View source for Havelock Wilson

{{Short description|British trade union leader, Liberal politician and campaigner}}
{{other people||Joseph Wilson (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|Havelock Ellis}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
[[File:Havelock Wilson.jpg|thumb|right|Havelock Wilson c. 1922]]
'''Joseph Havelock Wilson''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CH|CBE}} (16 August 1859 – 16 April 1929), commonly known as '''Havelock Wilson''' or '''J. Havelock Wilson''', was a British trade union leader, [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] politician, and campaigner for the rights of merchant seamen.

==Early life==
He was born in [[Sunderland, Tyne and Wear|Sunderland]] and went to sea as a boy, serving somewhere between 10 and 14 years at sea. In 1879 whilst still a seaman he married Jane Ann Watham at Sunderland. In 1882 he opened a "Temperance Hotel" in Sunderland settling down to life ashore at the age of 24. 

==Political and trade union activities==
He became involved in a local seamen's union established in Sunderland in 1879 and had become its president by 1885. Wilson pursued a policy of attempting to build branches in nearby ports, which met with some success but led to disagreements within the leadership. In 1887, Wilson broke with the Sunderland union to establish his own [[National Union of Seamen|National Sailors' & Firemen's Union]], which was committed to a policy of expansion. Wilson remained president of the union until his death.

Wilson rose to prominence in the late 1880s, on the back of the success of his union and his involvement in various [[Strike action|strikes]], including the [[London dock strike of 1889]].

Wilson's first electoral contest was at a by-election in [[Bristol East (UK Parliament constituency)|Bristol East]] in 1890, at which he did poorly.<ref name="craig1885-1918">{{cite book
 |last=Craig
 |first=F. W. S.
 |author-link= F. W. S. Craig
 |title=British parliamentary election results 1885–1918
 |orig-year=1974
 |edition= 2nd
 |year=1989
 |publisher= Parliamentary Research Services
 |location=Chichester
 |isbn= 0-900178-27-2
 |pages = 58, 84, 154, 191
}}</ref> He won his second contest, at [[Middlesbrough (UK Parliament constituency)|Middlesbrough]] in 1892, in which he stood as an independent labour candidate in opposition to a [[William Ewart Gladstone|Gladstonian Liberal]], and a [[Liberal Unionist]].<ref name="craig1885-1918" /> 

[[File:1895_Havelock_Wilson.jpg|thumb|right|Havelock Wilson c. 1895]]
Having secured election, however, Like [[John Burns]], Wilson moved quickly to cooperate with the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]].<ref>Pelling 1992, p.97</ref> He also allied with existing [[Liberal-Labour (UK)|Lib–Lab]] [[Members of Parliament]] (MPs) such as [[Thomas Burt]] and [[John Wilson (1837-1915)|John Wilson]]. Wilson continued to align himself with the Liberal Party in politics despite the establishment and growth of the [[Independent Labour Party]]. Indeed, he was fiercely critical of the party and of key figures within it such as [[Keir Hardie]] and [[Ramsay MacDonald]].<ref name="craig1885-1918" />

In 1893, Wilson brought an unsuccessful action for [[libel]] against ''[[The Evening News and Post]]'', seeking thousands in damages. The newspaper was represented by the [[Irish Unionist Alliance|Irish Unionist]] [[Edward Carson]]. In late July 1893, a jury at [[Guildford]] found against Wilson, and the judge, [[William Grantham|Sir William Grantham]], a former [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] member of parliament, ordered him to pay the newspaper’s costs.<ref>''[[The Sketch]]'', 2 August 1893, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3w4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA14  p. 14]</ref>

Wilson's union suffered in the early 1890s and almost collapsed in 1894.

Wilson retained his Middlesbrough seat in the [[1895 United Kingdom general election|1895 general election]] but narrowly lost to [[Samuel Alexander Sadler]], a Conservative, in the [[1900 United Kingdom general election|1900 election]] – an election characterised by a considerable swing towards the Conservatives.<ref name="craig1885-1918" /> He won Middlesbrough for a third and final time at the [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906 election]]. 
{{Election box begin | title=[[1906 United Kingdom general election|General election 1906]]: Middlesbrough<ref name="craig1885-1918" />
Electorate 20,322}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
 |party = Liberal Party (UK)
 |candidate ='''Joseph Havelock Wilson'''
 |votes = 9,271
 |percentage = 52.6
 |change = +2.8
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
 |party = Conservative Party (UK)
 |candidate = [[Samuel Sadler|Sir Samuel Alexander Sadler]]
 |votes =6,864
 |percentage = 39.0
 |change = -11.3
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
 |party = Independent Labour
 |candidate =[[George Lansbury]]
 |votes = 1,484
 |percentage = 8.4
 |change = n/a
}}
{{Election box majority|
 |votes = 2,407
 |percentage = 13.6
 |change = 14.0
}}
{{Election box turnout|
 |votes = 
 |percentage = 86.7
 |change = 
}}
{{Election box gain with party link|
  |winner     = Liberal Party (UK)
  |loser      = Conservative Party (UK)
  |swing      = +7.0
}}
{{Election box end}}
He did not stand for Parliament in 1910.<ref name="craig1885-1918" />

