# Jack Munro > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jack_Munro > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jack_Munro.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Munro > Source revision: 1335533559 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British trade unionist}} {{for|similarly named people|Jack Monroe (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''William James Munro''' (1873 – 12 January 1948) was a [British](/source/British_people) [trade unionist](/source/trade_unionist). == Early life == Born to British parents in India, Munro's father served in the [British Indian Army](/source/British_Indian_Army), and Munro lived there until he was twelve. The family then moved to [Manchester](/source/Manchester), and Munro found work with the [Midland Railway Company](/source/Midland_Railway_Company). Three years later, he undertook an apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker, joining the Manchester Society of Braziers and Sheet Metal Workers.Edmund and Ruth Frow, "Munro, William John (Jack)", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.VII, pp.189–191 == Involvement in Politics and Unions == Munro became interested in socialism, and was an early member of the [Independent Labour Party](/source/Independent_Labour_Party), and later also the [Openshaw Socialist Society](/source/Openshaw_Socialist_Society).{{cite book |last1=McHugh |first1=Declan |title=A 'Mass' Party Frustrated? The Development of the Labour Party in Manchester, 1918-31 |date=2001 |publisher=European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford |location=Salford |doi=10.4018/978-1-5225-2255-3.ch640 |url=https://salford-repository.worktribe.com/output/1453187/a-mass-party-frustrated-the-development-of-the-labour-party-in-manchester-1918-31}} Through this, he came to know [George Peet](/source/George_Peet) and [Harry Pollitt](/source/Harry_Pollitt). He also joined the [Plebs League](/source/Plebs_League). He and Jim Crossley were the Socialist Society's two delegates to the 1911 Socialist Unity Conference, which founded the [British Socialist Party](/source/British_Socialist_Party), and he later followed the party into forming the [Communist Party of Great Britain](/source/Communist_Party_of_Great_Britain) (CPGB). Munro worked at [Crossley Motors](/source/Crossley_Motors) during [World War I](/source/World_War_I), becoming a [shop steward](/source/shop_steward), taking a leading role in the city's [shop stewards movement](/source/shop_stewards_movement), and a 1917 strike at the factory. After the war, he was a founder of the [Manchester Labour College](/source/Manchester_Labour_College), at which he tutored in several subjects. He also remained active in his trade union, representing it at the 1920 conference which led to the formation of the [National Union of Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers](/source/National_Union_of_Sheet_Metal_Workers_and_Braziers), and serving on that union's first executive committee. He frequently stood to become president of the union, finally winning it in 1930/31. Munro was also active in the [Manchester and Salford Trades Council](/source/Manchester_and_Salford_Trades_Council), becoming a delegate in 1920, vice president in 1922/23, president in 1924/5, and treasurer from 1926. That year, he resigned from the CPGB, unhappy that it had criticised leaders of the [Trades Union Congress](/source/Trades_Union_Congress) during the [UK general strike](/source/UK_general_strike). In 1936, he was elected as secretary of the trades council, aligning himself with the [Labour Party](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)) and becoming increasingly opposed to the CPGB. He retired in 1944, after suffering increasingly poor health. ==References== {{start box}} {{s-npo|union}} {{succession box|title=Secretary of the [Manchester and Salford Trades Council](/source/Manchester_and_Salford_Trades_Council)|years=1936–1944|before=[A. A. Purcell](/source/A._A._Purcell)|after=Horace Newbould}} {{end box}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Munro, Jack}} Category:1873 births Category:1948 deaths Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members Category:British trade union leaders Category:People from Openshaw Category:Trade unionists from Manchester Category:Plebs' League members Category:British people in British India --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jack Munro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Munro) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Munro?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.