London County Council (LCC) Progressive Party

The London Progressive Party

The Progressive Party in London was formed in 1888 by Liberal’s , Trade Unionists, Fabians and Socialists. It contested the first London County Council (LCC) election’s in 1889 and secured around 70 of the 118 seats.

It was also successful at following the 1892 election, Eventually winning six elections in a row before losing control in 1907 to the Municipal Reform Party (run effectively by the Conservative Party) who controlled the council until 1934.

The growth and consolidation of the Progressive Party in East and South London is undoubtedly linked to the rise of the “New Unionism” movement, which evolved from the London Dock strike of August 1889.

However, according to Harry Gosling first real attempt to get Labour men elected to the London County Council was in 1895.

The Labour Group on the London County Council after the 1898 election consisted of

H.R.Taylor, W.C Steadman (Barge builders union) Harry Gosling (Riverboat lighter man) George Dew (Carpenter) John Burns(engineer), Charles Freak (Bootmaker), Will Crooks (Cooper), C. W Bowerman, Ben Cooper (Cigar makers union)

Above picture of Labour Progressive councillors elected in 1892

Harry Gosling stated of the Progressive Party on the LCC, that ....

“The early propaganda of the progressive Party in the London County Council both before my time and in the early years of my membership was as good as anything the Labour Party has been able to do”

“The Progressive Party stood then in municipal matters exactly where the Labour Party does today”

“It had vigor, vision and enthusiasm it believed in a fine and healthily London with fine thorough fares and fine bridges".

“The Progressives were citizens who were honestly progressive in their ideas and did the utmost to put them into practice”

Harry Gosling “Up and Down Stream” 1927

Labour secured control of the London County Council at the elcetion held on 8th March 1934. Labour winning 69 councillors and 11 Aldermen compared to Municiple Reform/Tories 55 Councillors and 9 Aldermen (total membership of LCC 144)

Labour elected Lord Snell as the Chairman of the Council and Mr E. G Culpin as Vice Chairman

Education Chairman Evelyn Lowe, Health Chairman Dr Somerville Hastings

General Purposes Chairman Miss Agnes Dawson,Public Improvements Chairman G Russell-Strauss, Fire Brigade Chairman Mr E. Cruse,Town Planning Chairman H. Berry,Finance Chairman Charles Latham, Parks Chairman R. Coppock

Labour won a by election in Wandsworth Central held on 27th June 1935 taking its councillors to 70 and its majority to 18

Such was the sucess of the Labour administration that Labour never lost control again. In 1965 the London County Council was consumed into the large Greater London Council in 1965 until outrageously abolished by the Tories 1986, it is now the Greater London Assembly.

London County Council (LCC) 1892 elected Progressive/Labour Councillors

Bannerman, J - Hackney South

Barrs, H.H.H. - Clapham

Bassett--Hopkins, A - Newington

Baum, F.C. - Kensington North

Bayley, E - Southwark

Benn, J.W. - Finsbury East

Bott, W.G - Newington

Branch, J - Bethnal Green South West

Bruce, W.W, - Bow & Bromley (Labour Progressive)

Burns, J - Battersea ( John Burns later labour)

Catmur, T - Whitechapel

Charrington, F.N - Mile End

Collins, W.J. - St Pancras West

Cornwall, E, - Fulham

Costelloe, B.F.C. -Chelsea

Crooks, W - Poplar (Will Crooks later Labour)

Dickinson, W.H. - Wandsworth (Deputy Chairman LCC)

Doubleday, W.B - Norwood

Downes, A.W. - Fulham

Earl Roseberry - (Chairman LCC)

Ford, C - Lambeth North

Freak, C - Bethnal Green (Charles Freak Labour Progressive)

