James Arthur Prescott, 7 October 1890 - 6 February 1987

Abstract James Arthur Prescott was born on 7 October 1890 at Bolton, Lancashire, England. He was the first of seven children of Joseph Arthur Prescott and his wife, Mary Alice, née Garsden. Three of his five sisters, Stella, Anne and Hilda, served in the nursing profession, Hilda in the Colonial Service in British Guiana, Hongkong, Thailand and Iraq. Another sister, Marie, was a school mistress and the youngest, Dorothy, a pharmacist. John, his brother, became a textile engineer, thus carrying on a family association with that industry. A half-sister, Ruth, was also a teacher. James’s grandfather, John Prescott, had worked in textiles and had been closely associated with the trade union movement as a member of the Society of Engineers, as also were some of James’s uncles and cousins. John Prescott had been Secretary of Bolton No. 2 Branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers from 1858 to 1893 and was Chairman of the Strike Committee during the strike of ironworkers in 1887. He was succeeded as Secretary by his son, Thomas.