J K Hardie

Scottish Labour leader Keir Hardie (1856 - 1915) addressing a tailors' rally on May Day in Hyde Park, London. Keir Hardie was born in Legbrannock, in Lanarkshire, and worked in a coalpit from the age of 10. After working as a journalist he turned to politics. The founding Chairman of the Scottish Labour Party (1888), which was the first independent labour party in Britain, Keir Hardie was elected to Parliament in 1892 for West Ham South, and then in 1900 for Merthyr Tydfil. He was one of the founders of the new Independent Labour Party in 1893 and also established the socialist journal, 'The Labour Leader'. Hardie was a pacifist and strenuously opposed the Boer War. He was the first leader of the Labour Party in Parliament (1906-07). (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)