Thomas Aspinwall (trade unionist)

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Thomas Aspinwall (29 May 1846 – 21 March 1901) was a British trade unionist. He was born in Bickerstaffe, Lancashire, and moved with his family to Skelmersdale in 1860, where he began working at a coal mine. He was elected checkweighman in 1873 and also ran a shop.

In 1879 he became General Secretary of the Ashton-under-Lyne Miners' Association and led meetings of miners' unions across the county. These meetings helped create the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation, and Aspinwall was chosen as its first President. The appointment was controversial because some members believed only full-time miners should hold union posts.

A major strike in 1880 cost him the job of checkweighman, though the role could only be held by a coal mine worker. He later served as agent for the Skelmersdale District Miners' Association, and from 1887 also for the Wigan, Pemberton, Standish, Aspull and Blackrod Miners' Union.

Aspinwall supported the creation of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1889 and served as the Lancashire representative on its early executive committee. He spoke at an international miners' conference in Paris in 1891. He ran for Parliament as a Liberal-Labour candidate for Wigan in 1892, narrowly losing. He stood again in 1895 with backing from Lord Rosebery, but the local Liberals did not support a worker candidate, and he lost by about 900 votes.

In his spare time he focused on religion and temperance work and served as vice-president of the board of the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary. He died in 1901.