James Robson was a British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 trade unionist.

Born in West Auckland

West Auckland

West Auckland is a village in County Durham, in North East England. It is situated to the west of Bishop Auckland, on the A688 road.It is not known exactly when West Auckland was first inhabited, but there is evidence of Auckland West in the history of St. Cuthbert in the 11th century...

, County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, Robson started work at the age of ten. In 1890, he was elected checkweighman at Broompark Colliery, then later moved to Bearpark Colliery. In 1917, he was elected President of the Durham Miners' Association

Durham Miners' Association

The Durham Miners' Association was a trade union in the United Kingdom.The union was founded in 1869 and its membership quickly rose to 4,000, but within a year had fallen back to 2,000...

, serving until his death in 1934. From 1918 to 1921, he also served as Treasurer of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. He was a member of the Methodist New Connexion

Methodist New Connexion

Methodist New Connexion was a Protestant nonconformist church, also known as the Kilhamite Methodists. It was formed in 1797 by secession from the Wesleyan Methodists, and merged in 1907 with the Bible Christian Church and the United Methodist Free Churches to form the United Methodist...

.