A. J. Mundella

A. J. Mundella
Mundella, c. 1885
President of the Board of Trade
In office
17 February 1886 – 20 July 1886
MonarchQueen Victoria
Prime MinisterWilliam Ewart Gladstone
Preceded byHon. Edward Stanhope
Succeeded byHon. Frederick Stanley
In office
18 August 1892 – 28 May 1894
MonarchQueen Victoria
Prime MinisterWilliam Ewart Gladstone
The Earl of Rosebery
Preceded bySir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt
Succeeded byJames Bryce
Personal details
Born(1825-03-28)28 March 1825
Leicester, Leicestershire
Died21 July 1897(1897-07-21) (aged 72)
London
NationalityBritish
Political partyLiberal
SpouseMary 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]

  1. ^ The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857; Class Number: RG 4; Piece Number: 3189
  2. ^ a b Economic and Social Change in a Midland Town: Victorian Nottingham 1815—1900, Roy A Church, Frank Cass, London, 1966
  3. ^ A.J.Mundella 1825–1897 — The Liberal Background to the Labour Movement, WHG Armytage, Ernest Benn Limited, London, 1951
  4. ^ Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Death of The Right Hon. A. J. Mundella, M.P., 22 July 1897