James O'Grady

Sir James O'Grady, (6 May 1866 – 10 December 1934) was a trade unionist and Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the first colonial governor appointed by the Labour Party from within its own ranks. Early life O'Grady was born in Bristol to Irish parents. His father was a labourer, and after leaving school at ten, O'Grady did various lowly jobs, before training as a cabinet-maker, and became active in the Amalgamated Union of Cabinetmakers. Political career A member of the Independent Labour Party and supported by the Labour Representation Committee, he was elected at the 1906 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds East. He had benefited from the Gladstone–MacDonald pact negotiated between Herbert Gladstone and Ramsay MacDonald, and faced only a Unionist opponent, whom he defeated by a wide margin.