John Beard (trade unionist)

John C. Beard (1871 – 25 September 1950) was a British trade unionist and politician.

Born in Ellerdine in Shropshire, Beard worked successively as a coal miner, a general labourer and an insurance agent, becoming a founder of the Planet Insurance Company.^[1] He was a founder member of the Workers' Union in 1898, and it appointed him as its Shropshire organiser. In this role, he recruited large numbers of farm labourers to the union, and successfully campaigned for an increase in their wages.^[2] He moved to Birmingham in 1904 to become the union's national agricultural organiser, and there became involved in the Labour Party. He was elected as a member of Birmingham City Council in 1910, representing Saltley, in which post he was leading figure in the creation of the Birmingham Municipal Bank.^[1]

In 1913, Beard was elected as national president of the Workers' Union. He led a major, successful, strike in the chain-making industry that year, further increasing his prestige in the union, and was elected to the general council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in 1920.^[2] However, by 1927, the Workers' Union's finances were a major problem, and Beard led negotiations with Ernest Bevin which led to it merging into the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) two years later.^[3] Beard became the TGWU's president for a time, and in 1929/30, he also served as President of the TUC.^[2] He retired in 1936,^[2] and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1938 Birthday Honours.^[1]

In retirement, Beard served on the Wheat Commission and the Agricultural Wages Board until his death in 1950.^[4]

References

1. "Obituary: John Beard, CBE", The History of the Birmingham Municipal Bank
2. "A trade union leader: Mr John Beard's record forty years' service", Manchester Guardian, 13 December 1936, p.11
3. Spokesman, Nos.13-20, p.67
4. "BEARD, John", Who Was Who