Portrait of Keir Hardie

People/labour leader, politician

Keir Hardie

Keir Hardie (1856–1915), labour leader, politician, miner, from United Kingdom. Linked to coal.

The lucky break

Started work at ten as a trapper in a Lanarkshire mine and spent twelve years underground, rising to be a skilled hewer.1,2,3

The downfall

Black-listed by coal-owners after he agitated among miners in the later 1870s, which cost him and his two younger brothers their jobs.1,2,3

Legacy

Secretary of the Ayrshire miners from 1881 and of the Scottish miners' federation from 1886. At Mid-Lanark in 1888 he polled 617 of 7,381 votes in what is described as the first independent labour contest. He chaired the Scottish Labour Party.1,2,3

Story cards

Where next

People

An example ofJ. B. McLachlanHardie went from a Scottish pit to union leadership, as McLachlan did in Cape Breton.4An example ofAlbert 'Ginger' GoodwinHardie lost his job to a coal-owners' blacklist. Goodwin was shot dead in 1918.1

Sources

  1. Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement: Hardie, James Keir Wikisource (public domain source text)
  2. Wikidata item Q332460
  3. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons
  4. McLACHLAN, JAMES BRYSON Dictionary of Canadian Biography

Pictures on this page: Keir Hardie by George Grantham Bain.jpg, George Grantham Bain (American photographer and journalist (1865–1944)) / Adam Cuerden (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: Timna in de Negevwoestijn; rotspartij "de zuilen van Salomo", Poll, Willem van de / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Dolcoath tin mine, Camborne, Cornwall: miners in a mine shaft, standing on wooden platforms connected by ladders. Photograph by J. C. Burrow, 1890/1910., Burrow, J. C., 1852-1914 (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Earth Observations taken by the Expedition 15 Crew, NASA JSC (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Mijnramp Bois du Caizier, Marcinelle, België. Schacht, Rossem, Wim van / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).