F. C. Henry

Frederick Charles Henry MBE (2 January 1906[1] – 2000) was a British socialist activist and trade union leader from Rochdale, Lancashire.

By the early 1930s, Henry was Financial Secretary of the Rochdale Trades Council, and editor of the Rochdale Labour News. He joined the Socialist League, a left-wing affiliate of the Labour Party, and served as its general secretary from January 1933 until July 1934.[2]

Henry was elected to Rochdale Town Council, and became the leader of the Labour group on the council. He also became the full-time organising secretary of the Rochdale Trades Council. In 1939, he was appointed as the general secretary of the Waterproof Garment Workers' Trade Union (WGWTU).[3]

Henry was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1951 Birthday Honours,[4] and then an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1966 New Year Honours.[5] From 1959, he served on the management committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions, and he was its chair in 1968/69.[6]

The waterproof garment industry was in long-term decline, and the WGWTU lost members throughout Henry's period leading the union. In 1972, he arranged for it to merge into the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers, and then retired.[7]

He died in 2000 in Blackpool, aged 94.[8]

  1. ^ 1939 England and Wales Register
  2. ^ Bor, Michael (2005). The Socialist League in the 1930s. Athena Press. p. 92. ISBN 1844010430.
  3. ^ "Waterproof Garment Workers' new secretary". Manchester Guardian. 31 October 1939.
  4. ^ "No. 39243". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1951. pp. 3061–3094.
  5. ^ "No. 43854". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1965. pp. 1–36.
  6. ^ "Mr F. C. Henry, OBE, FCCS" (PDF). Federation News: N68. July 1968. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  7. ^ Marsh, Arthur; Ryan, Victoria; Smethurst, John B. (1994). Historical Directory of Trade Unions. Vol. 4. Farnham: Ashgate. pp. 471–472. ISBN 9780859679008.
  8. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007