# Vincent Tewson

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{{Short description|English trade unionist}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name             = Vincent Tewson
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|MC|size=100%}}
| image            = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = 
| birth_name       = Harold Vincent Tewson
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1898|2|4|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = [Bradford](/source/Bradford), [Yorkshire](/source/Yorkshire)
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1981|5|2|1898|2|4|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [Letchworth](/source/Letchworth), [Hertfordshire](/source/Hertfordshire)
| death_cause      = 
| resting_place    = 
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = 
| occupation       = Trade unionist
| years_active     = 1912–1960
| employer         = {{nowrap|Amalgamated Society of Dyers}}<br/>Trades Union Congress
| title            = [General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress](/source/General_Secretary_of_the_Trades_Union_Congress)
| term             = 1946–1960
| predecessor      = [Walter Citrine](/source/Walter_Citrine)
| successor        = [George Woodcock](/source/George_Woodcock_(trade_unionist))
| party            = 
| movement         = 
| opponents        = 
| boards           = [International Confederation of Free Trade Unions](/source/International_Confederation_of_Free_Trade_Unions)<br/>[Independent Television Authority](/source/Independent_Television_Authority)
| spouse           = 
| partner          = 
| children         = 
| parents          = 
| module           = {{Infobox military person
| embed=yes
| allegiance = United Kingdom
| branch = British Army
| service_years = 1917–1919
| rank = Lieutenant
| unit = [West Yorkshire Regiment](/source/West_Yorkshire_Regiment)
| battles = [World War I](/source/World_War_I)<br/>{{*}}[Western Front](/source/Western_Front_(World_War_I))
| awards = [Military Cross](/source/Military_Cross)
}}
}}

'''Sir Harold Vincent Tewson''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|MC}} (4 February 1898 – 1 May 1981) was an English trade unionist who served as [General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress](/source/General_Secretary_of_the_Trades_Union_Congress) (TUC) from 1946 to 1960.<ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/589279/Sir-Vincent-Tewson |title=Sir Vincent Tewson |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |year=2015 |access-date=30 March 2015}}</ref>

==Biography==
Harold Vincent Tewson was born in [Bradford](/source/Bradford), [Yorkshire](/source/Yorkshire). After leaving school at the age of 14,<ref name="obit">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Sir Vincent Tewson |newspaper=The Times |location=London, England |date=2 May 1981 |page=16 }}</ref> he began working in the office of the [Amalgamated Society of Dyers, Finishers and Kindred Trades](/source/Amalgamated_Society_of_Dyers%2C_Finishers_and_Kindred_Trades).<ref name="britannica"/>

He served in the Army during World War I, being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the [West Yorkshire Regiment](/source/West_Yorkshire_Regiment) on 1 August 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=14 August 1917 |supp=y |issue=30232 |page=8319 |nolink=yes }}</ref> On 4 February 1918 he was awarded the [Military Cross](/source/Military_Cross),<ref>{{London Gazette |date=1 February 1918 |supp=y |issue=30507 |page=1606 |nolink=yes }}</ref> which was [gazetted](/source/gazetted) on 2 July. His citation read:

:2nd Lieutenant Harold Vincent Tewson, West Yorkshire Regiment.
::"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When his men came under very severe machine-gun fire he dashed in front, and so encouraged them by his fearless example that they drove the enemy back and captured the objective. When the fire became so heavy that a gap was caused on his flank, he ran along the front of the line, rallied the men and formed a defensive flank, thus saving a critical situation."<ref>{{London Gazette |date=2 July 1918 |supp=y |issue=30780 |pages=7925–7926  |nolink=yes }}</ref>

On 1 February 1919 Tewson was promoted to lieutenant in the 5th Battalion of the West Yorkshires.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=8 April 1919 |supp=y |issue=31285 |page=4726 |nolink=yes }}</ref>

After the war, Tewson returned to Bradford to work for the Dyers Union.<ref name="britannica"/> He became involved with the [Independent Labour Party](/source/Independent_Labour_Party), and, aged 25, became the youngest member of [Bradford City Council](/source/Bradford_City_Council).<ref name="obit"/> He joined the TUC in 1925, as Organization Secretary, and was appointed Assistant General Secretary in 1931.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/digital/scw/more/tuc/ |title=The Trades Union Congress, 1936-1939: Its history and organisation |work=University of Warwick |year=2015 |access-date=30 March 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Westminster, Congress House - geograph.org.uk - 1402489.jpg|thumb|left|[Congress House](/source/Congress_House), the TUC headquarters which was inaugurated in 1958, while Tewson was general secretary]]

