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John Wheatley
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John Wheatley

British politician
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Quick Facts
Born:
May 24, 1869, Bonmahon, County Waterford, Ire.
Died:
May 12, 1930, Shettleston, near Glasgow, Scot. (aged 60)
Political Affiliation:
Labour Party
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John Wheatley (born May 24, 1869, Bonmahon, County Waterford, Ire.—died May 12, 1930, Shettleston, near Glasgow, Scot.) was a British Labourite politician and a champion of the working classes.

Educated in village schools in Lanarkshire, Scot., Wheatley worked in the coal mines until 1891. After serving two years on the Lanarkshire county council, he was elected to the Glasgow city council in 1912. He was also chairman of the Scottish National Housing Council. In 1922 he was elected as member of Parliament for the Shettleston division of Glasgow. As minister of health in the Labour government he was responsible for the Housing Act of 1924, which provided for a continuous building program over a period of 15 years, designed to secure the erection of 2,500,000 houses to be let at rents within the means of the working class population. After 1924 he turned more and more leftward, becoming thoroughly identified with revolutionary socialist views by the time of his death.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.