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Frederick Gould

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Gould in 1924

Frederick Gould OBE (28 June 1879 – 23 February 1971) was an English trade unionist and Labour Party politician who was a member of parliament (MP) for Frome from 1923 to 1924 and from 1929 to 1931. He was also the father of Sir Ronald Gould, teacher and trade unionist.

Early life

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Gould was born in Midsomer Norton, Somerset.[1] He came from a mining family with a strong Methodist background.[2] His father had been one of the founders of the Somerset Miners' Association.[2] Frederick attended his local Church of England school. He left school at 12 and began work as a stable boy. A few years later he took a job as a 'rounder' at Ollie Edwards's Boot Factory in Midsomer Norton.[3]

He married Emma Gay (born 1880, Radstock),[1] at 24, and his first child Ronald was born ten months later.[2] Emma was descended from the playwright John Gay.[2] She had been a servant to the Monckton family at Clevedon, her duties including looking after their children including the young Sir Walter Monckton.[2]

Political career

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He became local secretary of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives.[2] In 1908 he became an unpaid organiser for the Independent Labour Party and started several branches.[2] In 1910 he won a seat on Radstock Urban District Council.[2]

He successfully stood as Labour MP at the General Election on 6 December 1923.[4] He lost the seat in the election of 1924, but regained it in 1929. He became a parliamentary private secretary in 1930, but lost the seat in Labour's electoral defeat in 1931. At that point his union decided that it wanted him to fight a seat with a larger proportion of footwear workers, but he was defeated at the 1935 election in Leicester East.[5] He received the OBE in 1945.[2]

Later life

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He died on 23 February 1971. His wife Emma died on 1 September 1972, aged 91.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gould, Sir Ronald (1976). Chalk up the memory : an autobiography of Sir Ronald Gould. Birmingham: George Philip Alexander. ISBN 0-540-09836-1. OCLC 2983434.
  3. ^ "Site of former Boot & Shoe Factory – Midsomer Norton". Wikimapia. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Mr Frederick Gould, former MP, Frome". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  5. ^ Thorpe, Andrew (1998). "Frome Divisional Labour Party 1918-1949/North Somerset Constituency Labour Party 1949-1983: A Brief Introduction to the Microfilm Edition" (PDF). Microform Academic Publishers. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Frome
19231924
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Frome
19291931
Succeeded by