Social mobility before Roy Jenkins. How ironic that Woy, a son of the Valleys like his miner father Arthur Jenkins, should have presided over the changes that wiped out social mobility for the very people he came from.
The son of a miner, Sir Tasker Watkins was born on November 18, 1918, in Nelson, south Wales, and was educated at Pontypridd Grammar School.
He served as a Lieutenant and then Major in the Welch Regiment throughout the Second World War. He was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1944 aged 25.
(Portrait by David Griffiths)
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I once saw a picture of a bewigged lawyer on the cover of a law book. He was in a procession and wore all his regalia. On looking closely, I couldn't quite believe what I saw. He was wearing a Victoria Cross.
I fould out who he was. Sir Tasker Watkins VC. I then spent the evening on the net and found out more about the life of this remarkable man.
I am not Welsh but would ask all Welshman to be very proud of this wonderful man and, if you don't know much about him, have a dig around and find out more.
A bloody good bloke.
R.I.P., Sir Tasker. Britain is grateful for men like you, and it breaks my heart to say we may not see your like again.
I didn't think Woy Jenkins pere was a miner but rather an NUM Union Official who became an MP and his mother I see was the daughter of a local steelworks manager......
So I guess they might be called lower middle class which is about the only way a Grammar School boy would get into Balliol
Arthur Jenkins (1884 – 25 April 1946) was a Welsh trade unionist and Labour Party politician.
Jenkins was a coal miner's agent who went on to study at the Sorbonne in Paris and at Ruskin College, Oxford, before becoming Vice-President of the South Wales Miners Federation. At the 1935 general election he was elected to the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontypool, replacing former Labour minister Thomas Griffiths. He held the seat until his deah in 1946 at the age of 62.
Jenkins married Hattie Harris, the daughter of a local steelworks manager. Their son Roy Jenkins also became a Labour MP, and served as Home Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and President of the European Commission.
An excellent piece by J.R. Nyquist on the state of Western "Civilisation" that is well worth reading:
http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/geo/pastanalysis/2007/0907.html
That link doesn't work. Could you provide a link that does please?
www.tinyurl.com
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