James Callaghan

Jim Callaghan was born on 27th March 1912 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, to a Catholic father and Baptist mother. He was the only son and younger of 2 children. His father was a Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer of Irish ancestry, who died when Callaghan was aged 9. His father died when he was 9, plunging the family into poverty. They received no pension until Labour came into office in 1931 and paid the Callaghans a weekly pension of 10 shillings (then worth about $2). He had an unspectacular education at Portsmouth Northern Secondary School, and left at 16 to work as a clerk for the Inland Revenue and became involved with the union (Staff Federation). He later met Harold Laski, the Chair of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee. Laski encouraged him to stand for Parliament. Callaghan served in the Royal Navy Patrol Service in World War II from 1943, but while on leave he was able to get selected as a Parliamentary candidate for Cardiff South, later Cardiff South East. He won the s