Thomas Burt

The Right Honourable Thomas Burt PC
Thomas Burt.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade
In office 18 August 1892 – 21 June 1895
Monarch	Victoria of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery
Preceded by	The Lord Balfour of Burleigh
Succeeded by	The Earl of Dudley
Personal details
Born	12 November 1837
Died	12 April 1922
Nationality	British

Thomas Burt PC (12 November 1837 – 12 April 1922) was a British trade unionist and one of the first working-class Members of Parliament.

Career

Burt became secretary of the Northumberland Miners' Association in 1863, then, in 1874, was returned to parliament for Morpeth, alongside Alexander MacDonald, a fellow miners' leader. Burt stood as a Radical labour candidate with Liberal support and formed part of a small group of Liberal–Labour politicians in the House of Commons in the 1880s and 1890s. After the 1892 General Election, William Ewart Gladstone appointed Burt as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, in which capacity he served until 1895.

Despite the emergence of the Independent Labour Party and the Labour Representation Committee, Burt remained loyal to his backers in the Liberal Party and refused to join. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1906 and continued to represent Morpeth in Parliament until 1918. From 1910 to 1918 he was Father of the House in the House of Commons.

Personal life

Burt died on 12 April 1922, aged 84.

Further reading

• Fynes, Richard (1873), The Miners of Northumberland and Durham, Blyth: John Robinson, Jun., http://books.google.com/?id=qYIHAAAAQAAJ, retrieved 28 February 2008 

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Thomas Burt
• Thomas Burt at Schoolnet

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir George Grey, Bt	Member of Parliament for Morpeth 1874–1918	Succeeded by John Cairns
Preceded by Sir John Kennaway, Bt	Father of the House 1910–1918	Succeeded by T. P. O'Connor
Political offices
Preceded by William Crawford	Secretary of the Northumberland Miners' Association 1865–1905	Succeeded by William Straker
Preceded by William Matkin	President of the Trades Union Congress 1891	Succeeded by John Hodge
Preceded by The Lord Balfour of Burleigh	Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade 1892–1895	Succeeded by The Earl of Dudley