ABSTRACT
The political careers of many of the Labour movement’s historical figures are beset with controversy; the career of George Wardle, poet, preacher, journalist, railway clerk and MP for Stockport from 1906 to 1920, is no different. On his long journey from the factories of West Yorkshire to the beaches of the Sussex coast, Wardle would achieve individual success, secure his place in history at the birth of the Labour Party and be honoured by his country. But he would also face financial and physical hardship, political disgrace in the eyes of his trade union, for whose members he had fought so vigorously throughout his life, and the loss of his religious faith. From being Acting Chairman of the Labour Party from 1916 to 1917, Wardle’s death in 1947 was not deemed worthy of mention in the union paper he had edited for two decades.
