Sam Woods (politician) (original) (raw)

Sam Woods (10 May 1846 – 23 November 1915) was a British trade unionist and politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1890s. Born at Peasley Cross in St Helens, Woods began working in coal mining at the age of seven. He was elected as a pit checkweighman in 1875 and became strongly involved in trade unionism, joining the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation in 1881. When this merged into the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) in 1889, Woods became the organisation's first vice president. An elderly persons home is named after him in Ashton in Makerfield.