Thomas Charles Morris

Last updated

Thomas Charles Morris, often known as "Top Cat" Morris, was a Welsh trade unionist and socialist activist, who served on the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party.

Born in Llanidloes, Morris began working as a railway signalman and joined the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR). He served as secretary of the union's Ystrad branch for eight years, and served on the union's executive council from 1916 until 1918, during which period the union secured a maximum eight-hour working day for railway staff. [1] [2]

Morris was also active in the Labour Party, serving as president of the Rhondda Borough Labour Party for six years, president of the Pentre Trades and Labour Council for two years, and as editor of the Rhondda Socialist for two years. He stood unsuccessfully for the party in Reading at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, taking 29.8% of the vote and second place. [2]

In 1919, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party was reconstituted, and Morris became one of the first representatives of a Constituency Labour Party to serve on the NEC. Later in the year, he became the party's full-time organiser for Wales, and so did not restand for the position. [2]

Related Research Articles

The National Executive Committee (NEC) is the governing body of the UK Labour Party, setting the overall strategic direction of the party and policy development. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party, constituency Labour parties (CLP), and socialist societies, as well as ex officio members such as the party Leader and Deputy Leader and several of their appointees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vernon Hartshorn</span> British politician

Vernon Hartshorn was a Welsh trade unionist and Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1918 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhondda (UK Parliament constituency)</span> UK Parliamentary constituency, 1974–2024

Rhondda was a constituency in Wales in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was represented since its 1974 recreation by the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Heffer</span> British politician

Eric Samuel Heffer was a British socialist politician. He was Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton from 1964 until his death. Due to his experience as a professional joiner, he made a speciality of the construction industry and its employment practices, but was also concerned with trade union issues in general. He changed his view on the European Common Market from being an outspoken supporter to an outspoken opponent, and served a brief period in government in the mid-1970s. His later career was dominated by his contribution to debates within the Labour Party and he defended the Liverpool City Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bessie Braddock</span> British Labour politician (1899–1970)

Elizabeth Margaret Braddock was a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Liverpool Exchange division from 1945 to 1970. She was a member of Liverpool County Borough Council from 1930 to 1961. Although she never held office in government, she won a national reputation for her forthright campaigns in connection with housing, public health and other social issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Horner (trade unionist)</span> Welsh trade union leader and communist politician

Arthur Lewis Horner was a Welsh trade union leader and communist politician. During his periods of office as President of the South Wales Miners Federation (SWMF) from 1936, and as General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1946, he became one of the most prominent and influential communists in British public life.

Sir Rhys Rhys-Williams, 1st Baronet,, born Rhys Williams, was a British Liberal Party politician from Wales. He later left the Liberal Party for the Conservatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iorwerth Thomas</span>

Iorwerth Rhys Thomas was a Welsh Labour Party politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Stanton</span> British politician

Charles Butt Stanton was a British politician, who served as an Member of Parliament (MP) from 1915 to 1922. He entered Parliament by winning one of the two seats for Merthyr Tydfil at a by-election on 25 November 1915 caused by the death of Labour Party founder, Keir Hardie. After the two-member Merthyr Tydfil seat was divided into two single member seats, Stanton focused on the Aberdare division, which he won at the 1918 general election, but lost at the 1922 general election.

Percy Morris was a British railway clerk, trade unionist and politician who became Mayor of Swansea and represented the town in Parliament. He specialised in railway issues in Parliament, and after being defeated for re-election, he served on public boards in the field of transport and social security.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Watts Morgan</span> Welsh politician (1867–1933)

David Watts Morgan,, who later in life hyphenated his name to Watts-Morgan, was a Welsh trade unionist, a Labour politician, and a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1918 to 1933.

The 1915 Merthyr Tydfil by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 25 November 1915 for the British House of Commons constituency of Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorganshire, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mick Antoniw</span> Welsh politician (born 1954)

Mick Antoniw is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician, serving as Counsel General for Wales since 2021, having previously served in the position from 2016 to 2017. He previously served as Minister for the Constitution from 2021 to 2024. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Pontypridd since 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Van Patten</span> American architect (1852–1918)

Simon Philip Van Patten (1852–1918) was an American socialist political activist prominent during the latter half of the 1870s and the first half of the 1880s. Van Patten is best remembered for being named the first Corresponding Secretary of the Workingmen's Party of the United States in 1876 and for heading it and its successor organization, the Socialist Labor Party of America, for the next six years. In 1883 Van Patten mysteriously disappeared, with his friends reporting him as a potential suicide to law enforcement authorities. He later turned up as a government employee, however, having abandoned radical politics in favor of stable employment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Party (England and Wales)</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

The Socialist Party is a Trotskyist political party in England and Wales. Founded in 1997, it had formerly been Militant, an entryist group in the Labour Party from 1964 to 1991, which became Militant Labour from 1991 until 1997.

The Militant tendency, or Militant, was a Trotskyist group in the British Labour Party, organised around the Militant newspaper, which launched in 1964. According to Michael Crick, its politics were based on the thoughts of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and "virtually nobody else".

William John Richard Squance was a Welsh trade unionist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Harrison Bell</span>

Florence Nightingale Harrison Bell was a British socialist and suffragist activist.

Ivor Hael Thomas was a British trade unionist and socialist activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Lewis (politician)</span> Welsh politician and activist

Richard James Lewis was a Welsh politician and co-operative activist.

References

  1. Williams, Chris (1996). Democratic Rhondda. University of Wales Press. p. 77. ISBN   0708313345.
  2. 1 2 3 The Labour Who's Who. London: Labour Publishing Company. 1927. p. 119.