than Mr Wallace", concluding that since he was born here and had been involved in local affairs for forty years he could fairly be called " A Leither out and out". A troublesome Cllr Wallace ? In Scotland ? Surely not. More sinned against than sinning if the letter is to be believed! The letter went on to advocate the separation of the offices of town clerk and chief law officer of the council, which were apparently combined at this point. |
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 12, 2021 19:40:05 GMT
In other news there were very rowdy local elections in Falkirk in 1907. There was a dispute over the amount of tobacco bought for the fever hospital.
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neilm
Non-Aligned
Posts: 25,023
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Post by neilm on Oct 12, 2021 19:58:13 GMT
In March 1883 the behaviour of Cllr Jas. Carey was discussed by Dublin Town Council. The Clerk suggested Counsel's opinion should be sought on his eligibility to continue in office as Cllr Carey had admitted he was "guilty of felonies". Cllr Webb moved he be removed from office given "Carey had admitted his guilt of conspiracy to murder". This, he felt, meant Carey "was not a fit person to continue as a member of the Council". Well, indeed. Is Jas. a contraction of Jason or James here? I know we've had a discussion on name shortenings before. |
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Post by Arthur Figgis on Oct 12, 2021 20:02:11 GMT
In March 1883 the behaviour of Cllr Jas. Carey was discussed by Dublin Town Council. The Clerk suggested Counsel's opinion should be sought on his eligibility to continue in office as Cllr Carey had admitted he was "guilty of felonies". Cllr Webb moved he be removed from office given "Carey had admitted his guilt of conspiracy to murder". This, he felt, meant Carey "was not a fit person to continue as a member of the Council". Well, indeed. Is Jas. a contraction of Jason or James here? I know we've had a discussion on name shortenings before. Jaspreet? |
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 12, 2021 20:26:26 GMT
In the issue of the newspaper Justice published on the 9th of September 1893 a helpful introduction was given about the state of the ILP in the city of Aberdeen: "...I am speaking of the Aberdeen ILP which is peculiarly independent in respect that it is independent of every other independent Labour party, and also that it is composed of individuals, who for the most part are independent of each other".
Just over a year later the guest speaker at the Aberdeen branch was Mr A K Donald, who had, with a certain inevitability, recently been expelled from the London district of the ILP.
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zoe
Conservative
Posts: 637
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Post by zoe on Oct 13, 2021 12:24:50 GMT
In March 1883 the behaviour of Cllr Jas. Carey was discussed by Dublin Town Council. The Clerk suggested Counsel's opinion should be sought on his eligibility to continue in office as Cllr Carey had admitted he was "guilty of felonies". Jasper or Jason? Cllr Webb moved he be removed from office given "Carey had admitted his guilt of conspiracy to murder". This, he felt, meant Carey "was not a fit person to continue as a member of the Council". Well, indeed. Is Jas. a contraction of Jason or James here? I know we've had a discussion on name shortenings before. |
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zoe
Conservative
Posts: 637
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Post by zoe on Oct 13, 2021 12:25:49 GMT
In March 1883 the behaviour of Cllr Jas. Carey was discussed by Dublin Town Council. The Clerk suggested Counsel's opinion should be sought on his eligibility to continue in office as Cllr Carey had admitted he was "guilty of Cllr Webb moved he be removed from office given "Carey had admitted his guilt of conspiracy to murder". This, he felt, meant Carey "was not a fit person to continue as a member of the Council". Well, indeed. Is Jas. a contraction of Jason or James here? I know we've had a discussion on name shortenings before. Jasper or Jason? |
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zoe
Conservative
Posts: 637
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Post by zoe on Oct 13, 2021 12:26:16 GMT
In March 1883 the behaviour of Cllr Jas. Carey was discussed by Dublin Town Council. The Clerk suggested Counsel's opinion should be sought on his eligibility to continue in office as Cllr Carey had admitted he was "guilty of Cllr Webb moved he be removed from office given "Carey had admitted his guilt of conspiracy to murder". This, he felt, meant Carey "was not a fit person to continue as a member of the Council". Well, indeed. Is Jas. a contraction of Jason or James here? I know we've had a discussion on name shortenings before. Jasper? |
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Post by Rutlander on Oct 13, 2021 12:42:13 GMT
Is Jas. a contraction of Jason or James here? I know we've had a discussion on name shortenings before. Jasper? Jas. is (was?) a common contraction of James. James Carey turned queen's evidence. His evidence resulted in the execution by hanging of five of his associates in the Phoenix Park murders. He was shot dead the following year. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Carey_(Fenian) |
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 17, 2021 20:39:23 GMT
To add to those expelled and excluded I've been looking for switches of party among local councillors of long ago but they were apparently far less frequent back in the day or at least much more difficult to find. The term 'switches' produces lots of reports of local worthies and the Christmas lights, 'defects' to councillors discussing defects in public buildings
Excitingly (or so I thought) I tracked one down to November 1899 as the Bexhill on Sea Observer ran the inflammatory sub head "Councillor Thomas joins the enemy". But Cllr Thomas had not made the move from Liberal to Socialist or Tory to Liberal, but merely switched his vote on the important matter of whether Bexhill should build itself a pier. Controversy arose when it emerged that the parliamentary agent was to be given power to essentially move the proposed location of the pier (or any other change to the plan) . Cllr Thomas said that "any pier should be between the Coastguard station and the sea road ....And if we cannot have it where we decided to have it, let someone else have it".
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 17, 2021 21:05:11 GMT
Cllr T H Atherton, elected as an Independent for the Fishwick ward of Preston council in November 1918, joined Labour in January 1920 bringing the Labour group up to nine members.
