James Keir Hardie

James Keir Hardie (1856-1915) was the founder of the Labour Party in Britain. He was born into poverty in Legbrannoch, Lanarkshire and started to earn his living at the age of seven as a delivery boy. By the age of ten was working in a coalmine. Although he had little schooling he taught himself to read at home and as a young man became quite a well known lay preacher. The political pioneer Keir Hardie died a hundred years ago in September 1915 but his legend endures. To learn more about how we are celebrating the life of Keir Hardie please take a look at our on-line exhibition; a digitisation project linked to our current 'Keir Hardie - 100 years on' at The Baird Institute, Cumnock.   Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the exhibition offers an insight into the life of Keir Hardie.  

James Keir Hardie was the founder of the Labour Party in Britain. He was born into poverty in Legbrannoch, Lanarkshire and started to earn his living at the age of seven as a delivery boy, and by the age of ten was working in a coalmine. He had little formal education and he taught himself to read at home. As a young man he became quite a well known lay preacher.

In 1879 he was appointed Secretary of the Ayrshire Miners' Association and moved to Cumnock. In 1881, appalled at the conditions in the mines, he led a miners' protest against a cut in wages and organised a union of the Ayrshire miners. The protest collapsed which led to him being dismissed and black-listed by the mine-owners, as a result of this he turned to journalism for a living with the 'Cumnock News'  in 1882. He became actively involved within the Cumnock community, founding a Good Templar Lodge and promoting the temperance movement. He was invited to become the Secretary to the new Ayrshire Miners' Union in 1886 and in 1888 helped found the Scottish Labour Party and stood (unsuccessfully) as a Labour candidate at the Mid-Lanark by-election. 

In 1892 Hardie was one of three Labour men elected to serve in Parliament and he made a celebrated entry into the House of Commons, wearing not formal dress but a cloth cap and a workman's suit. In the following year he founded the Independent Labour Party, whose main aims were to spread socialism and influence the trade unions. He lost his seat at West Ham in 1895 but remained Labour Party leader and was returned as MP for Merthyr Tydfil in 1900 and remained its member until his death from a long illness in 1915. He was the first chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Widely respected for his dignity and sincerity, Keir Hardie was a convinced pacifist who opposed both the Boer War and the First World War. He also supported the Suffragette movement and advised its members on tactics. Throughout his career as an MP, Hardie continued to live in Cumnock. He lived in 'Lochnorris', a large house which he had built for his family in 1891.

To find out more visit our interactive The Life of James Keir Hardie.

You must enable javascript to view this website