Vincent Tewson
|
Sir Vincent Tewson CBE, MC |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
Harold Vincent Tewson 4 February 1898 Bradford, Yorkshire |
| Died | 2 May 1981 (aged 83) Letchworth, Hertfordshire |
| Occupation | Trades Unionist |
| Years active | 1912–1960 |
| Employer |
Amalgamated Society of Dyers Trades Union Congress |
| Title | General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress |
| Term | 1946–1960 |
| Predecessor | Walter Citrine |
| Successor | George Woodcock |
| Board member of |
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions Independent Television Authority |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1917–1919 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Unit | West Yorkshire Regiment |
| Battles/wars |
World War I • Western Front |
| Awards | Military Cross |
Sir Harold Vincent Tewson, CBE, MC (4 February 1898 – 1 May 1981) was an English trade unionist who served as General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) from 1946 to 1960.
Harold Vincent Tewson was born in Bradford, Yorkshire. After leaving school at the age of 14, he began working in the office of the Amalgamated Society of Dyers, Finishers and Kindred Trades.
He served in the Army during World War I, being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the West Yorkshire Regiment on 1 August 1917. On 4 February 1918 he was awarded the Military Cross, which was gazetted on 2 July. His citation read:
On 1 February 1919 Tewson was promoted to lieutenant in the 5th Battalion of the West Yorkshires.
After the war, Tewson returned to Bradford to work for the Dyers Union. He became involved with the Independent Labour Party, and, aged 25, became the youngest member of Bradford City Council. He joined the TUC in 1925, as Organization Secretary, and was appointed Assistant General Secretary in 1931.
In the late 1930s, during the Spanish Civil War, Tewson was active in the Aid Spain Movement, serving as Vice-Chairman of the Basque Children's Committee, an offshoot of the National Joint Committee for Spanish Relief, founded to care for the nearly 4,000 Basque children evacuated to the UK on the ship Habana in May 1937. He and his wife also organised a committee in Barnet that involved 40 organisations, including "three churches, each political party, the Odd Fellows, the British Legion and several others", all of which agreed to support individual Basque children financially, and the Tewsons helped to run the Barnet home until 1946. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in June 1942.
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