James Winstone (9 February 1863 – 27 July 1921) was a British trade unionist Born in Risca, Winstone worked from the age of eight, first at a local brickworks, then at Risca United Colliery.
He was elected checkweighman, and worked with William Brace to campaign against the sliding pay scale.
As a result, he was a prominent founder member of the South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF) in 1898.
[1] Winstone was also active in the Independent Labour Party, and was a Baptist lay preacher.
[5] He was selected as the Labour candidate for the 1915 Merthyr Tydfil by-election, the seat having previously been held by Keir Hardie, but he was defeated by Charles Butt Stanton of the British Workers League, who had resigned as a miners' agent to run with Conservative and Liberal support as a pro-war independent labour candidate.