Jack Tanner (trade unionist)

Frederick John Shirley Tanner CBE (28 April 1889 – 3 March 1965) was a British trade unionist.

Born in Whitstable, Tanner grew up in London and became a fitter and turner at the age of 14.

[1] During World War I, Tanner worked as an engineer in France and was active in the then-syndicalist Confédération Générale du Travail.

He returned to London in 1917 and became active in the Shop Stewards' Movement, and in 1920 along with others such as John S. Clarke, Helen Crawfurd, Williie Gallacher, William McLaine, JT Murphy, Sylvia Pankhurst,[2] Tom Quelch, Dave Ramsay and Marjory Newbold, attended the Second Congress of the Communist International.

[1] Tanner increasingly devoted his time to the trade union movement, and was elected President of the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1939, serving until 1953 and promoting economic planning in the engineering industry.