Red Clydeside: A history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932

Literature

Homes or Hutches?, 24 Apr 1923

by John Wheatley

Pamphlet containing transcript of speech delivered by John Wheatley in parliament on 24 April 1923 when moving the Labour Party motion for the rejection of the Tory Housing Bill.

John Wheatley was converted to socialism in 1906 and formed the Catholic Socialist Society in Glasgow. The following year he joined the Independent Labour Party. By 1920 Wheatley was the leading political figure in Glasgow and in the 1922 general election was one of the ten Labour candidates elected to represent the city in the House of Commons.

Wheatley was appointed Minister of Health in the first Labour government in 1924 and was responsible for drafting the 1924 Housing Act, considered the most notable achievement of the first Labour Government.

Source: Gallacher Memorial Library, Glasgow Caledonian University Special Collections and Archives