Edwin George Gooch was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 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...

 politician and trade union leader.

Gooch was appointed an Alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 for Norfolk County Council. Later, in 1935, when Wymondham Urban District Council was created, Gooch became the first Chairman of the new UDC and held the office for most of the period up to 1946.

His wife, Ethel Gooch, became the council's first lady member in 1935 and its first lady Chairman in 1951.

Gooch was elected President of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers

National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers

The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers was a trade union in the United Kingdom.It was established as the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labourers & Small Holders Union at a conference of Norfolk agricultural workers at the Angel Hotel, North Walsham on 20 July 1906...

 in 1928 and held the position until his death in 1964.

At the 1931 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1931

The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...

, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

-held South Norfolk

South Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)

South Norfolk is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1868 until 1885 it returned two members but thereafter elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 constituency.

Gooch did not contest the 1935 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1935

The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...

, but at the 1945 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1945

The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...

, he was elected as 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 North Norfolk

North Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)

North Norfolk 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....

, defeating the Conservative MP Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook (English politician)

Sir Thomas Russell Albert Mason Cook was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1931 to 1945....

. He held the seat until his death shortly before the 1964 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1964

The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...

.

He was chairman of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee

National Executive Committee

The National Executive Committee or NEC is the chief administrative body of the UK Labour Party. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, Constituency Labour Parties,...

 from 1955 to 1956.

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