DAVID SHACKLETON started work as a child, and was running three loom in the mills of the Rossendale Valley when he was 13. He grew from such humble beginnings to become, to quote the title of his biography, “The Lancashire Giant” (Ross M Martin).

Shackleton was born in Alma Terrace, Cloughfold, off the Waterfoot road out of Rawtenstall and though his early education was rather rudimentary, he was keen enough to walk to night school at Haslingden and was bright enough to start teaching textile workers basic accounting.

He moved to Accrington, married Sarah, and became active in the Accrington Weavers’ Association. He was sacked for his union activities and was out of work for over four months. Sarah had to put bread on the table.

He became Darwen Weavers’ Union secretary and joined the town council the following year. They lived in Victoria Street and London Terrace.

They were interesting times in politics with the first stirrings of the Labour Party. Keir Hardie (Merthyr Tydfil) and Richard Bell (Derby) had won seats at the 1900 General Election, both with tacit Liberal support.

Two years later David Shackleton won a by-election at Clitheroe unopposed. In 1905 he became Chairman of the National Labour Party and was in Parliament for eight years. He was a champion of women’s suffrage and the trade union movement. He was interested in education, the old age pensions and working conditions.

In 1910 he was appointed Labour Adviser to the Home Office by Winston Churchill and in 1916 he became Permanent Secretary to the newly-created Ministry of Labour.

The switch didn’t go down too well with his Party colleagues and the Left-wing Press, and that’s probably the reason why David Shackleton’s name isn’t easy to find in the political archives.

The family moved from Darwen to Golders Green, London, where he and Sarah and their growing family lived in a house they called “Sunnyhurst” after, he explained, his favourite spot “back home in Darwen.”

This second career, in 1910, took him to the summit of the British civil service and to active participation in the deliberations of Lloyd George’s War Cabinet. It was a far cry from working as a child in the mills.

He became “the first Labour Knight” in 1917 – after twice declining the award.

In 1921 he lost out in bitter in-fighting at the ministry and soon afterwards he and Sarah returned to the North to live at Beach Road, St Annes.

Sir David Shackleton was renowned as a big man, about 6ft 2in and 17 or 18st. He was a staunch teetotaller and non-smoker and died at St Annes in 1938 at the age of 74. He is buried in Darwen old cemetery.

• The grave has taken a battering during the winter. Rossendale and Darwen Labour Party have made a donation of £100 to the Friends of Darwen Cemetery to clean and renovate it once lockdown has ended.