William Browell Charlton
William Browell Charlton was a British trade union leader.
Charlton was probably born in Birtley in County Durham. He began working at Edmondsley Colliery when he was eight years old, and then later became a boiler fireman at Littleburn Colliery. He qualified as a winding engineman in 1874, and worked in this role in a variety of mines around the county.
In 1888, Charlton was elected to the council of the Durham County Colliery Enginemen and Boilerminders' Association, and served as treasurer and then president before, in 1905, he was elected as secretary of the union. He was also politically active, winning election to Durham County Council in 1903, and later also becoming the chair of Brandon and Byshottles Urban District Council.
Charlton was keen on the creation of retirement homes for miners, and was involved in the Durham Aged Miners' Homes' Association. He also chaired the Durham County Mining Federation Board, and the National Federation of Colliery Enginemen and Boiler Firemen, spending a short period in the 1890s as general secretary of this organisation.