Goodman, W - Islington West

Grigsby, W.E. - Islington North

Grosvenor,R - Kennington

Harris,H - Brixton

Harrison,C - Bethnal Green South West

Harvey, G.A. - Lewisham

Hollington, A.J - Mile End

Holmes, G.B - Hackney South

Hubbard, N.W, - Norwood

Hunter, T - Soutwark (Labour Progressive)

Hutton, J - St Pancras South (Vice Chairman LCC)

Jackson, R.S. - Greenwich

Jolly, J.R. - Woolwich (Ind Progressive)

Jones, E - Peckham

Keylock, H -Deptford

Lidgett, G - Greenwich

Lloyd, J - Kensington North

Lord Carrington - St Pacras West

Lord Monkswell - Camberwell

Lyon,R - Peckham

Marsland, J. - Walworth

McCall, J - Hackney North

McDougall, J - Poplar

Mercer, A - St Georges East (Labour Progressive)

Moss,N - Hoxton

Orsman, W.J. - Haggerston

Parkinson,W,C, - Islington North

Pearce, W - Limehouse

Pickersgill. E.H. - Hackney Central

Ponsonby, A.G. - Finsbury Central

Roberts, R - Islington South

Robinson, N - St Pancras East

Rowlands, E.B. - Finsbury Central

Sauders, W - Walworth

Sears, J.T - Camberwell

Smith, F.S - Lambeth North

Smith, W.A. - Chelsea

Steadman,W.C. - Stepney (Later Labour)

Stevens, L - Rotherhithe

Stockbridge, W - Kennington

Tarling, C - Whitechapel

Taylor, S.S. - Brixton

Thornton, J - Bermondsey

Tims, J - Battersea

Torr, J.F - Bethnal Green

Torrance, A.M - Islington East

Ward, H - Hoxton

Webb, S. - Deptford (Sidney Webb- Fabian)

Weir, J.G. - Islington East

Williams, T.H. - St Pancras North

Wood, T.M - Hackney Central

West Middlesex Elections 1919

Labour Success in

West Middlesex 1919

On the 17th of April 1919 representatives of Uxbridge Divisional Labour Party
(which included Hayes) meet at the Assembly hall Yiewsley, to celebrate recent Labour election successes and make a presentation to William Henry Knowles of a “very handsome silver tea service with inscribed silver tray” for his work as Divisional agent to Harry Gosling in the recent (December 1918) General Election.

Councillor Robert W Hudson of Uxbridge was Chairman, also present Mr & Mrs Harry Gosling, County Councillor William Henry Knowles (West Drayton), Councillor Mrs B.A. Chard (Southall), Mr Groundsell (Southall), Councillor Robert William Gunton (Hayes) Councillor H. Ashby (Yiewsley), J. Worsell (Yiewsley). Councillor W. Tulett (Uxbridge and the Uxbridge Labour Party Divisional Secretary, Percy Osbourn Langton (Hayes).

While it had been a shock to the local Labour Party machine(and no doubt, Harry Gosling a high profile candidate) that they had not won the Parliamentary seat in 1918, they had built up an effective electoral machine which paid of in the Middlesex County Council and Urban District Council elections of 1919.

Percy Langton, Labour Party Divisional Secretary stated

“If they made progress at the present rate the Labour party would soon be in complete control of every municipal body within the area.

On Harefield Parish Council they now had three direct representatives of Labour, and two others pledged to support the policy of the party.

At Hayes they had one County Councillor (Ben Smith), two Labour Guardians, and seven Labour councilors out of nine on the Hayes Urban District Council.

At Southall they had a Labour County Councillor in Mr James Culley, two on the Guardians and held their own on Southall Urban District Council.

At Uxbridge Urban District Council they had five Labour Councillors.

At West Drayton three and at Yiewsley in addition to Mr W. H. Knowles as Middlesex County Councillor for Hillingdon district, they had a Labour Guardian and two Labour Councillors on the Urban district Council.

In all they now had thirty five Labour representatives on local and county bodies, as against seventeen last year, an increase of over one hundred per cent”.

