Will Crooks
William Crooks (6 April 1852 – 5 June 1921) was a noted trade unionist and politician from Poplar, London, and a member of the Fabian Society. He is particularly remembered for his campaigning work against poverty and inequality.
Early life
Born in Shirbutt Street, Poplar, Crooks was the third son of a ship's stoker, George Crooks, who lost his arm in an accident when Crooks was three years old. His mother, Caroline Elizabeth (née Coates), then supported the family by working as a seamstress, but money was scarce and five of the children were temporarily forced to enter Poplar workhouse in 1861. This experience had a profound influence on Crooks's views on poverty.
Educated at a local poor law school, Crooks worked initially as a grocer's errand boy, then a blacksmith's labourer and then as an apprentice cooper. A keen reader, Crooks learned about reformers such as Richard Cobden and John Bright, and was asked by his fellow workers to speak out about their working conditions. Consequently, he was sacked for being a political agitator. He remained a member of the Coopers Union from 1867 until his death in 1921.
Working men union
After a short spell working in
A prominent local politician, he helped bring about many local improvements. In 1891 he "warmly endorsed" representation by the
Labour politician
In 1900 Crooks became the first
followed later in 1903).As an MP, he retained his working-class roots and contacts, campaigned hard for workers'
In 1911 he fell out with the Trades Union Congress over support for the Labour Disputes Bill.[6] In 1912 he supported the Feeble-Minded Persons (Control) Bill; Crooks has been quoted by the New Statesman as describing disabled people as "like human vermin" who "crawl about doing absolutely nothing, except polluting and corrupting everything they touch".[7] The full quote is:
"I have taken part, in discussions in this House on the unemployable; I have taken Members in authority on both sides and shown them 300 or 400 men not one of whom would be privately employed by any person for anything at all, not even for their keep. These were formerly mentally defective children who had been allowed to drift about the world, and to become absolutely useless. There is only one fitting description; they are almost like human vermin. They crawl about, doing absolutely nothing, except polluting and corrupting everything they touch. We talk about the liberty of the subject. What nonsense! What waste of words! We ask that you should take these people and have proper control over them, because they have no control over themselves. They are verminous, dirty, with no idea of washing or cleansing themselves. Yet they are human beings, and you could, under proper control, so far improve them that they could be put to some employment, not enough to keep them—I never expect that—but sufficient to maintain themselves partly, and to give them a human existence which they have not got now. Above everything else, you would stop the supply of these children—a very important thing."[8]
As a member of the Metropolitan Asylums Board he helped to raise the age the Board was required to look after those with a
On 18 September 1914,[9] following the outbreak of World War I, Crooks led the House of Commons in singing the national anthem,[10] and unlike pacifist colleagues in the Labour Party he supported the war efforts of the government. In 1916 he was one of the Labour MPs to form part of the executive of Viscount Milner's 'patriotic Labour' British Workers League (BWL).[11] Under pressure from the Labour Party he resigned from the BWL at the end of 1917.[12] In 1918 he was returned unopposed for the new Woolwich East constituency.[13]
He remained an MP until ill-health forced his retirement in February 1921. He died in the London Hospital,
Legacy
In 1930, one of the
References
- ^ a b Nick Raynsford in Haworth, Alan, and Hayter, Dianne (eds), Men Who Made Labour, Routledge (2006), p. 48.
- ^ Gainer, Bernard, The Alien Invasion: The Origins of the Aliens Act 1905, Heinemann (1972), p. 31.
- ^ Nick Raynsford in Haworth, Alan, and Hayter, Dianne (eds), Men Who Made Labour, Routledge (2006), p. 50.
- ^ Howell, David, British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888-1906, Manchester University Press (1983), p. 264.
- ^ Annal, Dave, 'What would I have done?', Lifelines Research, 2018
- ^ Nick Raynsford in Haworth, Alan, and Hayter, Dianne (eds), Men Who Made Labour, Routledge (2006), p. 52.
- ^ Victoria Brignell "The eugenics movement Britain wants to forget" in the New Statesman, 9 December 2010.
- ^ https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1912/may/17/feeble-minded-persons-control-bill Hansard
- ^ ed. David (1977) Inside Cabinet: from the Charles Hobhouse Diares, 192.
- ^ Haw, George, The Life Story of Will Crooks MP (1917), pp. 318–319.
- ^ Scally, Robert James, The Origins of the Lloyd George Coalition: The Politics of Social-Imperialism, 1900–1918, Princeton University Press (1975), p. 263.
- Tyler, Paul, Labour's Lost Leader: The Life and Politics of Will Crooks, Tauris (2007), p. 210.
- ^ The Times House of Commons 1919. London: The Times Publishing Company (Limited). 1919. p. 23.
Gallery
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Picture of Will Crooks,
by G. Dendry -
"The Labourer is worthy of his hire."
Crooks as caricatured by "Spy," (Vanity Fair, April 1905. -
Will Crooks, by Harry Furniss, pen and ink, 1880s–1900s
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Memorial stone atTower Hamlets Cemetery