John Wheatley
John Wheatley was an influential figure in the labour movement during the Red Clydeside period, as a leader of the rent strikes of 1915 and as a vociferous opponent of Britain's involvement in the first world war and the introduction of conscription. As a member of the Independent Labour Party, Wheatley was elected MP for the Shettleston constituency of Glasgow in 1922, and became Minister of Health in the first Labour government. Wheatley is widely regarded as the principal architect of the 1924 Housing Act whose main provision saw a massive programme of house building to provide Britain's working class with decent housing at affordable rents.
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Political cartoon comparing aristocratic consumption with worker poverty, one of a series of six cartoons published in the booklet 'The Catholic Workingman' by John Wheatley. |
| Cover and inside cover of booklet entitled 'The Catholic Workingman' by John Wheatley, published by the Catholic Socialist Society in Glasgow in 1909. Wheatley would later come to prominence as the Minister responsible for the 1924 Housing Act. |
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Article entitled 'Eviction of a soldier's wife and family at Shettleston', by John Wheatley. Published in Forward 12 June 1915. |
| Cover of booklet entitled 'Homes or Hutches?' containing transcript of speech delivered by John Wheatley in parliament on 24 April 1923 when moving the Labour Party motion for the rejection of the Tory Housing Bill. |
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Election address of John Wheatley for the October 1924 general election. |