George Nicoll Barnes

For other people named George Barnes, see George Barnes (disambiguation).

Barnes in 1908.

George Nicoll Barnes CH PC (2 January 1859 – 21 April 1940) was a Scottish politician and a leader of the Labour Party.

Barnes was born in Lochee, Dundee, the second of five sons of James Barnes, a skilled engineer and mill manager from Yorkshire, and his wife, Catherine Adam Langlands. The family moved back to England and settled at Ponders End in Middlesex, where his father managed a jute mill in which George himself began working at the age of eleven, after attending a church school at Enfield Highway. He then spent two years as an engineering apprentice, first at Powis James of Lambeth then at Parker's foundry, Dundee. After finishing his apprenticeship he worked for two years at the Vickers shipyard in Barrow before returning once again to the London area, where he experienced unemployment during the slump of 1879. He had a number of short-term jobs before settling for eight years at Lucas and Airds in Fulham. In 1882 he married Jessie, daughter of Thomas Langlands, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.

During his time in London Barnes became an active member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (serving as its General Secretary), a committed member of the co-operative movement, and a keen if moderate socialist, which led him to join the Independent Labour Party on its foundation in 1893. At the 1895 general election he stood unsuccessfully for the Independent Labour Party in Rochdale. He was elected as MP for Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown at the 1906 general election for the Labour Party, becoming one of the first two Labour MPs to be elected in Scotland (the other was Alexander Wilkie who was elected for Dundee at the same election). He sat for Blackfriars and Hutchesontown until the constituency was abolished for the 1918 general election, and thereafter sat for Glasgow Gorbals (which covered the same area) until he stood down at the 1922 election.

He was leader of the Labour Party from 14 February 1910 to 6 February 1911. He was Minister of Pensions (1916–1917) and Minister without Portfolio (1917–1920) under David Lloyd George. In 1918 the Labour Party decided to leave the Lloyd George Coalition but Barnes refused to resign. As a result he was expelled from the Labour Party and with the British Workers League founded the pro-coalition National Democratic and Labour Party, many of whose candidates were elected on the Coalition Coupon. He stood in 1918 under the Coalition Labour title.

After resigning as a minister early in 1920 he played no further significant role in British politics. In March 1920 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for his ministerial services. He quit politics when the Labour Party announced that it would again field a candidate against him in the general election of 1922. As it was clear that the tide would turn strongly towards the official Labour candidates throughout Glasgow, and as he had no wish to serve in any other party, he decided to withdraw from his seat.

Barnes had a long and active retirement, continuing to support the International Labour Organization, serving as chairman of the Co-operative Printing Society, and publishing several books, including his autobiography, From Workshop to War Cabinet (1923), and a History of the International Labour Office (1926). He was a pleasant-looking, mild-mannered man, but little is known about his private life; his youngest son was killed in action in France while serving as a Second Lieutenant with the Seaforth Highlanders during the First World War. He died in 1940 at his London home, and was buried in Fulham Cemetery.

References

• "Barnes, George Nicoll" in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Barnes

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Andrew Bonar Law	Member of Parliament for Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown 1906–1918	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Glasgow Gorbals 1918–1922	Succeeded by George Buchanan
Political offices
Preceded by John Burns	General Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers 1896–1908	Succeeded by Jenkin Jones
Preceded by Arthur Henderson	Leader of the British Labour Party 1910–1911	Succeeded by Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by New Post	Minister of Pensions 1916–1917	Succeeded by John Hodge
Preceded by Arthur Henderson	Minister Without Portfolio representing Organised Labour 1917–1920	Succeeded by Last incumbent