Will Crooks

A newsletter has come from Labour Heritage - an organisation for Labour Party history. There is an article in it by our local Paul Tyler, about 'Will Crooks and the Labour Representation Committee'. Basically he is writing to correct items in a previous newsletter about Crooks - but much of what he says is of interest in Greenwich. He talks about Crooks' adoption as a candiate by the Woolwich Labour Representative Association in 1902 and how Crooks' election to Parliament accelerated negotiations with Liberals. Paul points out however that Crooks' victory in Woolwich was the first example of a Labour candidate winning in a straight fight with Tories and he says 'the result marked the beginning of Labour's rise electorally and had a lasting political resonance on the pattern and style of future elections throughout the country'.

I keep asking Paul to come and speak to GIHS but he keeps refusing .................