In the late 1930s, during the [Spanish Civil War](/source/Spanish_Civil_War), Tewson was active in the Aid Spain Movement, serving as Vice-Chairman of the Basque Children's Committee, an offshoot of the [National Joint Committee for Spanish Relief](/source/National_Joint_Committee_for_Spanish_Relief), founded to care for the nearly [4,000 Basque children evacuated to the UK](/source/Evacuation_of_children_in_the_Spanish_Civil_War) on the ship ''Habana'' in May 1937.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/digital/scw/more/aid/ |title=Aid to Spain |website=[Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick](/source/Modern_Records_Centre%2C_University_of_Warwick) |date=4 April 2016 |access-date=5 August 2016}}</ref> He and his wife also organised a committee in [Barnet](/source/London_Borough_of_Barnet) that involved 40 organisations, including "three churches, each political party, the [Odd Fellows](/source/Odd_Fellows), the [British Legion](/source/British_Legion) and several others", all of which agreed to support individual Basque children financially,<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.basquechildren.org/-/docs/articles/lecture2009 |title=Basque Refugee Children in Britain, 1937-1939: Personal memory and public history |first=Tom |last=Buchanan |date=3 October 2009 |website=Basque Children of '37 Association UK |access-date=5 August 2016}}</ref> and the Tewsons helped to run the Barnet home until 1946.<ref>{{cite book |title=The signal was Spain : the Spanish Aid Movement in Britain, 1936-1939 |first=Jim |last=Fyrth |year=1986 |location=London |publisher=Lawrence and Wishart |isbn=9780853156437 }}</ref> He was made a [Commander of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in June 1942.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=5 June 1942 |issue=35586 |page=2489 |nolink=yes }}</ref>

Tewson succeeded Walter Citrine as General Secretary of the TUC in 1946,<ref name="britannica"/> supporting the post-war economic recovery of Europe, and assisting in creating a trades union advisory [Committee for the Marshall Plan](/source/Committee_for_the_Marshall_Plan). In 1949 he was the secretary of the conference at Geneva during which the [International Confederation of Free Trade Unions](/source/International_Confederation_of_Free_Trade_Unions) (ICFTU) was created, and served as its President from 1951 to 1953.<ref name="britannica"/>  He was [knighted](/source/Knight_Bachelor) on 14 March 1950.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=17 March 1950 |issue=38865 |page=1356 |nolink=yes }}</ref> Tewson retired as General Secretary in 1960, and in November of that year was appointed a part-time member of the [London Electricity Board](/source/London_Electricity_Board).<ref>{{cite news|title=People in the News|newspaper=Middlesex County Times|date=12 November 1960|page=14}}</ref> In 1964 he was appointed a member of the [Independent Television Authority](/source/Independent_Television_Authority).<ref>{{London Gazette |date=7 August 1964 |issue=43403 |page=6682 |nolink=yes }}</ref>

He died in [Letchworth](/source/Letchworth), [Hertfordshire](/source/Hertfordshire) in 1981.<ref name="britannica"/>

His son Peter Tewson (b.1944) attended [Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Barnet](/source/Queen_Elizabeth's_Grammar_School%2C_Barnet).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-npo|union}}
{{succession box
  | title  = Assistant General Secretary of the TUC
  | years  = 1931–1946
  | before = [Alec Firth](/source/Alec_Firth)
  | after  = [George Woodcock](/source/George_Woodcock_(trade_unionist))
}}
{{Succession box
  | title  = [General Secretary of the TUC](/source/General_Secretary_of_the_TUC)
  | years  = 1946&ndash;1960
  | before = [Walter Citrine](/source/Walter_Citrine)
  | after  = [George Woodcock](/source/George_Woodcock_(trade_unionist))
}}
{{S-end}}

{{ICFTU}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tewson, Vincent}}
Category:1898 births
Category:1981 deaths
Category:People from Letchworth
Category:Trade unionists from Bradford
Category:West Yorkshire Regiment officers
Category:Recipients of the Military Cross
Category:General secretaries of the Trades Union Congress
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Knights Bachelor
Category:British Army personnel of World War I
Category:Military personnel from Bradford
Category:20th-century trade unionists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vincent Tewson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Tewson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Tewson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.