George Howell was a British trade unionist and reform campaigner and a LibLab politician, who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1895.
George Howell was born in Wrington, Somerset, the eldest of eight children of a builder and contractor. He was educated at a Church of England primary school in Bristol until the age of twelve, when he began work with his father, who owned a small builders. By the week he worked twelve hours a day as a mortarboy, and later a bricklayer, but dedicated Sundays to reading. Among his favourite books were John Foxes Book of Martyrs and John Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress.
Source: Wikipedia