LANSBURY GEORGE 1859-1940 LABOUR POLITICIAN

One letter from Lansbury to 'my dear friend', probably Indian, about the India Bill, 24th March 1925.

George Lansbury 1859-1940

George Lansbury, the son of a railway contractor, was born in Halesworth, Suffolk, in 1859. When George was nine years old the family moved to East London. George started work in an office at the age of eleven but after a year he returned to school where he stayed until he was fourteen. This was followed by a succession of jobs as a clerk, a wholesale grocer and working in a coffee bar.

Lansbury then started up his own business as a contractor working for the Great Eastern Railway. This was not a success and he decided to emigrate to Australia in 1884. The following year Lansbury returned to England and he began work at his father-in-law's timber merchants. In the 1886 General Election Lansbury joined the local Liberal Party. Later that year he was elected General Secretary of the Bow & Bromley Liberal Association. He eventually left the party over its unwillingness to support legislation for a shorter working week. Lansbury joined the Gasworkers & General Labourers Union and in 1889 joined a local strike committee during the London Dockers' Strike of that year. These activities brought him into contact with H.M. Hyndman (1842-1921), the leader of the Social Democratic Federation. Although the two men disagreed with each other over many issues, Lansbury decided to join the party and in 1892 established a branch of the Social Democratic Federation in Bow.

Lansbury was elected to the Poplar Board of Guardians in 1892. He became known as the John Bull of Poplar. Over the next few years the Guardians improved the conditions in their workhouse. They also established Laindon Farm Colony in the Essex countryside where they provided work for the unemployed and taught them the basics of market gardening.

Lansbury continued to be a member of the Social Democratic Federation and in 1895 he became the party's candidate in a parliamentary election in Walworth. He only obtained 204 votes in that election but in 1900 he obtained 2,558 against the Conservative Party candidate who won with 4,403 votes. In 1903 Lansbury left the Social Democratic Federation and joined the Independent Labour Party, an organisation that contained a large number of Christian Socialists. Three years later the Independent Labour Party became the Labour Party.

He was a non-smoker, teetotaller, and Anglican, whose socialism and pacifism sprang from spiritual conviction. He signed the minority report as a member (1905-9) of the Royal Commission on poor laws. Lansbury was Labour MP for Bow and Bromley division, 1910-12, 1922-40. He was a supporter of women's suffrage and defender of conscientious objectors. He was also a founder (1912) and editor (1919-23) of the Daily Herald. Lansbury and his newspaper were opposed to Britain involvement in the First World War. This made him unpopular during the nationalist fervour that developed between 1914 and 1918. In the 1918 General Election, Lansbury, like other anti-war Labour Party candidates was defeated. Lansbury was elected to the local council and in 1921 he became Mayor of Poplar. The council took the decision to increase the amount of money spent on poor relief. This brought the council in conflict with the British government and in 1921 Lansbury and the majority of the local council were imprisoned for over four months. In 1925 he started the Lansbury's Labour Weekly. The newspaper rapidly reached a circulation of 172,000 and provided an important source of news during the 1926 General Strike. Lansbury was elected Chairman party in 1928. The following year he became Commissioner for Works in the Labour government led by Ramsay MacDonald. Lansbury refused to support MacDonald's measures in 1931 to deal with the economic crisis and resigned from office. When MacDonald formed a National Government, Lansbury became the leader of the Labour opposition. When Italy invaded Abyssinia he refused to support the view that the League of Nations should use military force against Mussolini's army. After being criticised by several leading members of the Labour Party, Lansbury resigned as leader of the party.

One letter

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Kyle, Firth

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