Known generally as "Fred", Hammill was born in Leeds on 4 May 1856, trained as an engineer, and moved to London to work at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, where he became a well-known labour activist and trade unionist. Hammill spoke in defence of John Burns in trials after the 1887 Trafalgar Square Riot, was active in the London Trades Council and in the TUC, and he would speak indoors and outdoors to crowds of up to 6,000 people. He joined the Fabian Society in the early 1890s. In 1891 Hammill organised a strike of London bus and tram workers on pay and hours, and he was one of the founders of the Independent Labour Party. In 1893 he spoke at a demonstration and rally in Trafalgar Square on workers’ rights. Strongly associated with Tom Mann and with Will Crooks' Poplar-based Labour movement, Hammill helped establish the Woolwich ILP in 1894, with Robert Banner. In 1894, Hammill became a full-time organiser for the Fabian Society in Durham. A member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, in July 1895 Hammill was the first socialist to stand for election to parliament as an ILP candidate in Newcastle. Unsuccessful, he changed tack to run a pub, for which he was criticised politically. He was elected to the Thirsk Rural District Council in 1901. He died on 8 July 1901 from influenza, aged 45 years.
Personal life
When Fred Hammill was a child, his family lived in a pub in Leeds, run by his father Thomas. Hammill married Ada Peel and they had three children, Helen, Gertrude Wright ). After moving to London from Leeds, they lived at 25 Coxwell Road in Plumstead for a period. Ada's father Joseph Peel was an inn-keeper.
The Necessity of an Independent Labour Party: speech at the annual meeting of the Newcastle Independent Labour Party held at Newcastle on 3 January 1893., UK: Newcastle upon Tyne: Dowling .
The Claims and Progress of Labor Representation., UK: Newcastle upon Tyne: Dowling .
Out of Work: The Problem of the Unemployed., UK: Newcastle upon Tyne: Dowling .
"Onward to Victory" The New Party, pages 49 to 53, Book Authors: Andrew Reid; Walter Crane. Publisher: Hodder Brothers, 18 New Bridge Street, E.C., Edinburgh and London, UK. .
