John Jagger

John Jagger (born October 1, 1872 , † July 9, 1942 in Beaconsfield ) was a British trade unionist and politician ( Labor Party ).

Life and activity

In his younger years Jagger toured India, China and Burma. At the turn of the century he became a full-time trade unionist. In that area, he eventually made it to chair of the York Trades and Labor Council and then president of the Amalgamated Union of Co-Operative Employees, of which he was a co-founder.

In 1921 Jagger became president of the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers. He held this post until 1935.

In the British general election of 1935 Jagger was elected as a candidate for the Labor Party in the Manchester Clayton constituency as a member of the House of Commons. He was able to prevail in this election against the conservative holder of the parliamentary seat for this constituency, William Flanagan . Subsequently, he was a member of the House of Commons until his death in 1942.

In the following years he became one of the most prominent left-wing MPs in the House of Commons: he was one of the most outspoken British supporters of the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and also toured this country in 1938.

As the leading left-wing member of the lower house, Jagger was targeted by the National Socialist police officers at the end of the 1930s, who classified him as an important target: In the spring of 1940, the Reich Main Security Office in Berlin put him on the special wanted list GB , a directory of people who would be killed in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of the British Isles by the Wehrmacht should be located and arrested by the occupation troops following special SS commandos with special priority.

In May 1940, Jagger was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary Herbert Morrison , the supply minister in the Churchill government ( Minister of Supply appointed). He kept this post when Morrison was appointed Home Secretary in October 1940 .

Jagger died in a traffic accident in 1942: on the way from a hut near Beaconsfield, in which he had spent a few days, to the Beaconsfield railway station, Jagger collided with his motorcycle with an automobile and was killed immediately. Jagger's death made a by-election to fill his parliamentary seat necessary. In this election the Labor candidate Harry Thorneycroft managed to unite the majority of the votes and to take over Jagger's mandate.

family

Jagger had been married to Martha Southern since 1899, with whom he had two sons.

Fonts

• Russia Re-visited: Notes Compiled During a Second Visit to Russia , 1933.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry on Jagger on the special wanted list GB (reproduced on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London) .