Charles Osborne (politician)

Charles Osborne (born c. 1840s, died unknown) was a British trade unionist and Liberal/Labour politician in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He served as the General Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS), later to become the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR), from 1897 to 1909.

Osborne is best known for his legal challenges against trade unions using members' funds for political purposes. He argued that such activities were beyond the original aims and rules of the unions and were therefore ultra vires. This culminated in the landmark 1909 House of Lords judgment in Osborne v Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, often referred to as the Osborne Judgement. The ruling found in Osborne's favor, significantly restricting the political activities and funding of trade unions.

The Osborne Judgement had profound implications for the nascent Labour Party, which relied heavily on trade union funding. It was effectively overturned by the Parliament Act 1911, which provided for the payment of Members of Parliament (alleviating the need for union stipends) and then fully reversed by the Trade Union Act 1913, which permitted unions to establish separate political funds subject to a ballot of their members, allowing individuals to opt out of contributing to the political fund (a system known as "contracting out").

While Osborne's legal actions initially hampered the Labour Party, the long-term consequences led to a more formalized and transparent system for trade union political funding in the UK. He himself unsuccessfully stood for Parliament as a Liberal/Labour candidate. His motivations for pursuing the case remain a subject of historical debate, with some arguing he was genuinely concerned about the rights of union members, while others suggest he was politically motivated.