Dick Seabrook

Richard B. Seabrook (1910 – 31 January 1986), known more commonly as Dick Seabrook, was a British trade union leader, communist activist, and politician.

Biography Seabrook grew up in Chelmsford, and worked repairing shoes for the Chelmsford Star Co-operative Society. He joined the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers (NUDAW) in 1926, and in 1931 he also joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).

In 1937, Seabrook began working full-time for NUDAW as an area organiser. Ten years later, NUDAW became part of the new Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW). Seabrook remained an area organiser, but was relocated to Norwich.

Seabrook was elected to the executive council of USDAW in 1957. When union president Walter Padley was made a government minister in 1964, Seabrook won a special election to succeed him, but then lost the regularly scheduled election the following year, defeated by Rodney Hanes. In the 1967 presidential election, Seabrook won the position back and served in office until 1973 when he was defeated by Jim D. Hughes.

Seabrook opposed the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, and it led to him resigning from the CPGB. He was also active in the British Anti-Apartheid Movement. Despite not being a member of Norwich City Council, he was chosen in 1972 to be Lord Mayor of Norwich, the last non-council member to hold the post. He was described by Patrick Palgrave-Moore as "one of the most controversial figures in recent times to hold office".