Sir Frank Walter Goldstone (7 December 1870 – 25 December 1955) was a British teacher, 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 politician.

Biography

Goldstone was born in Bishopwearmouth

Bishopwearmouth

Bishopwearmouth is an area in Sunderland, North East England.Bishopwearmouth was one of the original three settlements on the banks of the river Wear that merged to form modern Sunderland....

, County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

 (now Sunderland

City of Sunderland

The City of Sunderland is a local government district of Tyne and Wear, in North East England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough...

) on 7 December 1870. The third son of a stained-glass artist, he attended Borough Road Traininge College, Isleworth

Isleworth

Isleworth is a small town of Saxon origin sited within the London Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as...

 after completing education at Diamond Hall in Millfield.

From 1891 to 1910, Goldstone was an assistant master at Bow Street school in 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...

. In 1895, he had married Elizabeth Alice Henderson of Whittingham, Northumberland

Whittingham, Northumberland

 Whittingham is a village in the English County of Northumberland.In the village is Whittingham Tower, a pele tower dating from the thirteenth or fourteenth century, converted into almshouses in 1845, and now in private ownership.- Governance :...

. They had two children, Elsie (born 1897) and Frank (born 1899).

A member of the National Union of Teachers

National Union of Teachers

The National Union of Teachers is a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is a member of the Trades Union Congress...

 (NUT), he became president of the subgroup National Federation of Class Teachers in 1902, a member of the executive committee of NUT in 1902 and chair of its law committee in 1904. In 1910, he stepped up his participation in NUT, serving as organization secretary (1910–1918), assistant secretary (1918–1924) and finally general secretary (1924–1931).

Politics

Shortly before the December 1910 election, Goldstone was chosen as the 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...

 candidate for Sunderland

Sunderland (UK Parliament constituency)

Sunderland was a borough constituency of the House of Commons, created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election. It elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote system of election until it was split into single-member seats of Sunderland North and Sunderland South for the 1950...

, as a late replacement for R. J. Wilson (a member of the Co-operative Society). After winning the seat, he was appointed Labour Chief Whip

Labour Chief Whip

This is a list of those people who have served as Chief Whip of the Labour Party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-House of Commons:*1906: David Shackleton*1906: Arthur Henderson*1907: George Roberts*1914: Arthur Henderson*1914: Frank Goldstone...

 in 1914. He lost his seat at the 1918 election

United Kingdom general election, 1918

The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...

.

Later life

Goldstone was knighted

Knight Bachelor

The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...

 by George V

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

 at Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...

 on 29 June 1931, the same year he retired as general secretary of NUT. Subsequently, he served three years as principal of a tutorial college. In 1942 his wife died in Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

, and Goldstone followed in the same town on 25 December 1955.

Further reading

• The coming General Secretary, The Schoolmaster (11 Jan 1924), 39
• S. Blake and A. E. Henshall, Schoolmaster and Woman Teacher's Chronicle (6 Jan 1956)
• B. Simon, The politics of educational reform, 1920–1940 (1974)
• R. Barker, Education and politics, 1900–1951: a study of the labour party (1972)

External links