Randal Cremer

The Nobel Peace Prize 1903

Co-founder, Inter-Parliamentary Union. Secretary, International Arbitration League. British Parliamentarian. World organizing. Prevent war. Founder, Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.

Upon entering into treaties of arbitration, the disputants would have time for reflection, for while arbitrators were deliberating, passions of contending parties would cool and chances of war greatly diminished.

Youth

William Cremer had humble beginnings. He was born on 18 March 1828 in a small town, Fareham in England. His father was a coach painter. In that era the working class families were very miserable. When Randal was an infant, his father deserted the family. Randal's mother, an indomitable woman, raised him and his two elder sisters all by herself. Despite poverty she sent Randal to a Church School. He became an apprentice to an uncle in the building trade at the age of fifteen and eventually became a carpenter. During this time he attended lectures to supplement his meager formal education. Once he heard a lecture on peace. The lecturer suggested that international disputes could be settled by arbitration. Randal always remembered this idea.