William Brown (trade unionist)

William Brown in 1929

William John Brown (13 September 1894 – 3 October 1960) was a British trade unionist, politician and Member of Parliament (MP). He served as general secretary of the Civil Service Clerical Association from 1919 to 1942.

He was first elected to the House of Commons at the 1929 general election as a Labour MP for Wolverhampton West

General Election, 1929: Wolverhampton West [1] Electorate 51,061
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William John Brown	21,103	49.1	+0.3
	Conservative	Robert Bland Bird	17,237	40.2	−11.2
	Liberal	G. H. Roberts	4,580	10.7	N/A
Majority			3,866	8.9	N/A
Turnout			42,920	84.1	−1.8
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.8

but lost his seat at the 1931 general election

General Election, 1931: Wolverhampton West [2] Electorate: 51,355
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Bland Bird	26,181	60.5	+20.3
	Independent Labour	William John Brown	17,090	39.5	−9.6
Majority			9,091	21.0	N/A
Turnout			43,271	84.3	+0.2
	Conservative gain from Independent Labour		Swing	+15.0

General Election, 1935: Wolverhampton West [3] Electorate 49,537
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Robert Bland Bird	19,697	54.9	−5.7
	Independent	William John Brown	14,867	41.4	+0.9
	Labour	Rev. R. Lee	1,325	3.7	N/A
Majority			4,830	13.5	−7.5
Turnout			35,889	72.4	−9.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.3

He returned to Parliament at a wartime by-election in 1942. David Margesson the Conservative MP for Rugby and Secretary of State for War had been dismissed from his ministerial job after the loss of Singapore to the Japanese, but was ennobled as Viscount Margesson. The major parties had an agreement not to contest by-elections in seats held by any of their members, but Brown stood as an independent candidate in the Rugby by-election on 29 April, and was returned as the independent MP for Rugby.

By-election, 29 April 1942 [4] Electorate 47,752
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	William John Brown	9,824	51.8	n/a
	Conservative	Lt-Col. Sir Claude Holbrook	9,145	48.2	-13.3
Majority			679	3.6	n/a
Turnout			18,969	38.5	-35.3
	Independent hold		Swing	n/a

Brown was re-elected at the 1945 general election as an Independent MP against both Conservative and Labour opposition.

General Election 1945: Rugby [5] Electorate 62,696
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	William John Brown	18,615	40.4	-11.4
	Conservative	Lt-Col. John Lakin	17,049	37.0	-11.2
	Labour	Ronald Howard Lewis	10,470	22.7	n/a
Majority			1,566	3.4	-0.2
Turnout			46,144	73.6	+35.1
	Independent hold		Swing	-0.1

However, at the 1950 general election, he stood again as an independent, but came third with 20% of the vote. The seat was gained for Labour by James Johnson.^[6]

General Election 1950 [7] Electorate 44,228
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Johnson	15,983	50.0	+27.3
	Conservative	J. Dance	14,947	38.3	+1.6
	Independent	William John Brown	8,080	20.7	-19.7
Majority			1,036	2.7	-0.7
Turnout			39,009	88.2	+14.6
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

In 1951 he ran against Edith Summerskill at Fulham West.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Brown

References

1. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
2. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
3. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
4. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
5. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
6. Not updated: UK General Election results: February 1950
7. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs