Henry Twist 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...

 miner's

Coal mining

The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

 agent 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.

Twist was born at Platt Bridge

Platt Bridge

Platt Bridge is a settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester England, two miles south of Wigan town centre along the spine of the A573 road. Historically part of Lancashire, the area is now a residential suburb of Wigan. The first mention of Platt Bridge in documents...

, near Wigan

Wigan

Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, and after primary education

Primary education

A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...

 at the local Wesleyan

Wesleyanism

Wesleyanism or Wesleyan theology refers, respectively, to either the eponymous movement of Protestant Christians who have historically sought to follow the methods or theology of the eighteenth-century evangelical reformers, John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley, or to the likewise eponymous...

 School, began employment at Bamfurlong coal mine at the age of eleven. At the age of thirty he became a checkweighman at the mine, having also been elected to the Wigan Rural District Council

Wigan Rural District

Wigan was a rural district in Lancashire, England from 1894 to 1974. It comprised an area to the north, but did not include the town Wigan.The district was created by the Local Government Act 1894 as the successor to the Wigan Rural Sanitary District....

. In 1906 he succeeded Sam Woods

Sam Woods

Sam Woods was a British trade unionist and politician who served as a Member of Parliament in the 1890s.Born at Peasley Cross in St Helens, Woods began working in coal mining at the age of seven...

 as the area's agent for the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation

Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation

The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation was a trade union which operated on the Lancashire Coalfield in North West England.-Background:...

, and was the organisation's vice-president in 1929. He subsequently served on the executive of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain.

Twist was twice elected to the House of Commons as a Labour 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,...

. At the January 1910 general election he became Wigan's

Wigan (UK Parliament constituency)

Wigan is a county 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...

 first Labour MP. However he was defeated at the subsequent contest in December of the same year. At the 1922 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1922

The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...

 he was returned as member for Leigh

Leigh (UK Parliament constituency)

Leigh is a 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:...

, another Lancashire coal-mining constituency. However he was forced to retire due to ill health and did not stand at the subsequent election in 1923

United Kingdom general election, 1923

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

.

Henry Twist died in Blackpool

Blackpool

Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

 in May 1934, aged 64.

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