# Geoffrey Drain

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**Geoffrey Ayrton Drain** [CBE](/source/Order_of_the_British_Empire) (26 November 1918 – 2 April 1993) was a British [trade union](/source/Trade_union) leader who was General Secretary of NALGO (the [National and Local Government Officers Association](/source/National_and_Local_Government_Officers_Association)) from 1973 to 1983, when it was the third largest trade union in the country.

Born in [Preston](/source/Preston,_Lancashire), [Lancashire](/source/Lancashire), Drain studied law at [Queen Mary College](/source/Queen_Mary_College), London. After serving in [World War II](/source/World_War_II), he became assistant secretary at the [Institute of Hospital Administrators](/source/Institute_of_Hospital_Administrators) in 1946, and became active in the [Labour Party](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)), standing unsuccessfully as their candidate in [Chippenham](/source/Chippenham_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) in the [1950 General Election](/source/1950_United_Kingdom_general_election). In 1952, he began working for [Milton Antiseptic](/source/Milton_Antiseptic), before being [called to the bar](/source/Called_to_the_bar) as a barrister in 1955. He also remained active in local politics in [Hampstead](/source/Hampstead), London, and unsuccessfully attempted to have the Labour leader [Hugh Gaitskell](/source/Hugh_Gaitskell) expelled from the constituency party when Gaitskell attempted to abandon the original version of [Clause IV](/source/Clause_IV).[1]

Initially a [Bevanite](/source/Bevanism), he joined NALGO as Deputy General Secretary in 1958, eventually becoming, in the words of the journalist [Geoffrey Goodman](/source/Geoffrey_Goodman), "the essence of a moderate, statesmanlike trade-union leader".[1] In 1973 he became the union's General Secretary and a member of the [TUC General Council](/source/TUC_General_Council). He supported the [Wilson](/source/Harold_Wilson) and [Callaghan](/source/James_Callaghan) governments, and in 1978 was one of the influential trade union leaders appointed to the [National Economic Development Council](/source/National_Economic_Development_Council) (known as "Neddy"). He retired from his positions in NALGO and the TUC in 1983.[1]

He was a member of numerous influential committees covering health, local government, and the law, which "brought him into constant contact with a vast range of authority at all levels".[1] He was a JP, [Freeman of the City of London](/source/Freeman_of_the_City_of_London), a Treasurer of the [European Movement UK](/source/European_Movement_UK) and a director of the [Bank of England](/source/Bank_of_England) from 1978 to 1986. He was appointed [CBE](/source/CBE) in the [1981 New Year Honours](/source/1981_New_Year_Honours). He died in 1993, aged 74.[1]

## References

1. Goodman, Geoffrey (5 April 1993). ["Obituary: Geoffrey Drain"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-geoffrey-drain-1453676.html). *The Independent*. Retrieved 10 June 2016.

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