Thomas James Macnamara

Thomas James Macnamara PC (23 August 1861 – 3 December 1931), was a British teacher, educationalist and Liberal politician.

Education

Macnamara was born in Montreal, Canada, the son of a soldier originally from County Clare in Ireland.^[1] His family returned to Britain in 1869 and Macnamara was educated first at the Depot School in Pembroke Dock and then in Exeter. He qualified as a teacher in 1876 at the Borough Road Training College for Teachers. He was active as a teacher until 1892 in Exeter, Huddersfield and Bristol, when he became editor of The Schoolmaster. He was sometime chairman of the London School Board and in 1896 he was appointed president of the National Union of Teachers.^[2]

In 1900 he was elected to the House of Commons for Camberwell North, a seat he held until 1918, and then represented Camberwell North West until 1924. He served under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board from 1907 to 1908 and under H. H. Asquith and later David Lloyd George as Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty from 1908 to 1920 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1911. In 1920 Lloyd George appointed him Minister of Labour, with a seat in the cabinet, a position he retained until the government fell in October 1922.

Macnamara died in December 1931, aged 70, of prostate cancer.^[3]

Schoolmaster sketches – Cassell, 1896
The Education Bill and its Probable Effects on the Schools, the Schoalrs and School Teachers – Swan Sonnesschein, 1902
The Gentle Golfer – Arrowsmith, 1905
The Education Bill of 1906 Explained and Defended – Liberal Publication Dept. 1906
School Room Humour – Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, 1907
What Not To Do in H Seton-Karr, Golf – Greening, 1907
The Political Situation: Letters to Working Men – Hodder and Stoughton, 1909
Concerning the Navy – Liberal Publication Dept. 1910
Dr Macnamara's Messages to Working Men – Hodder and Stoughton, 1910
Let London Lead: The Mother City's Duty to the Empire and Herself – reprinted with additions from the Daily Chronicle, 1910
The Great Insurance Act: Addresses to Working Men – Hodder and Stoughton, 1912
The Great Insurance Act: A Year's Experience – Liberal Publication Dept 1913
Success in Industry – Harrison, 1920
The Work of the Ministry of Labour – National Liberal Council, 1922
Labour at the Crossroads: Two Camberwell Addresses – Hodder and Stoughton, 1923
If Only We Would: Some Reflections on our Social Shortcomings and Some Suggestions for their Removal – P S King, 1926

^ Robin Betts, Dr Macnamara, 1861-1931; Liverpool University Press, 1999 pp 1-2
^ The Times, 8.10.1900
^ Betts, op cit p.359

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Philip Hugh Dalbiac	Member of Parliament for Camberwell North 1900 – 1918	Succeeded by Henry Newton Knights
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Camberwell North West 1918 – 1924	Succeeded by Edward Taswell Campbell
Political offices
Preceded by Walter Runciman	Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board 1907 – 1908	Succeeded by Charles Masterman
Preceded by Edmund Robertson	Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty 1908 – 1920	Succeeded by Sir James Craig
Preceded by Robert Stevenson Horne	Minister of Labour 1920 – 1924	Succeeded by Anderson Montague-Barlow