Mr W.H. Knowles stated

“That if they were to win (the Constituency) they had got to understand one thing – that it was a composite constituency. They had a residential area, a rural area and an industrial area, and it was most necessary that they had assistance of the people in the residential areas – and all pull together”.

Other speakers included R.W. Gunton, Hayes Labour Party Honorary Organiser, as well as Mr Groundsell, Mr Tulett, Mr H. Ashby and Mrs B. A Chard

NOTE:

HAYES LABOUR COUNCILLORS 1919
J. W Davies; Lancelot Fowler ; Robert W Gunton ; G Manley ; William Rawlings, F Woodard ; Fredrick V Mason

UXBRIDGE LABOUR COUNCILLORS 1919
R.W. Hudson, H.W. Carlo, J C Barnes, W.E. Black, W. Tullett,

YIEWSLEY LABOUR COUNCILLORS 1919
W. Roberts and H. Ashby

HAREFIELD LABOUR COUNCILLORS 1919
Dr Compton, G.M. Winwright, W. Watkins, S.E. Bishop, J. Bryant, and E. T Gregory,

 (Harefield Progressive Councillors) - Field, Jeffrey and Turner)

SOUTHALL LABOUR COUNCILLORS 1919
(to be completed)………

CHESHAM, BUCKS
Labour secure two seats, first ever

WOMEN CANDIDATES AND VOTERS 1919

1919 was the first year women (albeit over 30) could vote in local elections and the first Labour Women candidate to be elected as a Councillor was Mrs B. A Chard at Southall in 1919

Mrs B.A. Chard (Southall) and Mrs L. Groundsell (Southall) were elected to Uxbridge Board of Guardians in 1919

The other women to be elected in 1919 were Mrs E. F. Darlow (topped the poll) and Mrs St Clair Townsend at Rusilip-Northwood UDC

The only other Labour woman candidate was Mrs H.C. Allen who finished bottom of the Uxbridge UDC poll.

The talented Uxbridge Suffragette Society organiser Katherine Ann Raleigh had stood for Uxbridge in 1909 making her one of the first women council candidates in Britain.

Mrs B.A. CHARD

Councillor Mrs B. A Chard came to Southall in 1898, helped found the Women’s Co-Operative Guild and the Women’s Railway (Union) Guild. During the World War 1 she helped women munitions workers, in groups of up to eighty to find accommodation in Hayes and Southall area.

Elected as Southall Labour Councillor in 1919 and onto the Board of Guardians, became Chairman of Southall Urban District Council in 1926

Harry Gosling - Hayes 1918

General Election 1918
 

To the ELECTORS OF THE UXBRIDGE
PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION OF MIDDLESEX.

FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS,

Having been selected by a representative Labour and Trade Union Conference as the Labour candidate for the Uxbridge Division, I now appeal to you for your vote and interest at the. forthcoming General Election.

I endorse the programme of the Labour Party. My outlook- upon the issues of the election is that the Government should accept its inundate from the House of

Commons, representing the entire people of the country, rather than that the Government should impose its mandate upon the freely elected representatives of the people.

In order to obtain the free and unfettered decision of the people of the country, I am entirely in favour of the complete restoration of freedom of speech, publication, travel, residence, and choice of occupation.

I am in favour of complete political democracy; a free House of Commons requires no House of Lords.

I am totally opposed to any form of conscription, military or industrial.

My policy regarding Ireland is one of the fullest possible measure, of Home Rule for the Irish people.

Together with my colleagues in the Labour Movement, I am resolved that just and generous treatment must be accorded to our soldiers and sailors who have borne the brunt of the war, and to their womenfolk and children. I am, moreover, convinced that full provision must be made for the civil war workers discharged from the various munitions factories and war industries during the period of resettlement.

Soldiers, sailors, and all disemployed workmen must be guaranteed work at the current Trade Union rates of their occupations, or full and free maintenance by the State.'

