Sidney Weighell

Sidney Weighell (March 31 1922 – February 13 2002) was a British footballer, trade unionist and the General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen from 1975 to 1983.

Early life

He was born in Northallerton, Yorkshire in 1922 into a "Railway Family" (his father, Tom Weighell was a Signalman, while his grandfather Bill was a guard) and educated at a Church of England school, which he left at 15 and became an apprentice mechanic. In 1988 he took an apprenticeship at the road motor engineering department of the London and North Eastern Railway company. In January 1940 he joined the locomotive department as a fireman, becoming a qualified engine driver in 1943.

Politics

In 1945 he joined the Labour Party, becoming a member of the local trades council and was elected to the National Executive Committee in 1953. He was initially regarded as a disruptive influence, and fired from the trades council for introducing politics into the proceedings. In 1954 he was made a full-time divisional officer, and moved to the NUR headquarters in London. In 1965 he was elected Assistant General Secretary of the NUR, and his maiden speech at the Labour Party conference in 1966 was heavily critical of Frank Cousins' policies on income and pay restraint, further cementing his reputation as a "disruptive influence".cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sidney-weighell-729752.html|title=Sidney Weighell — Obituaries|last=Pattinson|first=Terry|date=February 15, 2002|publisher=The Independent|accessdate=2008-07-29]

In 1969 he was named as Senior AGS, becoming Sidney Greene's deputy when the need arose, and won a leadership election by a large margin in 1975 when Greene chose to retire, becoming General Secretary of the NUR.

Downfall

At the Labour Party conference in 1982, the NUR committee decided to vote for the National Union of Mineworkers, led by Arthur Scargill. Weighell, however, secretly voted for the EETPU, a fact quickly discovered by conference officials.

Branded a cheat, Weighell was forced to offer his resignation, which a union committee convened in Birmingham accepted 41–36. Despite the scandal he maintained he had done the right thing, saying "I'm glad to have been a casualty if it means that the party executive does not fall into the hands of militants."cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1384893/Sid-Weighell.html|title=Sid Weighell|date=February 15, 2002|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=2008-07-29]

Later life

After resigning in 1983 he moved back to Yorkshire and joined the British Airports' Authority board, as well as acting as a consultant to Tyne Tees Television. In 1983 he wrote an autobiography titled "On the Rails" which was extremely scathing to both the successive and earlier General Secretaries.

Personal life

Weighell married Margaret in 1950 and had two children, Jennifer and Anthony. In 1956 the family were involved in a head-on collision with another car, where Jennifer and Margaret were killed. After 3 months in hospital Weighall returned to work, marrying again to Joan Willetts in 1959.

Football

Weighell was a skilled footballer, and always attributed his failure of the 11-plus exams to his preference to play football rather than study. He was offered trials for Sunderland, Newcastle United and Sheffield United, and signed for Sunderland on October 12 1945 for a fee of £10 and played for 2 seasons as an inside-left on the second team, claiming that he was the best inside-left in the north east "except for a certain gentleman by the name of Raich Carter".cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/feb/15/guardianobituaries.keithharper|title=Obituary: Sid Weighell|last=Harper|first=Keith|date=February 15, 2002|publisher=The Guardian|accessdate=2008-07-29]

References