Edward Cowey often known as Ned Cowey, was a British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 trade unionist.

Cowey was born in Longbenton

Longbenton

Longbenton is a district of North Tyneside, England. It is largely occupied by an extensive estate originally built as municipal housing by Newcastle City Council in the 1950s and 1960s. It is served by the Tyne and Wear Metro stations Longbenton Metro station and Four Lane Ends Metro Station...

, 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 began working in local coal mines at the age of seven, opening and closing a trapdoor for fourteen hours a day. In 1858, he and his workmates were able to work together to break the written agreement of working practices, for which he was blacklist

Blacklist

A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...

ed. He briefly worked at sea, but returned to Monkwearmouth

Monkwearmouth

Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bishopwearmouth and Sunderland, the area now known as the East End. It includes the area around St. Peter's Church...

 where again he made efforts to improve working conditions.

In an effort to find further work, Cowey moved to Sharlston in the West Riding of Yorkshire

West Riding of Yorkshire

The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...

 in 1871, and was elected as checkweighman. There, he joined the West Yorkshire Miners' Association (WYMA), and was elected President in 1873, then served in the post again from 1876. In 1881, the WYMA merged with the South Yorkshire Miners' Association to form the Yorkshire Miners' Association

Yorkshire Miners' Association

The Yorkshire Miners' Association was a British trade union.The union was founded in 1881 with the merger of the South Yorkshire Miners' Association, and the West Yorkshire Miners' Association, agreed only because both organisations were weakened by unsuccessful disputes...

, and Cowey was appointed as its first President.

Cowey was also a member of the board of the Miners' National Union, and when the Miners' Federation of Great Britain was formed in 1889, Cowey was elected to its committee. In 1893, he was elected to the Parliamentary Committee 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...

, where he was a prominent opponent of socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

.

In his spare time, Cowey was a Primitive Methodist lay preacher.