Alfred Short was a British trades unionist and Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician, Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Wednesbury

Wednesbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Wednesbury was a borough constituency in England's Black Country which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election....

 from 1918 to 1931, and for Doncaster

Doncaster (UK Parliament constituency)

Doncaster was a Parliamentary constituency covering the town of Doncaster in England. The constituency was created in 1885 and abolished in 1983.- Boundaries :...

 from 1935 until 1938.

Alfred Short began his working life apprenticed to a boiler-maker at 5s. a week. He rose to become Secretary of the Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 Branch of the Boiler-Makers' Society from 1911 to 1919, and serve on Sheffield City Council from 1913 to 1919. He was also Secretary of the National Union of Docks, Wharves and Shipping Staffs. Elected an MP in 1918, Short continued other political activity: in 1922 he was chairman of the Management Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions

General Federation of Trade Unions (UK)

The General Federation of Trade Unions is a national trade union centre in the United Kingdom. It has 35 affiliates with a membership of just over 214,000 and describes itself as the "federation for specialist unions".-History:...

, and he was called to the Bar from Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 in 1923. He was Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department

Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department

-Non-permanent and parliamentary under-secretaries, 1782-present:*April 1782: Evan Nepean*April 1782: Thomas Orde*July 1782: Henry Strachey*April 1783: George North*February 1784: Hon. John Townshend*June 1789: Scrope Bernard*July 1794: The Hon...

 from 1929 to 1931. From 1931 to 1935, when he was out of the House of Commons, he worked for the Transport and General Workers' Union

Transport and General Workers' Union

The Transport and General Workers' Union, also known as the TGWU and the T&G, was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland - where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union - with 900,000 members...

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