British politician
George Nicoll Barnes
CH
(2 January 1859 ? 21 April 1940) was a British
Labour Party
politician and a
Leader of the Labour Party
(1910?1911).
Early life
[
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]
Barnes was born on 2 January 1859 in
Lochee
,
Dundee
, the second of five sons of James Barnes, a skilled engineer and mill manager from
Yorkshire
, and his wife, Catherine Adam Langlands. His brother T. B. Barnes was also active in politics, later becoming a Labour Party councillor in Dundee.
[1]
The family moved back to England and settled at
Ponders End
in
Middlesex
, where his father managed a
jute
mill in which George himself began working at the age of eleven, after attending a church school at
Enfield Highway
. He then spent two years as an
engineering apprentice
, first at Powis James of
Lambeth
then at Parker's foundry,
Dundee
.
After finishing his apprenticeship he worked for two years at the
Vickers
shipyard in
Barrow
before returning once again to the
London
area, where he experienced unemployment during the slump of 1879. He had a number of short-term jobs before settling for eight years at
Lucas and Aird
in
Fulham
.
Trade union and political involvement
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During his time in London, Barnes became an active member of the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers
. He stood for the general secretaryship of the union in 1895, but was narrowly defeated by the incumbent,
John Anderson
. However, the following year, Anderson was dismissed for "wilful neglect of duty", and Barnes easily beat him in a new election.
[2]
Barnes was a committed member of the
co-operative movement
, and a keen if moderate socialist, which led him to join the
Independent Labour Party
on its foundation in 1893.
Parliamentary career
[
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]
At the
1895 general election
he stood unsuccessfully for the
Independent Labour Party
in
Rochdale
. He was elected as
MP
for
Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown
at the
1906 general election
for the Labour Party, becoming one of the first two Labour MPs to be elected in
Scotland
.
[3]
[4]
He sat for Blackfriars and Hutchesontown until the constituency was abolished for the
1918 general election
, and thereafter sat for
Glasgow Gorbals
(which covered the same area) until he stood down at the
1922 election
.
From high office to expulsion
[
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]
Barnes was Leader of the Labour Party from 14 February 1910 to 6 February 1911. As of 2021
[update]
, he is the shortest-serving Labour leader, remaining in the post for only 11 months. He was
Minister of Pensions
(1916?1917), rising to
Minister without Portfolio
as one of
David Lloyd George
's powerful five member war cabinet (1917?1920). In 1918 the Labour Party decided to leave the
Lloyd George Coalition
but Barnes refused to resign. As a result, he was expelled from the Labour Party, and with the
British Workers League
founded the pro-coalition
National Democratic and Labour Party
, many of whose candidates were elected on the
Coalition Coupon
in December 1918. He also stood in 1918 under the
Coalition Labour
title. As a reward for his loyalty, he was a participant at the Paris Peace Conference, he was instrumental in the creation of the
International Labour Organization
(ILO),
[5]
[6]
he was a signatory to the Treaty of Versailles, he is featured in William Orpen's famous painting of the treaty signing
(seated second from the right)
, and he was lionised in the iconic painting, "Statesmen of World War I"
(standing directly above Winston Churchill)
.
Later life
[
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]
After resigning as a minister early in 1920 he played no further significant role in
British politics
. In March 1920 he was appointed a
Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour
for his ministerial services. He quit politics when the Labour Party announced that it would again field a candidate against him in the
general election of 1922
. As it was clear that the tide would turn strongly towards the official Labour candidates throughout Glasgow, and as he had no wish to serve in any other party, he decided to withdraw from his seat.
Barnes had a long and active retirement, continuing to support the
International Labour Organization
, serving as chairman of the Co-operative Printing Society, and publishing several books, including his autobiography,
From Workshop to War Cabinet
(1923), and a
History of the International Labour Office
(1926). He was a pleasant-looking, mild-mannered man, but little is known about his private life. In 1882 he had married Jessie, daughter of Thomas Langlands, with whom he had two sons and a daughter; his youngest son was killed in action in
France
while serving as a Second Lieutenant with the
Gordon Highlanders
during the
First World War
.
[7]
In 1932, he became the first president of the pacific organization
The New Commonwealth
. He died in 1940 at his London home, and was buried in Fulham Cemetery.
References
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Bibliography
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External links
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