Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Odger, George
ODGER, GEORGE (1820–1877), trade unionist, the son of a Cornish miner, was born in 1820 at Roborough, between Tavistock and Plymouth. A shoemaker by trade, he settled in London, where he became a prominent member of the ladies' shoemakers' society, a union of highly skilled makers of ladies' shoes. He acquired great influence with the working classes, and on the lock-out in the building trades in 1859 he rendered important service to their cause. A leading member of the London trades council from its formation in 1860, he succeeded George Howell as secretary in 1862, and retained the office until the reconstruction of the council in 1872. As one of a small but powerful group of trade-union officials, he exercised remarkable influence on the movement during the following years. Believing that the most advantageous policy for the working classes was the combination of trade-unionism with political action, he endeavoured to induce the council to adopt it. Under his influence the council organised a popular welcome to Garibaldi, and a great meeting in St. James's Hall in 1862 in support of the Northern States of America in their struggle against slavery, at which John Bright was the principal speaker. He became a member of the National Reform League; and, in conjunction with Applegarth, Allan, and Coulson, persuaded the trades council to take a leading part in the agitation for the extension of the franchise in 1866 and subsequent years. He made five unsuccessful attempts to get into parliament as an independent labour candidate—at Chelsea in 1868, at Stafford in 1869, at Bristol in 1870, where he retired rather than divide the liberal vote, and at Southwark in 1870 and 1874. At the Southwark election in 1870 he polled 4,382 votes, while the liberal candidate, Sir Sydney Waterlow, polled only 2,966. Odger became president of the general council of the famous international association of working men in 1870. In 1872 he was made the subject of a series of attacks in the London ‘Figaro,’ and he brought an action for libel against the publisher. The case was tried on 14 Feb. 1873, and resulted in a verdict for the defendant. Odger died in 1877. His funeral, which was attended by Herbert Spencer, Professor Fawcett, and Sir Charles Dilke, was made the occasion of a great demonstration by the London working men, who regarded him as their leader.
[Life and Labours of George Odger; Odger's Reply to the Attorney-General [1873]; McCarthy's History of our own Time, iii. 228, iv. 95, 179; Sidney and Beatrice Webb's History of Trade Unionism, pp. 215, 217, 218, 220, 221, 228, 230, 231, 271, 273, 275, 282, 309, 347, 382.]