Sir Harold Vincent Tewson
(1898-1981), Trade unionistSitter in 15 portraits
Tewson began his working life as an office boy at the Amalgamated Society of Dyers, later the Dyers', Bleachers', and Textile Workers Union, and eventually part of the Transport and General Workers Union. After serving in the First World War, he returned to trade union life as a clerical assistant of the Dyers' Union. During the depression of the 1920s, he moved to London where he joined the TUC as Secretary of the Organisation Department. He rose through the ranks, becoming Assistant General Secretary in 1931, and was TUC General Secretary from 1946 until 1960. He played an important role in the post-war period, when the Labour government asked the trade unions to operate a policy of voluntary pay restraint.
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