What is Keir Hardie?
[[Image:jameskeirhardie.jpg|thumb|James Keir Hardie]] '''James Keir Hardie''' (15 August 1856 – 26 September 1915) was a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[socialist]] and labour leader, and was the first independent labour [[Member of Parliament]] (MPs) in the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|UK Parliament]], seven years before the start of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. He was born in [[Newhouse]], [[Lanarkshire]]. He worked as a [[coal]] [[mining|miner]], but his bosses stopped him from working when he made a [[trade union|union]]. He became a [[politician]], and was [[wikt:elect|elected]] to (chosen for) parliament in 1892. At first he was a [[Liberal Democrats|Liberal]], but he was interested in making a [[working class]] party. He started the Independent Labour Party in 1893, and what became the [[wikt:modern|modern]] [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour party]] in 1900. He died in [[Glasgow]] following a series of [[stroke]]s. ==Further reading== *[[Caroline Benn|Benn, Caroline]] (1992) ''Keir Hardie'' London: [[Hutchinson (publisher)|Hutchinson]] {{ISBN|0-09-175343-0}} * Kevin Jefferys (ed), ''Leading Labour: From Keir Hardie to Tony Blair'' [[IB Taurus]], 1999. {{ISBN|1860644538}} * Kenneth O. Morgan, ''Keir Hardie, Radical and Socialist'' [[Weidenfeld and Nicholson]], 1975 * Kenneth O. Morgan, ''Labour People: Leaders and Lieutenants, Hardie to Kinnock'' [[OUP]], 1987. * Greg Rosen (ed), ''Dictionary of Labour Biography''. [[Politicos Publishing]], 2001. {{ISBN|1902301188}} * Greg Rosen, ''Old Labour to New'', [[Politicos Publishing]], 2005. {{ISBN|1842750453}} ==Other websites== *[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRhardie.htm Biography of Hardie with quotes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520061407/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRhardie.htm |date=2012-05-20 }} *[http://www.rhonddacynontaffonline.co.uk/2006/12/03/keir-hardie-memorial-unveiled-in-aberdare/ Rhondda Cynon Taff Online : Unveiling the Keir Hardie Bust] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/2007120213