Thomas Burt

Thomas Burt

Thomas Burt (12 November 1837 – 12 April 1922) was a British trade unionist and one of the first working-class Members of Parliament. He became secretary of the Northumberland Miners' Association in 1863, then, in 1874, was elected to parliament, 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. He sat as MP for Morpeth from 1874 to 1918. 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 Father of the House in his final years in the House of Commons.

Further study

• Fynes, Richard (1873), The Miners of Northumberland and Durham, Blyth: John Robinson, Jun., retrieved 28 February 2008

External links

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