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126 years (26/7th February 1900) since a Cardiff union official moved the motion that founded the Labour Representation Committee

In Uncategorized on February 25, 2026 by kmflett

It is an intriguing historical and political moment as the Labour Party faces an electoral test in the Gorton and Denton By-Election on 26th February and it may not attract a social media comment from Keir Starmer.

The Labour Representation Committee was founded 126 years ago at the Memorial Hall in Farringdon St (26th and 27th February 1900). A plaque still exists but the hall is now an office block near to Ludgate Circus in central London. I represented union members in the building in the 1990s.

The LRC led to the formation of the Labour Party in 1906 when 29 Labour MPs were elected.

The man who moved the resolution at the 1899 TUC that called for the LRC conference to be held was James Holmes.

Holmes was a delegate from and officer of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (now the RMT).

He was at that time based in South Wales and lived in Cathays Cardiff. He was central in the early 1900s to the Taff Vale dispute, one of the landmark issues in the development of trade union and Labour politics in the UK.

His political and union activity is a fascinating snapshot of the transition in the labour movement from Liberal to independent Labour politics and a reminder of the role that trade union officials had in the formation of the Labour Party.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Holmes_(trade_unionist)

There is a much fuller account in Holmes’ entry in the Dictionary of Labour Biography which can be found by Googling his name.

Beyond all that Holmes was a moustache wearer underlining the historic link between Labour politics and facial hair

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