The Right Honourable Ernest Bevin |
|
---|---|
![]() |
|
Lord Privy Seal | |
In office 9 March 1951 – 14 April 1951 |
|
Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
Preceded by | Christopher Addison |
Succeeded by | Richard Stokes |
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
In office 27 July 1945 – 9 March 1951 |
|
Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
Preceded by | Anthony Eden |
Succeeded by | Herbert Morrison |
Minister of Labour and National Service | |
In office 13 May 1940 – 23 May 1945 |
|
Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
Preceded by | Ernest Brown |
Succeeded by | Rab Butler |
Member of Parliament for Woolwich East |
|
In office 23 February 1950 – 14 April 1951 |
|
Preceded by | George Hicks |
Succeeded by | Christopher Mayhew |
Member of Parliament for Wandsworth Central |
|
In office 22 June 1940 – 23 February 1950 |
|
Preceded by | Harry Nathan |
Succeeded by | Richard Adams |
General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union | |
In office 1 January 1922 – 27 July 1945 |
|
Preceded by | New office |
Succeeded by | Arthur Deakin |
Personal details | |
Born | 9 March 1881 Winsford, Somerset, England, UK |
Died | 14 April 1951 London, England, UK |
(aged 70)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse(s) | Florence Townley (19??-1951; his death); 1 child |
Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour politician. He co-founded and served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922-40, and as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government. He succeeded in maximizing the British labour supply, for both the armed services and domestic industrial production, with a minimum of strikes and disruption. His most important role came as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government, 1945–51. He gained American financial support, strongly opposed Communism, and aided in the creation of NATO. Bevin's tenure also saw the end of the Mandate of Palestine and the creation of the State of Israel. Bevin's role in British diplomatic history has been assessed by his biographer, Alan Bullock, Bevin:
stands as the last of the line of foreign secretaries in the tradition created by Castlereagh, Canning and Palmerston in the first half of the 19th century, with Salisbury, Grey and Austen Chamberlain as his predecessors in the 20th century, and (thanks to the reduction in British power) with no successors.