Frank Goldstone

Sir Frank Walter Goldstone
Sunderland
In office 1910–1918
Preceded by	James Knott
Succeeded by	Ralph Milbanke Hudson
Personal details
Born	(1870-12-07)December 7, 1870 Bishopwearmouth, County Durham, England
Died	(1955-12-25)December 25, 1955 (aged 85) Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Borough Road Training College
Occupation	Teacher

Sir Frank Walter Goldstone (7 December 1870 – 25 December 1955) was a British teacher, trade unionist and politician.

Early life

Goldstone was born in Bishopwearmouth, County Durham (now Sunderland) on 7 December 1870. He was the third son of Thomas Frederick Goldstone, a stained-glass artist from Marylebone, and his wife, Sarah Trigg née Blott, of Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth. He was educated at his local school, Diamond Hall in Millfield and later trained at Borough Road Traininge College, Isleworth.

Teaching and family

In 1891, Goldstone became an assistant master at Bow Street school in Sheffield. During his time in that city (until 1910), he was active in the National Union of Teachers (NUT), especially with a group within that union, the National Federation of Class Teachers. The federation concerned itself with the remuneration of teachers, and Goldstone served as its president in 1902, and was founder and editor of its journal, the Class Teacher.

Goldstone was elected to the the executive committee of the NUT in 1904, chaired its law committee two years later and represented the union at the Board of Education and at meetings of the National Association of Education Committees. He left teaching in 1910 when appointed organisation secretary of the union and later served as assistant secretary (1918-1924) and general secretary (1924-1931).

In 1895, he had married Elizabeth Alice Henderson of Whittingham, Northumberland. They had two children, Elsie (born 1897) and Frank (born 1899).

Politics

Shortly before the December 1910 election, Goldstone was chosen as the Labour candidate for Sunderland, as a late replacement for R. J. Wilson (a member of the Co-operative Society). After winning the seat, he was appointed Labour Chief Whip in 1914. He lost his seat at the 1918 election.

Later life

Retiring as general secretary of the NUT in 1931, Goldstone was also knighted by George V at Buckingham Palace on 29 June that year. Acting as principal of a tutorial college for the next three years, he played little further part in politics. His wife died at Ipswich in 1942 and he died at 12 Temple Road in that town on 25 December 1955.

Reference

• Duncan Tanner, Goldstone, Sir Frank Walter (1870–1955), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edition, Jan 2008 accessed 16 May 2008

Further reading

• The coming General Secretary, The Schoolmaster (11 Jan 1924), 39
• S. Blake and A. E. Henshall, Schoolmaster and Woman Teacher's Chronicle (6 Jan 1956)
• B. Simon, The politics of educational reform, 1920–1940 (1974)
• R. Barker, Education and politics, 1900–1951: a study of the labour party (1972)