James Larkin
| James Larkin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Teachta Dála | |
|
In office June 1943 – May 1944 |
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In office July 1937 – June 1938 |
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| Constituency | Dublin North-East |
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In office September 1927 – September 1927 |
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| Constituency | Dublin North |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
21 January 1876 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 30 January 1947 (aged 71) Dublin, Ireland |
| Resting place | Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party |
Independent Labour Party (from 1893) Labour Party (1912–23; 1941–47) Socialist Party of America (1914–19) Irish Worker League (1923–27) |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Brown |
| Children |
James Larkin, Jnr Denis Larkin |
| Occupation | Docker, trade union leader |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
James (Jim) Larkin (21 January 1876 – 30 January 1947) was an Irish trade union leader and socialist activist, born to Irish parents in Liverpool, England. He and his family later moved to a small cottage in Burren, southern County Down. Growing up in poverty, he received little formal education and began working in a variety of jobs while still a child. He became a full-time trade union organiser in 1905.
Larkin moved to Belfast in 1907 and founded the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, the Irish Labour Party, and later the Workers' Union of Ireland. Perhaps best known for his role in the 1913 Dublin Lockout, "Big Jim" continues to occupy a significant place in Dublin's collective memory.
Larkin was born on 21 January 1876 the second eldest son of Irish emigrants, James Larkin and Mary Ann McNulty, both from County Armagh. The impoverished Larkin family lived in the slums of Liverpool during the early years of his life. From the age of seven, he attended school in the mornings and worked in the afternoons to supplement the family income, a common arrangement in working-class families at the time. At the age of fourteen, after the death of his father, he was apprenticed to the firm his father had worked for, but was dismissed after two years. He was unemployed for a time and then worked as a sailor and docker. By 1903, he was a dock foreman, and on 8 September of that year, he married Elizabeth Brown.
From 1893, Larkin developed an interest in socialism and became a member of the Independent Labour Party. In 1905, he was one of the few foremen to take part in a strike on the Liverpool docks. He was elected to the strike committee, and although he lost his foreman's job as a result, his performance so impressed the National Union of Dock Labourers (NUDL) that he was appointed a temporary organiser. He later gained a permanent position with the union, which, in 1906, sent him to Scotland, where he successfully organised workers in Preston and Glasgow.
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