Edward Cowey

Cowey was born in Longbenton, Northumberland, and began working in local coal mines at the age of seven, opening and closing a trapdoor for fourteen hours a day.

[1] In an effort to find further work, Cowey moved to Sharlston in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1871,[1] and was elected as checkweighman.

[2] There, he joined the West Yorkshire Miners' Association (WYMA), and was elected president in 1873,[1] then served in the post again from 1876.

[4] In 1893, he was elected to the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress,[5] where he was a prominent opponent of socialism.

[6] In his spare time, Cowey was a Primitive Methodist lay preacher.