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Emanuel Shinwell

The Right Honourable
The Lord Shinwell
CH PC
Emanuel Shinwel HU 059765 (crop).jpg
Minister for Defence
In office
28 February 1950 – 26 October 1951
Prime Minister Clement Attlee
Preceded by A. V. Alexander
Succeeded by Winston Churchill
Secretary of State for War
In office
7 October 1947 – 28 February 1950
Prime Minister Clement Attlee
Preceded by Frederick Bellenger
Succeeded by John Strachey
Minister of Fuel and Power
In office
3 August 1945 – 7 October 1947
Prime Minister Clement Attlee
Preceded by Gwilym Lloyd George
Succeeded by Hugh Gaitskell
Secretary for Mines
In office
5 June 1930 – 3 September 1931
Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by Ben Turner
Succeeded by Isaac Foot
In office
23 January 1924 – 11 November 1924
Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by George Lane-Fox
Succeeded by George Lane-Fox
Financial Secretary to the War Office
In office
11 June 1929 – 5 June 1930
Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by Duff Cooper
Succeeded by William Sanders
Personal details
Born Emanuel Shinwell
18 October 1884 (1884-10-18)
Spitalfields, London, England, UK
Died 8 May 1986 (1986-05-09) (aged 101)
Nationality United Kingdom
Political party Labour

Emanuel Shinwell, Baron Shinwell, CH, PC (18 October 1884 – 8 May 1986), known informally as Manny Shinwell, was a British trade union official, Labour politician and one of the leading figures of Red Clydeside. He is best remembered as the government minister in charge of Britain's coal supply during the extremely harsh winter of January to March 1947. Coal had just been nationalized and the supply system collapsed, leaving Britain to freeze and close down. Shinwell denied there were problems and refused to assume responsibility, blaming the climate, the railway system, or capitalism generally. The cabinet had to take control away from him and he became the scapegoat.

Shinwell was born in Spitalfields, London, but his family moved to Glasgow, Scotland. His father was a Polish Jew who had a small clothing shop and his mother, a Dutch Jew, was a cook from London. He educated himself in a public library and at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery. He enjoyed sport, particularly boxing, and he was the trainer of a local football team. He began his working life as a machinist in a clothing workshop. In 1903 he became active in the Amalgamated Union of Clothing Operatives, and joined the Glasgow Trades Council in 1906 as a delegate of that union.

In May 1911, he was seconded to help organise the seamen of Glasgow at the request of Havelock Wilson of the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union (NSFU). He played a prominent role in the six-week Glasgow seamen's strike which began on 14 June and which was part of a nationwide strike. He subsequently became the secretary of the Glasgow branch of the NSFU. In August 1912, he participated in a revolt against the union, which resulted in the Glasgow branch becoming part of the Southampton-based British Seafarers' Union (BSU). He was the local secretary of the BSU until it became part of the Amalgamated Marine Workers' Union (AMWU) in 1922, after which he served as National Organiser of the new organisation. In 1919, he gained national notoriety through his involvement in the Glasgow 40 Hours' Movement. This movement culminated in clashes between police and protesters in Glasgow's George Square. He was afterwards tried for incitement to riot and was sentenced to five months' imprisonment.


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