James Winstone

Who was James Winstone?

James Winstone was a British trade unionist

Born in Risca, Winstone worked from the age of eight, first at a local brickworks, then at Risca United Colliery. He was elected checkweighman, and worked with William Brace to campaign against the sliding pay scale. As a result, he was a prominent founder member of the South Wales Miners' Federation in 1898.

Winstone was also active in the Independent Labour Party, and was a Baptist lay preacher. He was elected for the Labour Party to Risca Urban District Council, then to Abersychan council, which he chaired in 1911. In 1907, he was elected to Monmouthshire County Council. He stood at Monmouth Boroughs at the 1906 UK general election, but received no backing from his union, and was not elected. In 1912, he was elected as Vice President of the SWMF, the first socialist to such a position. He was selected as the Labour candidate for the Merthyr Tydfil by-election, 1915, the seat having previously been held by Keir Hardie, but he was defeated by Charles Butt Stanton of the British Workers League, who had resigned as a miners' agent to run with Conservative and Liberal support as a pro-war independent labour candidate.