amongst the London workmen, he served as a member of the council of the International Working-men's Association (1865).
The best service which Howell did to the trade union movement was as a parliamentary lobbyist. He became known as 'the champion bill passer.' Year after year from 1870 he buttonholed, interviewed and pulled wires in parliamentary lobbies. He saw the old Master and Servants Act drastically amended in 1867 and repealed in 1889, and the Trade Union Acts of 1871 and 1876 were passed largely owing to his efforts. In his 'Labour Legislation, Labour Movements, and Labour Leaders' (1902) he gave a lively account of those years. His first attempt to enter parliament was in 1868, when he contested Aylesbury as a liberal trades-unionist and polled 942 votes, but was defeated. A similar result attended another contest in the same constituency in 1874, when he polled 1144 votes. In 1875 he addressed election meetings at Norwich but did not persist in his candidature. In 1881 he contested Stafford but was rejected with 1185 votes. He was successful, however, in 1885 at Bethnal Green. In 1886 he urged the issue of a cheap official edition of the statutes of the realm. His suggestion was adopted, and his part in initiating the useful enterprise was acknowledged in the preface of the first volume. He represented Bethnal Green until 1895, when he was defeated. He did not seek to enter parliament again. He remained a liberal, and opposed the movement among trade unionists (the controversy lasted from 1890 to 1900, when the labour party was formed) for the creation of a political party which would be independent of the existing parties.
In 1897 a public subscription was raised for him, and in 1906 he received a pension from the civil list of 50l. per annum. In 1906 his library, largely consisting of works on economic and social questions, was purchased for 1000l., also raised by public subscription, and was presented to the Bishopsgate Institute, London.
He died at 35 Findon Road, Shepherd's Bush, on 17 Sept. 1910, and was buried at Nunhead cemetery.
Howell's works, to whose value for students of trades union history Mr Sidney Webb bears witness, are:
- 'Handy Book of the Labour Laws,' 1876; 3rd edit. 1895.
- 'Conflicts of Capital and Labour Historically Considered,' 1878; 2nd revised edit. 1890.
- 'National Industrial Insurance and Employers' Liability,' 1880.
- 'Trade Unionism New and Old,' 1891.
- 'Trade Union Law and Cases' (with H. Goheo, K.C.), 1901.
- 'Labour Legislation, Labour Movements, and Labour Leaders,' 1902.
Howell also edited the 'Operative Brick-layers' Society's Trade Circular' (1861); wrote 'Life of Ernest Jones' for the 'Newcastle Chronicle,' Jan. to Oct. 1898 (not published separately); compiled quarterly abstracts of parliamentary bills, reports, and transactions (1886-7); prepared (with A. J. Mundella) the chapter on 'Industrial Associations' in vol. ii. of T. H. Ward's 'Reign of Queen Victoria' (1887), and that on 'Liberty for Labour' in Thomas Mackay's 'A Plea for Liberty' (1891); and contributed a preface to Lord Brassey's 'Work and Wages' (1894).
Two portraits hang in the Bishopsgate Institute, one by Mr. George A. Holmes and the other by Mrs. Howard White.
[Works cited; Beehive, 10 May 1873 and 19 June 1875; Millgate Monthly, August 1908; Webb's History of Trade Unionism; Howell Library, Bishopsgate Institute.]
HOWES, THOMAS GEORGE BOND (1853–1905), zoologist, born at Kennington on 7 Sept. 1853, of Huguenot descent, was eldest son of Thomas Johnson Howes by his wife Augusta Mary, daughter of George Augustus Bond, captain in the East India Company's service. After private education, he was introduced to Professor Huxley in 1874 as a good draughtsman and keen naturalist. For five years he assisted in the development of Huxley's practical instruction in biology at the Normal School of Science and Royal School of Mines (now Royal College of Science), and in 1880 succeeded T. J. Parker as demonstrator of biology at the Royal School of Mines. In 1885 Howes was made an assistant professor of zoology at the Normal School of Science, and on the retirement of Huxley in 1895 was appointed first professor of zoology at the Royal College of Science, South Kensington. He held this appointment at the time of his death on 4 Feb. 1905. In 1881 Howes married Annie, daughter of James Watkins, and had one daughter. His widow was awarded a civil list pension of 50l. in 1905.
Howes excelled as a teacher and colleague. The thoroughness of the training in biology at South Kensington was largely due to his knowledge and zeal. His reading in zoological literature was very wide and was freely dispensed to all who sought his advice. He devoted much time and energy to founding or extending the
