A. A. Purcell

Albert Arthur "Alf" Purcell (3 November 1872, Hoxton – 24 December 1935)[1] was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician.

He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and later President of the International Federation of Trade Unions from 1924 to 1928[2] and sat in the House of Commons during two separate periods between 1923 and 1929.

The son of a French polisher, Purcell lived in East London until he moved with his family to Yorkshire at an early age.

He was educated at elementary school in Keighley but at the age of nine started work part-time in a local woolen mill.

James Wignall, the Labour MP for the Forest of Dean division of Gloucestershire, died in June 1925,[9] and at the resulting by-election on 14 July, Purcell won the seat.