E. L. Richardson (trade unionist)

Effingham Lysaght Richardson (1860–1947) was an Irish trade unionist.

Born into a Church of Ireland family, Richardson joined the Roman Catholic church shortly before his marriage in 1883.^[1] Richardson became active in the Dublin Typographical Provident Society,^[2] and was elected to the Dublin Corporation in 1898 as an independent labour candidate.^[3]

Richardson was elected as Secretary of the Irish Trade Union Congress in 1901,^[4] serving until 1909, when he resigned to become the superintendent at the Dublin Labour Exchange.^[5] He also served a year as President of the Dublin Trades Council in 1903.^[6] In this role, he was able to continue his opposition to Jim Larkin, particularly during the Dublin Lockout.^[7] Becoming a fierce opponent of the Labour Party, he lost his council seat in the mid-1910s.^[8]

Richardson retired in 1934, and died in 1947. He was distantly related to Iris Murdoch.^[1]

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Peter Conradi, Iris Murdoch: A Life
2. ↑ Donal Nevin, James Connolly, p.163
3. ↑ Terence Bowman, People's Champion, p.129
4. ↑ Donal Nevin, Trade Union Century, p.217
5. ↑ Vincent Kinane, A history of the Dublin University Press, 1734-1976, p.262
6. ↑ Séamus Cody, John O'Dowd and Peter Rigney, The Parliament of labour: 100 years of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, p.251
7. ↑ Padraig Yeates, Lockout Dublin 1913
8. ↑ Arthur Mitchell, Labour in Irish Politics, 1890-1930, p.64