Robert Applegarth (26 January 1834 – 13 July 1924) was a British trade unionist and cofounder of the International Workingmen's Association.
Biography[]
Robert Applegarth was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1834. He trained as a carpenter before moving to Sheffield and marrying a farmer's daughter. In 1854, Applegarth emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City, and meeting Frederick Douglass on a trip to Mississippi to observe the horrors of slavery. In 1857, he returned to the United States after hearing that his wife was too sick to emigrate, and he became secretary of the Sheffield Carpenters Union, an executive member of the London Trades Council, and General Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (ASCJ). The ASCJ's membership grew from 1,000 in 1862 to 10,000 by 1870, and Applegarth represented the trade union movement at the International Workingmen's Association's founding congress in 1864. However, his moderate views and his acceptance of an office under Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone led to his resignation from the ASCJ in 1871. He later retired to Brighton, and he died in 1924.