Randal Cremer

His first wife died in 1876 while his second wife died in 1884 and this made him a lonely man. He did not have any children from either marriage.

William Randal Cremer died of pneumonia on July 22, 1908 in London, UK.

He lived a very simple life, worked for long hours and loved every aspect of nature and the environment.

William Randal Cremer was born on March 18, 1828 in a small town called Fareham in England. His father was a coach painter and left his mother, a simple housewife, when William was just an infant and she had to bring up her children in spite of abject poverty.

He did his early schooling in a Methodist church school at his mother’s insistence.

At the age of fifteen he became an apprentice in his uncle’s company and later on became a full fledged carpenter. Initially he worked in shipyards as a carpenter.

William Randal Cremer moved to London in 1852 to try his luck which he found in the workers movement.

At age of thirty he was became a member of a council fighting for the implementation of a nine-hour working day shift. In the same year he led a group of 70,000 men who were demonstrating against a lockout.

He formed a single union of people who worked as carpenters and jointers across the country.

He helped in forming the ‘International Working Men’s Association’ in 1865 and was elected its secretary.

He resigned from his post in 1867 when he thought that the organization was undergoing radicalization.

William Randal Cremer received his knighthood from King Edward VII in 1907 and was allowed by the monarch not to wear a sword during the swearing in ceremony.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1903 for his efforts to convince nations to settle disputes through arbitration and peaceful negotiations.