Neil Beaton

rdf:langString Neil Beaton

rdf:langString Neil Beaton

rdf:langString Neil Beaton

rdf:langString Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland

rdf:langString Buickloch, Assynt, Scotland

rdf:langString Thomas Lawther

rdf:langString Fred Hayward

rdf:langString Neil Scobie Beaton

rdf:langString President of the Scottish Trades Union Congress

rdf:langString Neil Scobie Beaton (18 August 1880 – 23 October 1960) was a Scottish trade unionist and co-operative official. Born in in the Assynt area of the Scottish Highlands, Beaton moved to Edinburgh when he was eighteen and worked for a large grocers. After a few years, he found work with the St Cuthbert's Co-operative Association, which offered better pay and conditions, and this began Beaton's lifelong involvement with the co-operative movement. Beaton also joined the National Amalgamated Union of Shop Assistants, and in 1911 was appointed as its full-time Scottish organiser, greatly increasing its membership in the nation. Through this position, he was active in the Scottish Trades Union Congress, serving as its treasurer in 1916/17 and its president in 1918/19. In 1919, he left the employment of the union to become an agent of the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society (SCWS), but initially he retained membership of the Shop Assistants' Union, and even served as its president in 1921/22. With the SCWS, Beaton focused on establishing co-operative stores, particularly in the Highlands. He served as president of the SCWS from 1932 to 1946, during which time he was centrally involved in founding the and the . He was President of the Co-operative Congress in 1942, and also served on a number of government committees and quangos including the Royal Commission on the Press. In his spare time, Beaton served on Edinburgh City Council for three years, as a Labour Co-operative member.

rdf:langString Trade union

rdf:langString

rdf:langString Co-operative

rdf:langString Neil Scobie Beaton