William Henry Drew

William Henry Drew (W.H. Drew) 1854-1933
W. H. Drew was born in Exeter in 1854. By the mid 1860s he began to work in agriculture at which point he began to be increasingly interested in politics, this was around the time that John Duke Coleridge QC was contesting Exeter for the Liberal Party.Around 1862 Drew migrated to Jarrow then onto Shipley where he began work as a wood comber at Pricking Mill then continued on to work as a workhouse man at Airedale Mills, then as a worsted weaver. By 1887 he was an active organiser for the West Riding Power Looms Weavers’ Association which until 1907 he was mostly on the executive committee for.

Around this time Drew became a pioneer of independent labour politics and pioneered the Textile Trade Union. Along with Allen Gee and Ben Turner he was recruited by the Factory Times in 1889 as correspondent. In December 1890 the workers at the Manningham Mills Factory went on strike, Drew, Gee and Turner provided the leadership for the strikers, this strike gave a new impetus to Trade Unionism and gave a reinvigorated hope for independent political action. After the strike had finished, it may have been a failure, however the Bradford Labour Union was established which in turn led to the formation of the Independent Labour Party in 1893; both of which Drew had an essential part in the formation of. Throughout this time Drew was suffering from bronchitis and constant ill health, but in 1891 became president of the BLU and stood successfully for the Bradford School Board and in 1892 gave evidence to the Royal Commission on Labour. By 1893 Drew’s importance to the Labour movement was very much recognised, at the inaugural conference of the ILP in Bradford, Drew was selected for the chair of the conference although when it was taken to vote Keir Hardie won the chair but Drew was unanimously selected for the Vice Chairmanship. By the mid 1890s Drew had helped found the Bradford Central Labour Club of which he became the President only to resign in 1895 due to a change of rules which allowed non-unionist members to office. In 1893 the Bradford unemployed Emergency Committee was established, Drew being a leading member. This organistation united the ILP, the Bradford Trades Council and the Social Reform Union. With this organisation he moved it to conduct its own survey of unemployment which firmly discredited the statements of the Bradford Board of Gaurdians.

Having been on the trades council since 1887, following the departure of James Bartley, he became secretary in 1898.Ben Turner stated on his work, ‘He put the Trades Council on to its wider basis… he paved the way.’On the education act of 1902 he showed fierce opposition and in 1907 left for Canada, returning to Bradford and dying on 29 January 1933.