Thomas Williams, Baron Williams of Barnburgh, PC (18 March 1888 – 29 March 1967 [1]) was a British coal miner who became a Labour Party politician. [2]
Born in Blackwell, Derbyshire, [3] Williams grew up in Swinton in Yorkshire, and began work in 1899 in Kilnhurst colliery. [3] He became involved in trade unionism and joined the Independent Labour Party, switching briefly to the British Socialist Party during World War I before joining the Labour Party. In 1918, he was elected as a Labour member of the Bolton-upon-Dearne Urban District Council.
He was elected at the 1922 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Don Valley, [1] [4] [5] and held the seat until he stepped down at the 1959 general election. [6]
In the First Labour Government, from January to October 1924, Williams was Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Noel Buxton, the Minister of Agriculture. [2] In the Second Labour Government from 1929 to 1931, he was PPS to the Minister of Labour, Margaret Bondfield. [2]
Williams first held ministerial office in Winston Churchill's wartime Coalition Government, when he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1940 to 1945, [2] serving under the Conservative minister Robert Hudson. [3] He was made a Privy Counsellor in August 1941. [7] In Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government, he was Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1945 to 1951, [2] most notably steering the Agriculture Act 1947 through the House of Commons. [8] After Labour lost the 1951 general election he was the opposition spokesperson on Agriculture until 1959. [2]
After his retirement from the House of Commons in 1959, he was created a life peer on 2 February 1961 taking the title Baron Williams of Barnburgh, of Barnburgh in the West Riding of the County of York. [9] [10]
His autobiography, in which he gives an account of his life since childhood, was published in 1965 with a foreword by Clement Attlee. [11]
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Thomas Williams, Baron Williams of Barnburgh, PC (18 March 1888 – 29 March 1967 [1]) was a British coal miner who became a Labour Party politician. [2]
Born in Blackwell, Derbyshire, [3] Williams grew up in Swinton in Yorkshire, and began work in 1899 in Kilnhurst colliery. [3] He became involved in trade unionism and joined the Independent Labour Party, switching briefly to the British Socialist Party during World War I before joining the Labour Party. In 1918, he was elected as a Labour member of the Bolton-upon-Dearne Urban District Council.
He was elected at the 1922 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Don Valley, [1] [4] [5] and held the seat until he stepped down at the 1959 general election. [6]
In the First Labour Government, from January to October 1924, Williams was Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Noel Buxton, the Minister of Agriculture. [2] In the Second Labour Government from 1929 to 1931, he was PPS to the Minister of Labour, Margaret Bondfield. [2]
Williams first held ministerial office in Winston Churchill's wartime Coalition Government, when he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1940 to 1945, [2] serving under the Conservative minister Robert Hudson. [3] He was made a Privy Counsellor in August 1941. [7] In Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government, he was Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1945 to 1951, [2] most notably steering the Agriculture Act 1947 through the House of Commons. [8] After Labour lost the 1951 general election he was the opposition spokesperson on Agriculture until 1959. [2]
After his retirement from the House of Commons in 1959, he was created a life peer on 2 February 1961 taking the title Baron Williams of Barnburgh, of Barnburgh in the West Riding of the County of York. [9] [10]
His autobiography, in which he gives an account of his life since childhood, was published in 1965 with a foreword by Clement Attlee. [11]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)