Sir Jim Bowman, 1st Baronet

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Sir James Bowman, 1st Baronet, KBE (8 March 1898 – 25 September 1978) was a British trade unionist.

Born in Great Corby, near Carlisle, Bowman worked at Ashington colliery from the age of fifteen. He served in the Royal Marines during World War I, then returned to coal mining, where he became active in the Northumberland Miners' Association. He became General Secretary of the union in 1935, and Vice President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1939, holding the post unopposed until 1949, during which period he took a leading role in reorganising the union into the National Union of Mineworkers.^[1]

Bowman advised in reforming the German trade unions after World War II. He also served on the 1947 Royal Commission on the Press, and Beveridge's committee on broadcasting. He withdrew from trade unionism at the end of 1949, instead taking a National Coal Board post; in 1956, he was appointed its chairman. Bowman was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1952 Birthday Honours,^[2] and was promoted to Knight Commander (KBE) in the 1957 Birthday Honours.^[3] He stood down in 1961, due to ill health. In the 1961 New Year Honours Bowman was created as a baronet.^[4]^[5]

References

Trade union offices
Preceded by William Straker	General Secretary of the Northumberland Miners' Association 1935–1950	Succeeded by Robert Main
Preceded by Will Lawther	Vice President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain 1939–1945	Position abolished
New post	Vice President of the National Union of Mineworkers 1945–1949	Succeeded by Ernest Jones
Government offices
Preceded by Hubert Houldsworth	Chairman of the National Coal Board 1956–1961	Succeeded by Alfred Robens
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baronet (of Killingworth) 1961–1978	Succeeded by George Bowman

v t e Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
Presidents	1889 Pickard 1904 En. Edwards 1912 Smillie 1922 Smith 1929 Richards 1931 Eb. Edwards 1932 Lee 1934 J. Jones 1939 Lawther 1954 E. Jones 1960 Machen 1960 Ford 1971 Gormley 1982 Scargill 2002 Lavery 2012 Wilson
Vice-Presidents	1889 Woods 1909 Smillie 1912 Harvey 1914 House 1917 Smith 1922 Walsh 1924 Richards 1929 Eb. Edwards 1931 Lee 1932 J. Jones 1933 Davies 1934 Lawther 1939 Bowman 1950 E. Jones 1954 T. Jones 1961 Collindridge 1963 Bullough 1969 Schofield 1973 McGahey 1987 Thompson 1989 Vacant 1992 Cave 2002 Stanley 2010 Wilson 2012 Thomas
General Secretaries	1889 Ashton 1919 Hodges 1924 Cook 1932 Eb. Edwards 1946 Horner 1959 Paynter 1968 Daly 1984 Heathfield 1992 Scargill 1992 Vacant? 2002 Kemp 2007 Kitchen
Treasurers	1889 En. Edwards 1904 Abraham 1918 Robson 1921 Richardson
Affiliates and areas	Bristol Cleveland Cokemen Colliery Officials and Staffs Cumberland Derbyshire Durham Forest of Dean Kent Lancashire and Cheshire Leicestershire Midland Counties (Cannock Chase North Staffordshire Old Hill Pelsall Shropshire Warwickshire West Bromwich) Northumberland North Wales Nottinghamshire Scotland (Ayrshire Fife and Kinross Lanarkshire Mid and East Lothian Mid and West Lothian Stirling) Somerset South Derbyshire South Wales Yorkshire
Strikes	1893 1912 1926 1969 1972 1974 1984–1985

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