Editing Ernest Bevin (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Ernest Bevin 1920.jpg|thumb|left|Bevin in 1920]]
Bevin was born in the village of [[Winsford, Somerset|Winsford]] in [[Somerset]], [[England]], to Diana Bevin, who since 1877 had described herself as a widow. His father is unknown. After his mother's death in 1889, the young Bevin lived with his half-sister's family and moved to [[Copplestone]] in [[Devon]]. He had little formal education; he had briefly attended two village schools and then Hayward's School, [[Crediton]], starting in 1890 and leaving in 1892.<ref>Roger Steer, [http://www.rogersteer.com/from-the-hedgerows-of-devon-to-the-foreign-office "From the hedgerows of Devon to the Foreign Office"],  ''Devon Life'' Magazine, July 2002.<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

He later recalled being asked as a child to read the newspaper aloud for the benefit of adults in his family who were illiterate. At the age of eleven, he went to work as a labourer, then as a lorry driver in [[Bristol]], where he joined the [[Bristol Socialist Society]]. In 1910 he became secretary of the Bristol branch of the [[Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union]], and in 1914 he became a national organiser for the union.<ref>{{cite web|title=Transport and General Workers' Union: Ernest Bevin Papers|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/1b593005-185e-3254-906f-344e8d902c0f|publisher=JISC|access-date=16 March 2017}}</ref>

Bevin was a large, strong man, and by the time of his political prominence, he was very heavy. He spoke with such a strong [[West Country accent]] that on one occasion, listeners at Cabinet had difficulty in deciding whether he was talking about "Hugh and Nye ([[Hugh Gaitskell|Gaitskell]] and [[Aneurin Bevan|Bevan]])" or "you and I". He had developed his oratorical skills from his time as a [[Baptist]] lay preacher, which he had given up as a profession to become a full-time labour activist.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tombs|first1=Robert|title=The English and their History: The First Thirteen Centuries|date=2014|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-197679-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1b7QBAAAQBAJ&q=ernest+bevin+baptist+lay+preacher&pg=PT647}}</ref>

Bevin married Florence Townley, daughter of a wine taster at a Bristol wine merchants. They had one child, a daughter, Queenie Mildred Wynne (6 May 1911 – 31 January 2000). Florence Bevin (died 1968) was appointed [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (DBE) in 1952.<ref name=Stephen>{{cite book|last=Stephens|first=Mark|title=Ernest Bevin – Unskilled Labourer and World Statesman|page=19|publisher=[[Transport and General Workers Union]]|location=London, UK|year=1981}}</ref>