{{Short description|British trade unionist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Wilfred Blackwell Beard''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (18 January 1891<ref>''1939 England and Wales Register''</ref> – 14 December 1967) was a British trade unionist.
Born in Manchester, Beard worked as a patternmaker and became active in the United Patternmakers Association, first as a local organiser, then as secretary of its Lancashire and Cheshire district. In his early life, he was also involved in amateur dramatics.<ref name="obit">''The Times'', 18 December 1967</ref>
In 1912, he became a full-time union official. He was elected as general secretary of the Patternmakers in 1941, serving until his death in 1967, in which role he was known for his interest in trade union education, and his opposition to communism. He also served on the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) from 1947, and was President of the TUC in 1955/56.<ref name="obit" /> In addition, he chaired the TUC's Education Committee for many years, and served on a number of government commissions.<ref name="fact">"Wilfred Beard", ''Fact: a Socialist Digest'', vols.13-15, p.54</ref> He served on the Iron and Steel Board in the early 1950s, but resigned in 1953 following pressure from his union.<ref>''The Foundry Trade Journal'', vol.99, p.364</ref> In 1958/59, he was President of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions.<ref name="obit" />
Beard was made an OBE in 1948.<ref name="fact" /> However, it is recorded that in 1959 he declined the higher award of a CBE.<ref name=list>{{cite web|url=https://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/document2012-01-24-075439.pdf|title=Cabinet Office list of honours declined by since deceased persons, 1951–1999|accessdate=5 October 2013}}</ref>
Beard stood down from the TUC General Council at its 1967 Congress, and died unexpectedly before the end of the year.<ref>"Wilf Beard", ''Labour: TUC information sheet'' (1967), p.26</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{start box}} {{s-npo|union}} {{succession box|title=General Secretary of the United Patternmakers Association|years=1941–1967|before=Allan Findlay|after=Samuel McLaren}} {{succession box|title=President of the Trades Union Congress|years=1955–1956|before=Charles Geddes|after=Tom Williamson}} {{succession box|title=President of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions|years=1958–1959|before=Harry Brotherton|after=Frank Foulkes}} {{succession box|title=Trades Union Congress representative to the AFL-CIO|years=1959|with=Joseph O'Hagan|before=Jim Campbell and Tom Eccles|after=Frank Cousins and Frederick Hayday}} {{end box}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Wilfred}} Category:1891 births Category:1967 deaths Category:General secretaries of the United Patternmakers' Association Category:Trade unionists from Manchester Category:Presidents of the Trades Union Congress Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:20th-century British trade unionists