Chapter I: Preface

This record of the career of a man whom I have known intimately in his public and private life for over a dozen years can claim at least one distinction. It is the first biography of a working man who has deliberately chosen to remain in the ranks of working men as well as in their service. From the day in the early 'nineties when he was called upon to decide between a prospective partnership in a prosperous business and the hard, joyless life of a Labour representative, with poverty for his lot and slander for his reward, he has adhered to the principle he then laid down, consistently refusing ever since the many invitations received from various quarters to come up higher. There have been endless biographies of men who have risen from the ranks of Labour and then deserted those ranks for wealthy circles. Will Crooks, in his own words, has not risen from the ranks; he is still in the ranks, standing four-square with the working classes against monopoly and privilege.

This book would have been an autobiography rather than a biography could I have had my way. Nor was I alone in urging Crooks to write the story of his life, as strenuous in its poverty as it has been in its public service. He always argued that that was not in his way at all--that, in fact, he did not believe in men sitting down to write about themselves any more than he believed in men getting up to talk about themselves.

So I have done the next best thing. Since the interpretation depends upon the interpreter, I have tried, in writing this account of his life, to make him the narrator as often as I could. Most of the incidents in his career I have given in his own words, mainly from personal talks we have had together during our years of friendship, sometimes by our own firesides, sometimes amid the stress of public life, sometimes during long walks in the streets of London. Nor do any of the incidents lose in detail or in verity by reason of many of those cherished conversations having taken place long before either of us ever dreamed they would afterwards be pieced together in book form.

Not to Crooks alone am I indebted for help in compiling this book. I owe much to members of his family, to my wife, and to other friends of his.

GEORGE HAW.

CONTENTS

PAGE
INTRODUCTION xiii

CHAPTER I. EARLIEST YEARS IN A ONE-ROOMED HOME 1

CHAPTER II. AS A CHILD IN THE WORKHOUSE 8

CHAPTER III. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 16

CHAPTER IV. ROUND THE HAUNTS OF HIS BOYHOOD 25

CHAPTER V. IN TRAINING FOR A CRAFTSMAN 33

CHAPTER VI. TRAMPING THE COUNTRY FOR WORK 43

CHAPTER VII. ONE OF LONDON'S UNEMPLOYED 50

CHAPTER VIII. THE COLLEGE AT THE DOCK GATES 57

CHAPTER IX. FROM THE CHEERING MULTITUDE TO A SORROW-LADEN HOME 67

CHAPTER X. A LABOUR MEMBER'S WAGES 75

CHAPTER XI. ON THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL 85

CHAPTER XII. TWO OF HIS MONUMENTS 96

CHAPTER XIII. THE TASK OF HIS LIFE BEGINS 105

CHAPTER XIV. THE MAN WHO FED THE POOR 112

CHAPTER XV. TURNING WORKHOUSE CHILDREN INTO USEFUL CITIZENS 119

CHAPTER XVI. ON THE METROPOLITAN ASYLUMS BOARD 128

CHAPTER XVII. A BAD BOYS' ADVOCATE 134

CHAPTER XVIII. PROUD OF THE POOR 144

CHAPTER XIX. THE FIRST WORKING-MAN MAYOR IN LONDON 154

CHAPTER XX. THE KING'S DINNER--AND OTHERS 166

CHAPTER XXI. THE MAN WHO PAID OLD-AGE PENSIONS 175

CHAPTER XXII. ELECTION TO PARLIAMENT 186

CHAPTER XXIII. ADVENT OF THE POLITICAL LABOUR PARTY 195

CHAPTER XXIV. THE LIVING WAGE FOR MEN AND WOMEN 202

CHAPTER XXV. FREE TRADE IN THE NAME OF THE POOR 210

CHAPTER XXVI. PREPARING FOR THE UNEMPLOYED ACT 219

CHAPTER XXVII. AGITATION IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 227

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE QUEEN INTERVENES 241

CHAPTER XXIX. HOME LIFE AND SOME ENGAGEMENTS 252

CHAPTER XXX. COLONISING ENGLAND 264

CHAPTER XXXI. THE REVIVAL OF BUMBLEDOM 271

CHAPTER XXXII. APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE 280

CHAPTER XXXIII. "THE HAPPY WARRIOR" 296

INDEX 303

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LIST OF PLATES

WILL CROOKS, M.P. _Frontispiece_

THE CROOKS FAMILY _Facing p._ 18

WILL CROOKS ADDRESSING AN OPEN-AIR MEETING AT WOOLWICH " 192

MR. AND MRS. WILL CROOKS " 248