John Mallinson (trade unionist)

John Mallinson (1860 – 12 January 1929) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician.

Mallinson worked as a cordwainer, and moved to Edinburgh in 1883. He took evening classes at Heriot-Watt College, and became active in the Edinburgh Cordwainers' Union.[1] Although he held generally conservative views which were unpopular in the movement, his attention to detail and neutrality in chairing meetings were greatly valued, and he soon became a prominent figure.[2]

By the 1890s, he was secretary of Edinburgh Trades Council.[3] He was elected to Edinburgh City Council in 1893, only the second Liberal-Labour member of the council.[4] When the Trades Union Congress (TUC) came to Edinburgh in 1896, he served as its President,[4] and at the congress was also elected as its representative to the American Federation of Labour. He was surprised to be elected to the post,[2] but it did not change his view that the TUC had done little for Scotland, and he worked with John Keir to establish the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC).[5] However, when the STUC was actually established, he was unhappy with its structure, and unsuccessfully argued for a delay in creating it.[6]

In 1908, Mallinson was appointed as Chief Attendance Officer to Edinburgh Council. He stood down from his trade union and political posts, but remained a magistrate. He died suddenly in 1929 while at work.[4]