John Wheatley

1869 - 1930

Socialist politician and leading 'Red Clydesider'. Born in Ireland, Wheatley came to Scotland as an infant and was brought up in Braehead (by Bargeddie, North Lanarkshire) and educated in Baillieston (Glasgow). He worked as a coal miner from the age of 12 until 1891, before becoming a councillor in Lanarkshire, then Glasgow. He campaigned for good housing to replace the Glasgow slums. In 1922, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Shettleston (Glasgow) representing the Independent Labour Party. As Minister of Health in the Labour government he brought in the Housing Act of 1924, which shaped public housing policy in Britain and brought hundreds of thousands of new local authority houses for rent.

John Wheatley College in Glasgow is named after him.

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