William Parrott

[3] Parrott was one of four men who were credited with the establishment of the Yorkshire Miners Association as it existed at the time of his death, the others being Ben Pickard, (Lib-Lab member of Parliament for Normanton from 1885 to 1904), J Frith and E Cowey.

[5] His work for the Miners Association took him into the wider trade union world and in 1899 he was elected auditor to the Standing Orders Committee of the TUC.

Parrott made his maiden speech in the House of Commons during the Finance Bill or budget debate on 19 July 1904, in opposition to a coal levy which he feared would lower the wages of miners or put their jobs at risk.

There were already thousands of miners only working two days a week thanks to the levy as the coal owners were reducing costs by laying off men to claw back the money lost on the tax.

[8] On 18 February 1905, he was a member of a deputation of miners' representatives to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Austen Chamberlain to urge that the one shilling duty on export coal should be repealed.

[9] His former Yorkshire Miners Association colleague Fred Hall was chosen to succeed Parrott as candidate in the by-election caused by his death.