James Ramsay MacDonald

“ The best service which Howell did to the trade union movement was as a parliamentary lobbyist. He became known as 'the champion bill passer.' Year after year from 1870 he buttonholed, interviewed and pulled wires in parliamentary lobbies. He saw the old Master and Servants Act drastically amended in 1867 and repealed in 1889, and the Trade Union Acts of 1871 and 1876 were passed largely owing to his efforts. In his 'Labour Legislation, Labour Movements, and Labour Leaders' (1902) he gave a lively account of those years. ”

“ Gladstone was one of the founders of the new science of physical chemistry. A long series of papers — Professor Tilden estimates them at 140 by himself alone, and seventy-eight in collaboration — contributed to various learned societies through life contains the record of his researches. ”

“ In 1838 he delivered his first lecture on socialism and co-operation and enrolled himself a member of the Owenite 'Association of all Classes of all Nations.' He was present at the great Chartist riots, known as the Bull Ring riots, at Birmingham on 15 July 1839.
Holyoake had been brought up in the strictest evangelical tenets, which his mother firmly held, but his association with liberal movements broadened his beliefs. Abandoning the life of a workman, he accepted in 1840 an invitation from the Owenites of Worcester to minister for them at their hall of science. ”

“ The industrial result of this dispute was a reduction of under three per cent, and the famous conciliation scheme known as the Brooklands agreement, by which the men and the masters agreed to fix wages for periods of years by consent and refer disputes to an arbitrator. But a farther reaching effect was that as the operatives were very dissatisfied with the result it threw them into political agitation and so opened the door for the political labour party. ”

“ Broadhurst continued to be the object of bitter attack, and the defeat of his parliamentary candidatures at West Nottingham in 1892, when he polled 5309 votes, and at Grimsby in 1893, when he polled 3463 votes, was undoubtedly helped by the opposition of the advanced section of trade unionists. At West Nottingham he agreed in a lukewarm way to support the miners' eight hours bill, but the earnestness of his pledge was questioned. In 1892 he was appointed a member of the royal commission to inquire into the condition of the aged poor. ”

“ In 1885 the employers resolved to reduce wages. Pickard advised acceptance, but the men declined to follow his lead and a strike ensued which was unsuccessful, but events then gave Pickard his grip upon the miners which he never lost. Prosperous times followed, but he again found himself involved in the dispute of 1893, when the miners again resisted a reduction of 25 per cent, and refused arbitration on the ground that they were entitled to a living wage. It was another form of the opposition to a sliding scale for wages which the Miners' Federation had been formed to carry on. ”

“ He began to teach mathematics in Sunday schools when he was twenty, and about the same time to assist with classes at the Mechanics' Institute. In 1839, on the occasion of a machinery and art exhibition at Birmingham, he was selected to explain to the public the working of some of the machines.
Deeply moved in youth by the aspirations which produced the Owenite and Chartist movements, Holyoake joined the Birmingham reform league at the age of fourteen (1831) , and became a Chartist a year later. ”

“ The discovery was immediately followed by experiments as to the value of the copper-zinc union as a reducing agent for both organic and inorganic compounds. The results were published in the 'Journal of the Chemical Society' between 1872 and 1875. Papers on a similar subject, 'The Chemistry of the Secondary Batteries of Plants and Faure,' which were communicated to 'Nature' (1882–3) , appeared in 1883 in volume form.
As reformer and promoter of education, Gladstone holds high rank. ”

“ The boy's inclinations lay, however, towards intellectual pursuits, and at the age of seventeen he became a student at the Old Mechanics' Institute, where he showed aptitude for mathematics and the making of mechanical instruments. ”

“ In his earlier years his chief discoveries concerned chemistry in relation to optics, and the refraction and the dispersion of liquids. He was one of the earliest students in spectroscopy, and published several papers, one written with Sir David Brewster, on the 'Solar Spectrum.' In 1872, with his assistant Alfred Tribe, he discovered that zinc covered with spongy copper would decompose water, and from that time the copper-zinc couple has become one of the most familiar pieces of chemico-electrical apparatus. ”

“ In London he increased his political activities, making the acquaintance of Mazzini, Kossuth, Ernest Jones, and other prominent democratic leaders, and he developed an interest in trade unionism. He was prominent in the historical nine hours' struggle (1859) in the building trade, and gradually took his place with men like William Newton and William Allan as a trade union leader. ”

“ Holyoake continued the agitation for the abolition of the remaining duties on paper, which were removed in 1861. He strenuously advocated extension of the franchise, and defended the ballot in a pamphlet against John Stuart Mill (1868) . In July 1866 he played a prominent part in the demand for electoral reform which led to the Hyde Park riot, and in later life he was active in the effort to pass the affirmation bill which finally became law in 1888. ”

“ Gladstone was active in philanthropic and charitable work, and keenly interested in Christian endeavour, organising devotional meetings and bible classes among educated men and women. He was a vice-president of the Christian Evidence Society, and wrote and lectured frequently for it on Christian apologetics. ”

“ He was a pioneer of technical education and manual instruction, and one of the earliest advocates of the introduction of science into elementary schools. From 1873 to 1894 he sat on the London School Board, being vice-chairman from 1888 to 1891. ”

“ He fully explained his position in 'Secularism, the Practical Philosophy of the People,' a pamphlet published in 1854. His religious development led to differences with Charles Bradlaugh and other associates who remained avowed atheists, and Holyoake defended his opinions in public debates with them and their supporters. ”

“ In 1897 a public subscription was raised for him, and in 1906 he received a pension from the civil list of 50l. per annum. In 1906 his library, largely consisting of works on economic and social questions, was purchased for 1000l., also raised by public subscription, and was presented to the Bishopsgate Institute, London. ”

“ He died at 11 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, on 22 July 1908, and was buried in Hampstead cemetery after cremation. He was twice married: (1) in 1860, to Charlotte, daughter of J. Wilson of Spalding; she died in August 1876; (2) to Lucy Coombes of Oxford, who died on 8 Aug. 1884. He had no children. ”

“ In 1894 he stood for Leicester, and was elected with 9464 votes, and this constituency he retained, till he retired in 1906 owing to ill-health. He was an alderman and J.P. of the county of Norfolk. He died at Cromer on 11 October 1911, and was buried at Overstrand. ”