George Odger

George Odger (1813 - 4 March 1877) was a prominent British trade unionist.

Born in Roborough, Devon, Odger trained as a shoemaker. After travelling in search of work, he settled in London and joined the Ladies' West End Shoemakers' Society. In 1859, he was a prominent supporter of the London builders' strike, and became a leading member of the London Trades Council when it was founded the following year. In 1862, he became the Secretary of the Trades Council, a post he held for ten years, but unlike most of its other office holders, he continued in his trade.

Also in 1862, Odger became the Chairman of the Manhood Suffrage and Vote by Ballot Association. In 1863, he convinced "The Bee-Hive" to switch from supporting the Confederates in the American Civil War. He also attended a French international labour meeting, and the following year, became the first President of the International Workingmen's Association. Later Chairman of the international's Council, he resigned in 1871 after disagreements with Karl Marx.

Odger was associated with the "Workman's Advocate", which became the publication of the international and the Reform League, and from 1866-67 he was editor of the renamed "Commonwealth". Also in 1866, he represented the London Trades Council at the first conferences the United Kingdom Alliance of Organised Trades, while in 1867, he joined the Conference of Amalgamated Trades.

Shortly after the Reform League's Hyde Park demonstration in 1867 Odger attended a private meeting of a dozen senior members of the League in which the French Revolutionary Gustave Paul Cluseret proposed they start a Civil War in England. According to John Bedford Leno, George Odger spoke out in support of Cluseret's proposal but this was misreported in the next days issue of "The Times". George Odger was in the minority of the League, which rejected the proposal overwhelmingly.

Also active in the Trades Union Congress (TUC), he was the Secretary of its Parliamentary Committee, the post later to become the General Secretary, from 1872 to 73.

Odger also stood as a Lib-Lab candidate in Southwark in the 1870 by-election and the 1874 UK general election. He also became a supporter of the Land and Labour League.

He died in 1877 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery.

Odger Street on the John Burns' Latchmere Estate in Battersea is named after him.

References

* Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
* The Aftermath with Autobiography of the Author (John Bedford Leno published By Reeves & Turner, London 1892)