Fred Garfield Hague (29 September 1911[1][2] – 13 November 1984) was a British trade unionist.

Fred G Hague

Hague was born in Dixon Street, Crossbank, Waterhead, Oldham.[3] He worked as a cotton weaver. He studied at Oldham Technical College and held the honours certificate of the City and Guilds in plain and fancy weaving, and advanced certificates in spinning. He also attended Oldham School of Commerce to study spinners' costings and W.E.A. classes in economics. He then joined the staff of Oldham Technical College as a teacher of cotton weaving. In 1939 Mr. Hague was appointed organiser and collector for the Shaw district of Oldham Weavers' Association. and joined the Ashton-under-Lyne and District Weavers' Association in 1940.[4] He was elected as its general secretary by the mid-1950s,[5] and also became prominent in the Amalgamated Weavers' Association, to which it was affiliated. He joined the Army in 1940 and on demobilisation in 1945 was appointed to the Middleton branch. He became a Blackburn magistrate in 1951. He was a governor of Blackburn Technical College, and a member since its inception of the Blackburn Executive Council for the Health Services.

Hague was elected as President of the Weavers' Amalgamation in 1964. He stood down in 1968 to serve a year as Chairman of the General Federation of Trade Unions, then in 1971 was elected as General Secretary of the Amalgamation.[6] He negotiated a merger with the National Union of Textile and Allied Workers which formed the Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union, serving as its joint General Secretary for a year, then solo for a further year, when he retired.[4]

He died in Bardsley Vale Avenue [7]Oldham, Lancashire in 1984.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ 1939 England and Wales Register
  2. ^ a b England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
  3. ^ Hague Family Archive; Cheshire BMD
  4. ^ a b Report of the 117th Trades Union Congress, p.390
  5. ^ Report of the 1956 Trades Union Congress
  6. ^ Edwin Hopwood, A History of the Lancashire Cotton Industry and the Amalgamated Weavers' Association, p.190
  7. ^ Hague Family Archive
Trade union offices
Preceded by
G. Bannister
General Secretary of the Blackburn Weavers' Association
1946 – 1951
Succeeded by
John Casson
Preceded by General Secretary of the Ashton Weavers' Association
1953 – 1971
Succeeded by
Position abolished
Preceded by President of the Amalgamated Weavers' Association
1964 – 1968
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the General Federation of Trade Unions
1969
Succeeded by
Preceded by General Secretary of the Amalgamated Weavers' Association
1971 – 1974
Succeeded by
Position abolished
Preceded by
New position
General Secretary of the National Union of Textile and Allied Workers
1974 – 1976
With: Joe King (1974 – 1975)
Succeeded by