Alexander Macdonald

Alexander Macdonald (27 June 1821 – 31 October 1881) was a Scottish miner, teacher, trade union leader and Lib–Lab politician.

Family and education Macdonald was born in New Monkland, Lanarkshire, the son of Daniel McDonald and his wife Ann (née Watt). His father was an agricultural worker at that time but had formerly served in the Royal Navy and was later to work as a coal and iron miner. Macdonald, who adopted the longer spelling of his name in the 1870s, had little formal education as a boy, but in his twenties he attended evening classes, learning Latin and Greek. He also managed to fund attendance at winter sessions for students at Glasgow University from work as a coal miner during the summer months.

Career At the age of eight Alexander joined his father down the mines. Macdonald worked in both coal and ironstone mines for the next sixteen years. Macdonald was one of the leaders of the 1842 Lanarkshire mining strike and after its defeat he lost his job forcing him to find work in another colliery.

Macdonald's education at Glasgow enabled him to become a teacher and he opened his own school in 1851.

Macdonald's efforts to unify the miners bore fruit in November 1863 when at a meeting in Leeds workers formed the Miners' National Association and elected Macdonald as president.

In 1868, Macdonald was briefly selected to be one of the candidates to contest the parliamentary constituency of Kilmarnock Burghs. However he chose to withdraw from the race to enable another advanced Liberal candidate to have a better chance of success against the more moderate sitting Liberal MP, Edward Pleydell-Bouverie.

In 1874, Macdonald was invited to stand as the Lib–Lab candidate for Stafford at the 1874 general election. Macdonald won the seat and with Thomas Burt was among the first working-class members of the House of Commons.

In Parliament Macdonald tended to concentrate on trade union matters but he was also a strong supporter of Irish Home Rule. Macdonald's views had always been moderate and he chose to work for reform within the parliamentary system rather than try to change things by radical direct action. This had previously led to challenges to his leadership of the miners when in 1864 the radical journalist John Towers, and the former Chartist lawyer W. P. Roberts, withdrew from Macdonald's National Association and established the Practical Miners' Association which tried to pursue a more aggressive industrial policy. They also accused Macdonald of being politically too close to the coal owners. Later, some socialists, such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, criticised Macdonald for his close relationship with Benjamin Disraeli and the Conservative Party.

Macdonald was re-elected for Stafford in the 1880 general election.

Death After suffering from jaundice for a few weeks He was buried at New Monkland churchyard.