Frank Henry Sherman

Sherman, Frank Henry

Frank Henry Sherman, trade unionist (b at Gloucester, Eng 10 May 1869; d at Fernie, BC 11 Oct 1909). A former chapel preacher and coal miner, he became an ardent socialist and candidate for the Alberta legislature or Parliament in 1905, 1906 and 1908. Under his unquestioned leadership as president of District 18 United Mine Workers of America (1903-09), the western miners' union expanded to a membership of over 9000 and established collective bargaining in the coal fields of Alberta and southeastern BC. Sherman was befriended by W.L. Mackenzie KING during the famous Lethbridge strike of 1906, but broke with Liberal labour policy over the application of the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act (1907) to the mining industry. When he failed to obtain adequate support from the international UMW, Sherman began discussions towards the creation of an autonomous Canadian Miners' Federation. His policies thus anticipated the OBU and western secession by a decade. His daughter Annie Balderstone became prominent in the New Zealand miners' struggles of the 1930s; his son William succeeded to the presidency of District 18 in 1922.