Editing George Lansbury (section)

==Early life==

===East End upbringing===
[[File:Plaque on home of George Lansbury - geograph.org.uk - 65869.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Plaque on the assumed birthplace of George Lansbury in Halesworth, Suffolk. It incorrectly records Lansbury's death year as 1947.]]
George Lansbury was born in [[Halesworth]] in the county of [[Suffolk]] on 22 February 1859.{{refn|Lansbury's biographer [[Raymond Postgate]] gives the date and place of birth as 21 February, at the toll-house between [[Halesworth]] and [[Lowestoft]], in the county of [[Suffolk]]. However, according to his birth certificate, Lansbury was born on 22 February 1859, at a house in Halesworth's "Thoroughfare" or High Street; a plaque provided by a local historical society in 1993 identifies the building as No. 14.<ref name= P3>Postgate, pp. 3–4</ref><ref name= S5>Shepherd 2002, pp. 5–6</ref> |group= n}} He was the third of nine children born to a railway worker, also named George Lansbury, and Anne Lansbury (née Ferris).<ref name= ODNB>{{cite ODNB|last= Shepherd|first= John|title= Lansbury, George|url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34407?docPos=1|date= January 2011|doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/34407|access-date= 2 February 2013}} {{subscription required}}</ref> George senior's job involved the supervision of railway construction gangs; the family was often on the move, and living conditions were primitive.<ref name= P3/> Through his progressive-minded mother and grandmother, young George became familiar with the names of great contemporary reformers—[[Gladstone]], [[Richard Cobden]] and [[John Bright]]—and began to read the radical ''[[Reynolds's Newspaper]]''. By the end of 1868, the family had moved into the [[East End of London]], the district in which Lansbury would live and work for almost all his life.<ref>Postgate, p. 5</ref>

The essayist [[Ronald Blythe]] has described the East End of the 1860s and 1870s as "stridently English&nbsp;... The smoke-blackened streets were packed with illiterate multitudes [who] stayed alive through sheer birdlike ebullience".<ref name= Blythe272>Blythe, p. 272</ref> Interspersed with spells of work, Lansbury attended schools in [[Bethnal Green]] and [[Whitechapel]]. He then held a succession of manual jobs, including work as a coaling contractor in partnership with his elder brother, James, loading and unloading coal wagons. This was heavy and dangerous work, and led to at least one near-fatal accident.<ref name= S8>Shepherd 2002, pp. 8–9</ref>

During his adolescence and early adulthood, Lansbury was a regular attender at the public gallery at the [[House of Commons]], where he heard and remembered many of Gladstone's speeches on the main foreign policy issue of the day, the "[[Eastern Question]]". He was present at the riots which erupted outside Gladstone's house on 24 February 1878 after a peace meeting in [[Hyde Park (London)|Hyde Park]].<ref>Lansbury, pp. 40–43</ref> Shepherd writes that Gladstone's Liberalism, proclaiming liberty, freedom and community interests was "a heady mix that left an indelible mark" on the youthful Lansbury.<ref name= S10>Shepherd 2002, pp. 10–11</ref>

George Lansbury senior died in 1875. That year young George met fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Brine, whose father Isaac Brine owned a local sawmill. The couple eventually married in 1880, at Whitechapel parish church, where the vicar, J. Franklin Kitto, had been Lansbury's spiritual guide and counsellor. Apart from a period of doubt in the 1890s when he temporarily rejected the Church, Lansbury remained a staunch [[Anglican]] until his death.<ref name= P13>Postgate, pp. 13–20</ref>

===Australia===
[[File:StateLibQld 1 110096 Drawing of migrants disembarking from a ship, ca. 1885.jpg|thumb|upright|Migrants disembarking from a ship in Brisbane, c. 1885]]

In 1881 Lansbury was a railway contractor employing three men and living in Whitechapel with his wife Elizabeth and the first of twelve children, the new-born Bessie;<ref>1881 England census</ref> another daughter, Annie, followed in 1882. Seeking to improve his family's prospects, Lansbury decided that their best hopes of prosperity lay in emigrating to Australia. The London agent-general for [[Queensland]] depicted a land of boundless opportunities, with work for all; seduced by this appealing prospect, Lansbury and Bessie raised the necessary passage money, and in May 1884 set sail with their children for [[Brisbane]].<ref name= S10/><ref name= P22>Postgate, pp. 22–23</ref>

On the outward passage, the family experienced illness, discomfort and danger; on one occasion the ship came close to foundering during a [[monsoon]].<ref name= P22/> On arrival at [[Brisbane]] in July 1884, Lansbury found that, contrary to the London agent's promises, there was a superfluity of labour and work was hard to come by. His first job, breaking stone, proved to be too physically punishing; he moved to a better-paid position as a van driver, but was sacked when, for religious reasons, he refused to work on Sundays.<ref name= P24>Postgate, pp. 24–29</ref> He then contracted to work on a farm some 80 miles inland, to find upon arrival that his employer had misled him about living conditions and terms of employment.<ref name= S13>Shepherd 2002, pp. 13–15</ref>

For several months, the Lansbury family lived in extreme squalor before Lansbury secured release from the contract. Back in Brisbane, he worked for a while at the newly built Brisbane cricket ground. As a keen follower of the game he hoped to see the [[History of Test cricket from 1884 to 1889#Lillywhite, Shaw and Shrewsbury's second tour 1884/5|visiting English touring team]] play but, as Lansbury's biographer [[Raymond Postgate]] records, "he learned that cricket watching was not a pleasure for workmen".<ref name= P24/>{{refn|The English team, managed by [[Alfred Shaw]], was in Australia from November 1884 until the end of March 1885, playing one match in Brisbane at the end of January.<ref>{{cite web |url-access=subscription  |url=http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/134/134735.html |publisher=CricketArchive |title=Brisbane v A Shaw's XI, 1884–85 |access-date=28 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://test-cricket-tours.co.uk/page_1610647.html|publisher=Test Cricket Tours|title=Test Cricket Tours – England to Australia 1884–85|access-date=28 September 2020}}</ref>|group= n}}

Throughout his tenure in Australia, Lansbury sent letters home, revealing the truth about conditions facing immigrants.<ref name= P24/> To a friend he wrote in March 1885: "Mechanics are ''not'' wanted. Farm labourers are ''not'' wanted&nbsp;... Hundreds of men and women are not able to get work&nbsp;... The streets are foul day and night, and if I had a sister I would ''shoot her dead'' rather than see her brought out to this little hell on earth".<ref name= S13/> In May 1885, having received from his father-in-law Isaac Brine sufficient funds for a passage home, the Lansbury family left Australia for good and returned to London.<ref name= P24/>