28 Facts About James Maxton

James Maxton was a Scottish left-wing politician, and leader of the Independent Labour Party.

James Maxton was a pacifist who opposed both world wars.

James Maxton broke with Ramsay MacDonald and the second minority Labour government, and became one of its most bitter critics.

Whilst studying at the University of Glasgow, Maxton had described his political loyalties as lying with the Conservatives.

James Maxton soon came to socialism and in 1904 he joined the Barrhead branch of the Independent Labour Party.

James Maxton's move to socialism was heavily influenced by John Maclean, a fellow student at Glasgow University.

James Maxton was influenced by the written word, including books by Robert Blatchford and Peter Kropotkin.

Later in life, James Maxton claimed that the biggest influence in his decision to become a socialist was the grinding poverty experienced by many of the children he taught.

James Maxton subsequently convinced all his siblings to join the ILP, with his sister Annie becoming a prominent figure in the organisation.

From 1906 to 1910, James Maxton was active in the Schoolmasters' Union, where he refined his talents as a propagandist and orator.

On 14 March 1935, James Maxton married Madeline Grace Glasier, who had worked for him as a volunteer researcher and secretary for 11 years.

James Maxton was well-known as a platform orator with a thin hatchet face and mane of long black hair which fell across his face giving it a saturnine and piratical appearance, but although he was an established speaker and propagandist for the ILP, his considerable intellect had been somewhat masked by the showman's facility.

James Maxton was found guilty and imprisoned for a year.

In 1918, James Maxton was elected to the National Council of the Labour Party.

James Maxton was a keen supporter of Scottish Home Rule and was for a while the President of the Scottish Home Rule Association when Ramsay MacDonald was the Secretary of the London Branch.

James Maxton stood for parliament in the 1918 general election as a Labour Party candidate but was defeated in this first effort.

James Maxton was chairman of the ILP from 1926 to 1931, and from 1934 to 1939; he was generally seen as the symbol of the ILP after its break from Labour in 1932.

In 1927, James Maxton was elected International Chairman of the League against Imperialism at its General Council meeting in Brussels; he was re-elected to the same post at the League's 1929 Conference in Frankfurt.

In 1932, Maxton published a popular biography of Bolshevik leader V I Lenin.

In 1936, following the abdication of Edward VIII, James Maxton proposed a "republican amendment" to the Abdication Bill, which would have turned the UK from a monarchy into a republic.

James Maxton argued that while the Monarchy had benefited Britain in the past, it had now "outlived its usefulness".

On 29 January 1942, James Maxton was the only one out of 465 members of the House of Commons to vote against a Motion of Confidence in Winston Churchill's wartime government.

James Maxton died of cancer in Largs, Ayrshire, in 1946, whilst sitting as MP for Bridgeton.

James Maxton was considered one of the greatest orators of the time, both within and outside the House of Commons.

Churchill, whilst holding political opinions wholly inconsistent with those of James Maxton, described him as "the greatest parliamentarian of his day".

James Maxton heavily influenced his family's political opinions, and his mother and all his siblings joined the ILP.

James Maxton's brother John was a conscientious objector in the First World War.

Former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, published a biography, James Maxton, based on his PhD thesis at the University of Edinburgh.