WINSTONE
,
JAMES
(
1863
-
1921
),
miners' leader
in
South Wales
;
b. at
Risca, Mon.
,
1863
, son of
William
and
Hannah
Winstone
. He started to work at 8 years of age
in a brick-works
, and then at the
Risca colliery
. He had to leave owing to his
trade union activities
and went to
Treharris
. He was, however, appointed
check–weighman
at
Risca
, and in
1901
, made
miners' agent for the eastern valleys district
. He was one of the founders of the
South Wales Miners Federation
and succeeded
William
Brace
as
president
in
1915
, which post he held until his death in
1921
. In
1917
he visited
Canada
as a representative of the
British trade union movement
. He unsuccessfully fought three Parliamentary elections,
Monmouth boroughs
in
1906
, and as
Anti-Coalition candidate
in the by-election in
Merthyr boroughs
in
1915
, and again in the same constituency in
1919
.
He was a member of the
Risca
and, later, the
Abersychan urban district council
, and in
1906
was elected to the
Monmouthshire county council
, of which, in
1919
, he became an
alderman
, and in
1920
, the
chairman
. He was also
vice-chairman of the education committee
, and a
justice of the peace
for
Monmouthshire
. He was m. at
Newport
in
1886
to
Sarah Jane
Iven
. They had seven children, two of whom died in infancy.
Winstone
was a
Baptist
and was
prominent in the Nonconformist and Temperance movements
. He d. in
London
, after an
operation
,
27 July 1921
.
Bibliography:
-
Information from
R. Winstone
,
S. O. Davies
, and
Margaret S. Taylor
(Merthyr Public Library);
-
South Wales News
, 1770
and
Western Mail
,
28 July 1921
;
-
Who's who in Wales
,
1920
.
Author:
Professor Huw Morris-Jones, D.Phil., (1912-89), Bangor