The complete fulfilment of the nation's pledge to the Trade Unionists that their pre-war practices and customs must be unconditionally reintroduced shall have my fullest support.

All monopolies tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The Labour Party policy is not to rob the rich, but to see that the rich do not rob the poor.

Our experience during the war proves that it is essential that the State should 'maintain its control, and should assume ownership of all the national means of transport— road, rail, air, and water. It becomes more and more essential that the State must also assume the ownership and control of the coal and iron mines, together with all other monopolies.

The land belongs of right to the people. Therefore the State must assume ownership and control of that which is the legacy of us all.

I am in favour of a free national system of education, from the elementary school to the university, providing opportunities for the fullest use of the natural abilities of every child. The higher branches of education must no longer be kept a close preserve for the rich.

On the question of the tremendous war indebtedness, I am at one with the Labour 

Party in demanding that the country must pay its way by adjusting taxation strictly according to ability to bear it. I am in favour of the removal of all taxes on food and the institution of a graduated income tax.

The war was a war to end wars, and therefore the peace and security of Europe and the entire world must rest firmly established upon a League of Nations.

Regarding the question of old age pensions, I shall support the reduction of the age and a substantial increase in the amount.

Two important problems which are closely' allied are the questions of housing and health. This country cannot continue to hold a leading place amongst the nations unless we have a radical improvement in the standard of life of the
common people.

The Medical Boards have shown that afar too great proportion of our men were physically unfit for the onerous task of bearing arms. Yet the standard of life

has only been raised to its present position—which is still far too low—by the unceasing efforts of Trade Union and Labour organisations of the country. I am convinced that we must provide hundreds of thousands of well-planned,

well-built, and commodious homes for our people. These questions are of the most vital importance, and must not be delayed.

My energies and efforts have been at the disposal of various forms of public service for 25 years. During the war I have assisted the Government whenever called upon, and have served as a member of the Departmental Committee on the Reception and Employment of Belgian Refugees, the Statutory Committee on War Pensions, the Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy. I am a member of the Port and Transit Executive Committee, the Special Grants

Committee, Ministry of Pensions, the Imperial War Grave Commission, and the Advisory Council to the Board of Trade,

I am quite prepared to continue to place my services at the disposal of the Government, but only as a free and unfettered representative of the people. I appeal to the men and women voters of the Uxbridge Division of Middlesex
to support me, asking during the election only for a fair field and no favour.

Yours sincerely,

Harry Gosling

Published by:

Uxbridge Divisional Labour Party Secretary: Percy Langton, 18 Angel Lane, Hayes, Middlesex

Agent: W. Knowles, 2 Brandville Road, West Drayton, Middlesex

Hayes & Harlington Labour Candiates from1918 -

HAYES LABOUR PARTY

PARLIMENTARY CANDIDATES

1918 Harry Gosling

1920** PPC Captain Frank Goldstone did not stand at 1922

1922 W.J. Brown

1923 Robert Small

1924 Robert Small

1929 Reginald. F. 0. Bridgeman

1931 L.M.Worsnop

1935L.M.Worsnop

1945 Walter H Ayles (Elected)

1950 Walter H Ayles (Elected)

1951 Walter H Ayles (Elected)

1953 Arthur M Skeffington (By Election) (Elected)

1955 A.M.Skeffington (Elected)

1959 A.M Skeffington (Elected)

1964 A.MSkeffington (Elected)

1966 A.M Skeffington (Elected)

1970 A.M.Skeffington (Elected)

1971 Neville Sandleson (By Election) (Elected)

1974 Neville Sandleson (Elected)

1979 Nevile Sandleson (Elected) (later defected to SDP)

1983 Peter Fagan

1987 Peter Fagan

1993 John McDonnell

1997 John McDonnell (Elected)

2001 John McDonnell (Elected)

2005 John McDonnell (Elected)

2010 John McDonnell (Elected)
2015 John McDonnell (Elected)