Jon Vickers (trade unionist)
James Oswald Noel Vickers (6 April 1916 – 1 June 2008), known as Jon Vickers from his initials, was a British trade union leader.
Early life and education
Born in London on 6 April 1916,[1] Vickers was educated at Stowe School and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he read History and English. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, influenced by the death of his school contemporary, John Cornford, in the Spanish Civil War in 1936.[2] It was here he met fellow Cambridge Communist Party member Winifred 'Freddie' Mary Lambert, later to become his wife.[3]
Wartime
At the outbreak of
Towards the end of the war, as prisoners were moved ahead of the retreating German army, he managed to escape in woods near Kassel and a few days later made contact with an American tank crew.
In 1942, Freddie was injured by falling timbers in a bombed house in Cambridge and she subsequently had to have both legs amputated below the knee.[3] James and Freddie were finally reunited at Baker Street tube station.[2]
Post-war career
In 1946, Vickers was appointed warden of Wedgwood Memorial College where he worked until, in 1949, he was forced to resign following complaints of 'communist bias'. His next job was with the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) research department and he went on to become its education officer. One of his achievements with the ETU was the establishment of Britain's first residential trade union training facility at Esher Place in 1953.[6] During his time with the ETU, he became increasingly disillusioned with the Communist Party and, following the Soviet invasion of Hungary in response to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, both he and Freddie left the CP, together joining the Labour Party soon after.[2][3]
In 1960 he became deputy general secretary of the
Later life
Vickers retired in 1977 but continued to serve on
Works
- ISBN 0-7163-0406-6.
- Vickers, J. O. N. (1971). "A trade without collective bargaining". Industrial Relations Journal. 2 (2): 46–51. .
References
- ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ a b c Kettle, Martin (23 June 2008). "Obituary: Jon Vickers". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ a b c d Kettle, Martin (6 April 2006). "Obituary: Freddie Vickers". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ "No. 34644". The London Gazette. 11 July 1939. p. 4752.
- ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ A History of Esher Place Training and Conference Center (PDF), Unite the Union, 29 September 2004, archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011, retrieved 26 September 2010
- ^ "No. 47102". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1976. p. 12.