Harry Earnshaw OBE (25 March 1891[1][2] – 2 April 1977) was a British trade union leader who served as Chair of the Labour Party.
[3] He became active in the Amalgamated Association of Beamers, Twisters and Drawers (Hand and Machine), a small cotton industry trade union based in Lancashire, and was elected as its general secretary in 1940.
[4] The Beamers were affiliated to the United Textile Factory Workers' Association (UTFWA), and Earnshaw served on its executive for many years.
Raymond Streat considered him to be one of the more militant members of the executive, tending to side with Archie Robertson against the more moderate approach of Alfred Roberts.
[6] The Observer described him as "serious and diffident, sometimes wrong but always quite selfless, quiet, friendly and charitable... an impressive symbol of all the simple, decent people who believe in the party's mission".