Zafar Shayan
William Randal Cremer was a member of British parliament, pacifist and advocate for international arbitration. He was the first individual winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1903. Randal Cremer was born in 1828 in Fareham in South England and died in 1908. His mother raised him and his two sisters by her own. Randal Cremer had to leave school at the age of 12 as he found a job in a shipyard. At the age of 15, he became a carpenter apprentice. He continued his education through attending lectures. At a lecture session on peace, in which the speaker suggested that the international disputes be settled by arbitration, Randal Cremer was impressed and never forgot the idea.
In 1852, Cremer moved to London and actively took part in the workers’ movement. In 1858, he was elected to a council of people who were running the nine-hour day campaign. He played a significant role in establishing a trade union for carpenters. In 1864, he was elected as the Secretary-General of the International Working Men’s Association; but later resigned and stopped supporting as revolutionary thinkers dominated this organization.
Cremer was formally engaged with politics when he was elected as the member of British parliament in 1885. Since then several times he was elected as an MP by worker class votes in 1886, 1892 and finally in 1900 and retained the seat until his death. He started to his practical peace-related activities in Parliament formed the Workmen’s Peace Association in 1871, which was, in fact, the basis for the formation of The International Arbitration League. In 1887, he collected 234 signatures of members of Commons to a resolution addressed to the American congress and president, to suggest that disputes between the two government should be solved by diplomacy referred to arbitration.
Cremer wrote a letter to Frederic Passy, the 1901 Nobel Peace Prize winner, suggesting a meeting between British and French MPs, which occurred in October 1888 in Paris. The next meeting was organized in June 1889, in which 83 French and English MPs, and 11 parliamentarians from 7 other countries participated, and The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was established. Randal Cremer was elected as Vice-President and Secretary of the British Section.
Due to his works for creating a peaceful world, he was awarded the 1903 Nobel Peace Prize. He donated the whole prize money to the International Arbitration of which he was serving as secretary.
1. The Nobel Prize: www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1903/cremer/biographical
2. The Inter-Parliamentary Union: www.ipu.org/about-us/history/co-founder-sir-william-randal-cremer