Mark Hewitson
| Mark Hewitson | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull West | |
|
In office 26 May 1955 – 15 October 1964 |
|
| Preceded by | Constituency created |
| Succeeded by | James Johnson |
| Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull Central | |
|
In office 5 July 1945 – 26 May 1955 |
|
| Preceded by | Walter Windsor |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
15 December 1897 Consett, County Durham |
| Died | 27 February 1973 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
Captain Mark Hewitson (15 December 1897 – 27 February 1973) was a British trade union official and Labour Party politician. He was chosen at the very last minute to stand for Parliament, and eventually served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for nineteen years. He was described as a member of the 'old school' of trade union leaders, and proud of it.
Hewitson was born in Consett, County Durham where he went to the local council school. He was a convinced socialist and joined the Labour Party in 1914. Later that year, he joined the Northumberland Fusiliers, and went to fight in the First World War. From 1916 he was in the West Yorkshire Regiment until his discharge in 1920.
In 1927 Hewitson became a trade union official with the General and Municipal Workers' Union in the north-east of England. He was based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and was an area organiser. He was elected to Durham County Council in 1930. From 1937, Hewitson was President of the International Trade Secretariat for the Public and Civil Service, a post which involved many visits to continental Europe where he became well known. Hewitson served on the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in 1939-40.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Hewitson was one of the first national trade union leaders to leave some of his posts and volunteer to serve in the armed forces. He was commissioned into the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in 1940, but resigned his commission due to ill health in 1941, by which time he was a Captain. Subsequently he became chief industrial officer for his union, and was involved in preventing unlawful strikes: in October 1944 he protested against a dockers' strike in Newcastle, saying that the dockers were now out of hand and the union was no longer responsible for their actions. He was elected to a five-year term as President of the General Factory Workers International in 1945.
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