William Walker (trade unionist)

Walker in the early 1900s.

William Walker (9 January 1871 – 23 November 1918) was a prominent Irish trade unionist.

Born in Belfast, Walker became a joiner at Harland and Wolff and quickly became active in the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners. He was elected as their delegate to Belfast Trades Council in 1893,^[1] where he led moves towards new unionism, organising manual workers in the shipyards, and also female linen workers. He was a founder member of the Independent Labour Party and spoke in favour of socialism regularly from Belfast Customs House steps.^[2]

In 1904, Walker was elected to Belfast Corporation, representing Duncairn. In the same year, he served as President of the Irish Trades Union Congress. He stood for the Labour Representation Committee in Belfast North at both the 1905 by-election and 1906 general election, losing by fewer than 500 votes on each occasion. In an attempt to counter opposition from the Belfast Protestant Association, he proclaimed his opposition to Irish home rule. At the 1907 by-election he stood again, but his share of the vote fell back. However, he was elected to the executive of the British Labour Party.^[2]

Becoming increasingly well known in Britain, Walker contested the January 1910 UK general election as the Labour Party candidate for Leith Burghs, but could only take a distant third place. In 1911, he undertook a debate with James Connolly in which he argued that Irish socialists should focus their activities on the British labour movement. However, the following year, he took a local government position which required him to withdraw from political activity.^[2]

References

1. The Irish Labour Movement in the Nineteenth Century, John W. Boyle, (Washington DC, 1998).
2. "Walker, William", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography