George Mitchell (trade unionist)
George Mitchell (6 February 1827 – 24 January 1901) was a British stonemason, who became prominent in the National Agricultural Labourers' Union.
Mitchell was born in Montacute in Somerset and began working when he was five years old, as a crow scarer. He later became a stonemason, following his father's trade, and proved highly successful. In time he moved to London, and began trading in marble, eventually becoming wealthy.[1]
Despite his wealth and location, Mitchell remained sympathetic to the agricultural labourers he had worked with in his youth.[1] Initially, he was suspicious of trade unions, but he became enthusiastic after discovering that many of their leaders shared his Methodist faith.[2] As a result, he was enthusiastic when the National Agricultural Labourers' Union (NALU) was established, and in June 1872 he was a founder of its Somerset District.[1]
Mitchell wrote numerous letters and pamphlets supportive of the union, usually under the pen name "One From the Plough".[1] In 1874, he wrote The Skeleton at the Plough: or the Poor Farm Labourers of the West, which included his autobiography.[2] In 1877, he organised a mass meeting at Ham Hill, attended by 20,000 people. It became an annual occasion, running until 1892.[3]
Mitchell served as a trustee of the union and donated huge amounts of his own money to it, totaling around £20,000, leading to his bankruptcy.[1] By 1884, he was concerned that he was unable to obtain information on how the union was spending its funds, and as result, he refused to allow any of the union's £6,000 reserved to be spent. This upset the union's president, Joseph Arch, who ensured that Mitchell was voted out as a trustee.[4][5]
Mitchell also took part in political activism, and in 1882 was elected to the London School Board, representing Chelsea.[6] Despite his differences with Arch, Mitchell was selected by the union as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for South Somerset at the 1885 general election, although he did not ultimately stand.[7] By 1888, the union was in decline, and Mitchell was calling for an independent investigation into its finances.[5] From 1890 until 1892, he led an effort to found a new union, the Somerset and West of England Farm Labourers' Union, although little came of it.[8]
Mitchell spent the remainder of the 1890s trying to rebuild his marble business.[1] He died early in 1901, at home in Shepherd's Bush.[9]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f Groves, Reg (1949). Sharpen the Sickle. London: Porcupine Press. pp. 62–63, 87.
- ^ a b "Mitchell, George". Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland.
- ^ "Agricultural unionism in the South West". Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum. Trades Union Congress. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ "The Friends of the Agricultural Labourer". Manchester Courier. 15 June 1886.
- ^ a b "National Agricultural Labourers' Union: Demonstration at Newport". Essex Newsman. 22 December 1888.
- ^ "The London School Board election". Manchester Guardian. 27 November 1882.
- ^ "General News: Political". Berrow's Worcester Journal. 18 April 1885.
- ^ "The Agricultural Labourers". Manchester Guardian. 10 May 1892.
- ^ ""One from the Plough"". Yorkshire Telegraph and Star. 26 January 1901.