After sitting as an Independent for twenty years, April 1951 saw Cllr W R Reynolds of Market Harborough UDC join the Conservatives. He stressed that he was still a member of the Ratepayers Association.
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 17, 2021 21:19:50 GMT
In May 1934 Swansea councillor Mr W T Mainwairing Hughes resigned as Vice Chairman of the Swansea Conservative and Unionist Association and "joined the British Fascists" saying that he could not continue to hold an office which "implied support of a policy which is a complete negation of all that the Unionist party once stood for". In November he said that "The public is too apt to try substitutes for coal and it should be the duty of the coal trade to educate them to the fact that there is nothing in the world to compare to a real coal fire". He was speaking at the first annual dinner of the Swansea and District Retail Coal Merchants Association.
In 1930 he had opposed proposals to convert the heating of the local asylum from coal to electricity. In 1938 he was one of four councillors who attempted to attend a special meeting of the council discussing the council's "electricity undertaking". An initital site visit was followed by the meeting being 'abandoned' and the other councillors setting off for the Town Hall in their cars, pursued by Hughes and other councillors in their cars. When they refused to leave the meeting as convened in the town clerk's office, the police were called. Hughes was quoted as saying "Things have come to a pretty pass when the police are sent for to keep us from our business"
In 1936 a correpondent calling themselves "Southend" wrote to the Western Mail pointing out that Hughes and other councillors were publicly opposing the re-election of some sitting councillors, although all were nominally Independents (no councillors labelled Conservatives or Liberals on the council at this point)
By 1940 when he was called up for active service he was described as the Deputy Leader of the Independent group on the council. He had served with the Royal Field Artillery in the First World War.
He was the Mayor of Swansea in 1952-3.
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ColinJ
Labour
Living in the Past
Posts: 2,126
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Post by ColinJ on Oct 18, 2021 7:52:02 GMT
In May 1934 Swansea councillor Mr W T Mainwairing Hughes resigned as Vice Chairman of the Swansea Conservative and Unionist Association and "joined the British Fascists" saying that he could not continue to hold an office which "implied support of a policy which is a complete negation of all that the Unionist party once stood for". In November he said that "The public is too apt to try substitutes for coal and it should be the duty of the coal trade to educate them to the fact that there is nothing in the world to compare to a real coal fire". He was speaking at the first annual dinner of the Swansea and District Retail Coal Merchants Association.
In 1930 he had opposed proposals to convert the heating of the local asylum from coal to electricity. In 1938 he was one of four councillors who attempted to attend a special meeting of the council discussing the council's "electricity undertaking". An initital site visit was followed by the meeting being 'abandoned' and the other councillors setting off for the Town Hall in their cars, pursued by Hughes and other councillors in their cars. When they refused to leave the meeting as convened in the town clerk's office, the police were called. Hughes was quoted as saying "Things have come to a pretty pass when the police are sent for to keep us from our business" In 1936 a correpondent calling themselves "Southend" wrote to the Western Mail pointing out that Hughes and other councillors were publicly opposing the re-election of some sitting councillors, although all were nominally Independents (no councillors labelled Conservatives or Liberals on the council at this point)
By 1940 when he was called up for active service he was described as the Deputy Leader of the Independent group on the council. He had served with the Royal Field Artillery in the First World War.
He was the Mayor of Swansea in 1952-3.
Cllr Mainwairing Hughes must have dropped his fascistic tendencies to become first citizen of Swansea by 1952. Perhaps the most interesting case of a defection from the British Union of Fascists is the case of Charles Wegg-Prosser. In 1937 he was a young Catholic lawyer whose religion was calculated by the BUF to appeal to the Irish vote. He was chosen to contest the Limehouse division of Stepney at the LCC election, and secured 2,086 votes. According to Colin Cross's book The Fascists in Britain three months after the LCC election Mosley wrote to him inviting him to be a BUF parliamentary candidate. Wegg-Prosser replied with "a denunciation of Mosley and all his works". The letter was printed as a pamphlet by the Jewish Board of Deputies, and included stinging rebukes, such as: "You [Mosley] introduce a movement imitating foreign dictators, you run it as a soulless despotism. .... You give the people a false answer and unloose the lowest mob passion." Wegg-Prosser applied to join Labour and after a year's probation was admitted, and became the Labour candidate in South Paddington in 1945, 1950, 1951 and 1955. His wikipedia entry is here. |
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Oct 18, 2021 8:34:13 GMT
Charles Wegg-Prosser later became a nationwide speaker against fascism. He settled in South Paddington where he became a Labour councillor, and set up a solicitor's practice which is still going: www.wgs.co.ukI know Stephen and Vicky, his son and daughter-in-law. And many people have heard of Ben Wegg-Prosser, who worked for Peter Mandelson from leaving university. Stephen Wegg-Prosser was running the family firm and acted for Peter Mandelson when he bought the house in Bayswater which gave him so many problems later. |
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 25, 2021 12:34:55 GMT
And back to Aberdeen. Not to be outdone by the ILP the SDF expelled a councillor in 1897. Councillor Cooper was listed as having committed two serious 'crimes' 1. He supported J L Clark at the recent School Board election contrary to branch policy. 2. He attended civic functions. Now you might think this was a duty for a local councillor but no, these functions "representing as they do the high water mark of modern gluttony" and "his disgraceful behaviour at same...retards the progress of the Socialist movement in Aberdeen".
Despite Cllr Cooper's support Clark (a solicitor) failed to get elected. A report of a meeting he addressed at the school in Woodside found Mr Clark declaring that he did not consider the contest to be between candidates of the established and free churches and that "he did not believe in sectarianism in a public board or anywhere else" (Applause). He was in favour of free books if parliament legislated for these and gave a grant to their purchase and when questioned said he was in favour "of all schools in the city being free".
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