James (Big Jim) Larkin (21 January 1876 – 30 January 1947) was an Irish trade union leader and socialist activist, born to Irish parents in Liverpool, England. He and his family later moved to a small cottage in Burren, southern County Down. Growing up in poverty, he received little formal education and began working in a variety of jobs while still a child. He became a full-time trade union organiser in 1905.
Larkin moved to Belfast in 1907 and founded the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, the Irish Labour Party, and later the Workers' Union of Ireland. Perhaps best known for his role in the 1913 Dublin Lockout, "Big Jim" continues to occupy a significant place in Dublin's collective memory.
Famous quotes containing the words james and/or larkin:
“Of course you’re always at liberty to judge the critic. Judge people as critics, however, and you’ll condemn them all!”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“Closed like confessionals, they thread
Loud noons of cities, giving back
None of the glances they absorb.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)