PM layman and trade unionist, born in the hamlet of Dark Lane, Shropshire (now obliterated by Telford town centre). Hugh Bourne had once preached in his grandparents' kitchen and their bequest resulted in the erection of the first PM chapel in the neighbourhood. The son of a miner, his education was a year in a dame's school and then at a national school. At 13 he joined the Primitive Methodists and at 14 became a local preacher in the Oakengates & Wellington PM Circuit. He was accompanied to his appointments by S. Parkes Cadman, and encouraged him to join the itinerancy. With the development of the Cannock Chase coalfield in the 1870s, like many other Staffordshire miners he moved there, joining the Littleworth PM society. A mining accident left him lame and he was given lighter work in the pit. When the Cannock Chase Miners' Association was formed, he was appointed its agent at 23. Later he was the Secretary of the Midlands Mining Federation, having a fellow Primitive Methodist, Enoch Edwards as a colleague. An active Liberal at 15, on the formation of the County Council, he was elected for Hednesford. In 1907 he was elected in a by-election as Liberal-Labour MP for Staffordshire North West, which included Mow Cop, and became a Labour MP after re-election in 1910. He died in office on 17 December 1915.

Entry written by: DCD
Category: Person
Comment on this entry