Catalogue Number
NMLH.2011.2.15
Object Name
Medal
Title
on bar of green ribbon: Honorary Freedom
Place
Southwark, London
People
Jack Jones, Southwark Borough Council, National Pensioners Convention (NPC), Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU)
Date
2004
Description
A gold medal on a short green ribbon. The centre is white enamel and shows the coat of arms for the Borough of Southwark. The reverse is engraved to 'Dr Jack Jones 8th May 2004'.
This medal was presented to the British trade union leader, Jack Jones (1913-2009) by the Borough of Southwark in 2004, the area of London where he lived. The 'Freedom of the Borough' award was given for long service to the Borough, particularly to the Pensioners Movement. Following his retirement from workers trade unions, Jones had formed the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), which was an umbrella organisation representing more than a thousand national, regional and local area pensioners' groups. He was their president from 1979-2001.
Jones was born in Liverpool, and became a docker after losing his job as an engineer during the Great Depression. He describes being a socialist after reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists after being passed the book in workplace. Jones describes this as the method through which many workers became convinced of the need to participate in an organised labour movement. Jones joined the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), became a shop steward, then joined the National Docks Group Committee, becoming general secretary of the entire TGWU in 1968. One of his achievements as a union leader was helping to establish the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) which acts as a neutral party to help solve disputes and grievances between workers and employers. By 1977, polls indicated that 54% of people viewed Jones as the most powerful man in the country, outstripping even the Prime Minister and the monarch. A committed anti-fascist, Jones also fought in the British
Battalion of the XV (Fifteenth) International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, and was wounded during the Battle of the Ebro in 1938. PHM's collection of medals from Jones are largely a mix of honours relating to his service in Spain, and acknowledgements of his service to the trade union movement.
