A. J. Mundella | |
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![]() Mundella, c. 1885 | |
President of the Board of Trade | |
In office 17 February 1886 – 20 July 1886 | |
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
Preceded by | Hon. Edward Stanhope |
Succeeded by | Hon. Frederick Stanley |
In office 18 August 1892 – 28 May 1894 | |
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery |
Preceded by | Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt |
Succeeded by | James Bryce |
Personal details | |
Born | Leicester, Leicestershire | 28 March 1825
Died | 21 July 1897 London | (aged 72)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Liberal |
Spouse | Mary Smith |
Anthony John Mundella PC (28 March 1825[1]– 21 July 1897) was an English manufacturer[2] and later a Liberal Party MP and Cabinet Minister who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1897. He served under William Ewart Gladstone as Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education from 1880 to 1885 and as President of the Board of Trade in 1886 and from 1892 to 1894. As education minister he established universal compulsory education in Britain and played the major part in building the state education system. At the Board of Trade he was instrumental in the reduction of working hours and the raising of minimum ages in the employment of children and young people. He was among the first to prove the effectiveness of arbitration and conciliation in industrial relations.[3] He also brought in the first laws to prevent cruelty to children.[4] His political achievements in the late Victorian age are said to have anticipated 20th century society.[2]