Richard Bell (British politician)


Richard Bell was one of the first two British Labour Members of Parliament, and the first for an English constituency, elected after the formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900.
Bell was born in Merthyr Tydfil and became a high-profile trade unionist, the general secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. He was elected for Derby, a two-member constituency, alongside a Liberal in the 1900 general election. He sympathised with the Liberals on most issues, except those that directly affected his union. This meant that he was not very compatible with the other Labour MP, Keir Hardie, a committed socialist member of the Independent Labour Party.
Although its chairman in 1902–03, by 1903 Bell was struggling to adhere to the rules of the LRC group in Parliament, which now had five members following a series of by-elections. By 1904 he was considered to have lapsed from the group and was associated with the Liberal Party. He was re-elected at the 1906 general election.
His supporters in the Derby Trades Council became disillusioned with Bell and replaced him at the January 1910 general election with another trade unionist from the ASRS, Jimmy Thomas. After leaving Parliament, Bell joined the Employment Exchange branch of the Board of Trade. He retired from that in 1920 but continued in local politics and served as a member of the Southgate Urban District Council 1922–29.

Industrial interests

In 1903, Bell joined William John Parry in forming North Wales Quarries Ltd. which owned three slate quarries in Bethesda, Gwynedd. These were intended to be run co-operatively with the workers, most of whom were on strike against the owners of the nearby Penrhyn Quarry. The three-year strike against Penrhyn was the longest industrial dispute in British history, and brought great hardship to the 2,000 quarrymen who were locked out. The operation of Pandreiniog, Moel Faban and Tanybwlch quarries failed to provide a lasting model of co-operation, but they did keep many skilled quarrymen from emigrating to the United States.