George Shipton

Shipton worked as a builder and became involved in trade unionism by joining the Land and Labour League, where he became a strong supporter of George Odger. In 1872, he was elected as the General Secretary of the London Trades Council.{{cite book |last1=Cole |first1=G.D.H. |title=British Working Class Politics, 1832-1914 |date=1941 |publisher=The Labour Book Service |page=102 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.114074/page/n103/mode/2up}} In 1873, he became the first leader of the London Amalgamated Painters union, a post he held until 1889.{{citation |url=http://www.unionancestors.co.uk/Stonemasons.htm |title=Operative Stone Masons Society |publisher=Trade Union Ancestors |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150820034937/http://www.unionancestors.co.uk/Stonemasons.htm |archivedate=2015-08-20 }}

In 1878, Shipton travelled to Paris, leading the English delegation at an early international labour conference. In February 1880, he stood as an independent Radical candidate in a by-election in Southwark coming third with 799 votes.{{cite news|title=Southwark Election|work=The Cornishman|issue=84|date=19 February 1880|page=6}}

The London Trades Council had broken links with The Bee-Hive, their previous journal, in 1865, and it had ceased publication in 1878. In 1881, they resolved to establish their own newspaper, The Labour Standard, and named Shipton as its editor. He initially ran with a series of lead articles by Friedrich Engels. He resigned in 1884, being replaced by William Barnett.{{cite book |last1=Harrison |first1=Royden |title=The Warwick guide to British labour periodicals, 1790-1970 |date=1977 |publisher=Humanities Press |page=268}}

In 1885, Shipton was elected as the Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the post which later became the General Secretary.

In the late 1880s, Shipton opposed the New Unionism. Although the universal franchise was some years off, he claimed that "when the people were unenfranchised, were without votes, the only power left to them was the demonstration of numbers. Now, however, the workmen have votes."{{citation |url=http://www.dsp.org.au/links/back/issue25/Strauss.htm |title=Engels and the theory of the labour aristocracy |first=Jonathan |last=Strauss |year=2004 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061020101939/http://www.dsp.org.au/links/back/issue25/Strauss.htm |archivedate = 2006-10-20}} In 1890, Tom Mann and Ben Tillett, proponents of the New Unionism wrote a document entitled The "NEW" Trade Unionism: a reply to Mr George Shipton.{{citation |url=http://www.wcml.org.uk/people/tom_mann.htm |title=Tom Mann Collection |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080303195231/http://www.wcml.org.uk/people/tom_mann.htm |archivedate = 2008-03-03}} He was defeated for the Secretaryship of the Parliamentary Committee of the TUC,{{citation |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/eleanor-marx/1890/liverpool-congress.htm |title=The Liverpool Congress |first=Eleanor |last=Marx |date=October 1890 |publisher=Time |pages=1088–97}} but remained the Secretary of the London Trades Council until 1896.

Shipton was co-opted as a member of the London School Board on 18 December 1890,{{cite news|title=The School Board For London|newspaper=The Daily News|date=19 December 1890}} but stood down at the next elections, in 1891.

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{{succession box

| title = Secretary of the London Trades Council

| years = 1872–1896

| before = George Odger

| after = James MacDonald

}}

{{succession box

| title = General Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of House Decorators and Painters

| years = 1866–1889

| before = E. G. Davies

| after = E. C. Gibbs

}}

{{succession box | title=Treasurer of the Trades Union Congress | years=1875–1879|before=Daniel Guile|after=John Burnett}}

{{succession box

| title = Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the TUC

| years = 1885–1886

| before = Henry Broadhurst

| after = Henry Broadhurst

}}

{{succession box | title = Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the TUC | years = 1888–1889 | before = William Crawford | after = James Swift}}

{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shipton, George}}

Category:1839 births

Category:1911 deaths

Category:General secretaries of the Trades Union Congress

Category:Members of the London School Board

Category:Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress