Charles Fenwick was a British trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

ist and Liberal–Labour

Liberal-Labour (UK)

The Liberal–Labour movement refers to the practice of local Liberal associations accepting and supporting candidates who were financially maintained by trade unions...

 politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1918.

Fenwick was born in Cramlington

Cramlington

Cramlington is a town and civil parish in the county of Northumberland, North East England, situated north of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The town's name suggests a probable founding by the Danes or an Anglo-Saxon origin, the word "ton" meaning town. The population was estimated as 39,000 in...

, Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

, and became a coal miner at the age of ten. In 1863 joined the union and gradually became prominent within the Northumberland Miners' Association

Northumberland Miners' Association

The Northumberland Miners' Association was a trade union in the United Kingdom.The union was founded in 1864 to represent coal miners in Northumberland, following the collapse of a short-live union covering both Northumberland and Durham miners...

, his local union. He also became a Primitive Methodist preacher

Preacher

Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...

.

At the 1885 UK general election, was elected as the Lib–Lab 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,...

 for Wansbeck

Wansbeck (UK Parliament constituency)

Wansbeck is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

 and held the seat until his death. He made over 500 contributions in Parliament.

In 1890, Fenwick was elected Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee

General Secretary of the TUC

The General Secretary of the TUC is the chief permanent officer of the Trades Union Congress, and a major figurehead in the trade union movement in the United Kingdom....

 of the Trades Union Congress

Trades Union Congress

The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...

 (TUC) – the post which later became the General Secretary. He held the post until 1894, despite being a vociferous opposent of the Eight Hour Bill.

Although Fenwick's union affiliated to the Labour Party

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...

 in 1907, Fenwick himself refused to join, and remained affiliated to the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

. He held his seat, but announced his intention to stand down from Parliament, shortly before his death in 1918.