The Right Honourable George Nicoll Barnes

Leader of the Labour Party

In 1906 Barnes became one of the first two Labour MPs to represent Scottish constituencies when he secured the seat for Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchenson Town defeating the  sitting Conservative minister, Andrew Bonar Law. Four years later in 1910 Barnes became the Leader of the Labour Party following Arthur Henderson’s resignation. In his own words though Barnes was “only holding the fort” for Ramsay MacDonald, who was grieving his young son’s death from diptheria, and in 1911 Barnes stood aside to allow for MacDonald’s unopposed succession.

The First World War

Barnes’ strong support of Britain’s involvement in the First World War and a policy of conscription did not waiver despite losing his 26 year old son, Henry, in action at Loos in 1915.  In 1917 he became the Pensions Minister and then the Minister without Portfolio in David Lloyd George’s coalition War Cabinet. In June 1919 Barnes joined dignatories at the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, Paris to sign the Peace Treaty that officially ended the First World War, and whose terms were to shape the next tragic episode of world history.  

Foundation of the International Labour Organisation

Barnes' longest lasting legacy must be the instrumental part he played in the foundation of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) at the same Paris conference. The ILO embraced his vision that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace. Today it brings together governments, employers and workers of 187 member states to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men.

Resignation, and The New Commonwealth

Although the Labour Party withdrew from the Coalition at the end of the War, Barnes refused to do so and remained in Lloyd George’s Cabinet until ill health forced his resignation in 1920.  In 1922, faced with Labour Party opposition, he decided not to recontest his Glasgow seat and instead concentrate on promoting international cooperation for peace.  In 1932 he was a founder member, alongside Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein, of ‘The New Commonwealth’, an organisation which challenged the concept of absolute national sovereignty and advocated for an international tribunal backed by military enforcement.

Death

Barnes died in Herne Hill in 1940 and is buried in his wife’s family grave.  His connection with Fulham spans the 1880s and 90s. He was living at 20 Ackmar Road, Parsons Green when, in 1882, he married his cousin, Jessie, daughter of Thomas Patrick Langlands, a bookbinder who lived in Clerkenwell. The family then appears on the 1891 census as living at 36 Prothero Road, Fulham. Others commemorated on the gravestone are his sons, James and Henry, mother-in law, Mary Thompson Langlands, and brother-in-law, William Langlands.

The Friends are keen to commemorate such an illustrious resident and would like to hear from anyone who can contribute to our research.