[[File:Havelock Wilson and trade unionists at Maritime Hall Flickr 4615365544 450bf443fc o.jpg|thumb|right|300px|{{center|Wilson (seated third from left) with other trade unionists, 1911}}]]
Wilson's union revived in 1911, with the outbreak of a wave of seamen's and dockers' strikes in British ports. Despite his militant tactics, Wilson was a relative moderate whose goal was to establish friendly relations with shipowners and formal conciliation procedures in the shipping industry to enable disputes to be resolved without recourse to strikes or lockouts. This goal was steadily achieved after shipowners recognised the union in 1911 and began working closely with officials during the First World War. After 1917, wage rates and conditions were set by the [[National Maritime Board]], which represented the [[Shipping Federation]] and Wilson's union.

Wilson and his union were noted as one of the most vociferous supporters of Britain's involvement in the [[First World War]], because of the [[U-boat campaign|loss of merchant seamen]] to [[U-Boats]]. This was in contrast to the position of the miners, engineers and railwaymen, who became increasingly sceptical of Britain's war effort by the latter stages of the war.<ref>Pelling 1992, p.148</ref>

He was a founder of the [[National Democratic Party (UK)|National Democratic Party]]{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} but stood as a Liberal at the [[1918 South Shields by-election|October 1918 by-election]] in [[South Shields (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shields]], when he was elected unopposed.<ref name="craig1885-1918" /> He held the seat as a [[Coalition Liberal]] at the [[1918 United Kingdom general election|1918 general election]].<ref name="craig1918-1949">{{cite book
 |last=Craig
 |first=F. W. S.
 |author-link= F. W. S. Craig
 |title=British parliamentary election results 1918–1949
 |orig-year=1969
 |edition=3rd
 |year=1983
 |publisher= Parliamentary Research Services
 |location=Chichester
 |isbn= 0-900178-06-X
}}</ref> 
His last electoral contest came at the [[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922 general election]], when he stood as a [[National Liberal Party (UK, 1922)|National Liberal]] candidate, but lost his seat – coming third with only 20.5% of the vote.<ref name="craig1918-1949" />

In the 1920s, Wilson's reputation as a 'bosses' man' made him increasingly unpopular in the wider labour movement. His union was seen as having become little more than a “[[company union]]”.<ref>Pelling 1992, p.148</ref>

Havelock Wilson was buried in Hendon Park Cemetery, with many dockers in attendance having walked to the graveside from Docklands.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [https://archive.org/details/havelockwilsonex00atch Havelock Wilson exposed (1921)] Early attempt by followers of Lenin to smear Wilson.
*{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pelling|first1=Henry|author-link1=Henry Pelling|year=1992|orig-date=1963|title= A History of British Trade Unionism |location=London|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-013640-1}}

== External links ==
* {{hansard-contribs | mr-joseph-wilson | Joseph Havelock Wilson }}
* {{NPG name|name=Joseph Havelock Wilson}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-npo|union}}
{{Succession box|title=General Secretary of the [[National Amalgamated Sailors' and Firemen's Union]]|before=''New position''|after=[[Edmund Cathery]]|years=1887–1893}}
{{succession box|title=Chairman of the [[Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress]]|years=1892|before=[[John Wilson (Mid Durham MP)|John Wilson]]|after=[[John Burns]]}}
{{Succession box|title=President of the [[National Sailors' and Firemen's Union]]|before=[[Samuel Plimsoll]]|after=''Position abolished''|years=1894–1929}}
{{succession box|title=[[Trades Union Congress]] representative to the [[American Federation of Labor]]|years=1897|with=[[Edward Harford]]|before=[[John Mallinson (trade unionist)|John Mallinson]] and [[Sam Woods (politician)|Sam Woods]]|after=[[William Inskip]] and [[Will Thorne]]}}
{{S-par|uk}}
{{Succession box
 | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Middlesbrough (UK Parliament constituency)|Middlesbrough]]
 | years = [[1892 United Kingdom general election|1892]]–[[1900 United Kingdom general election|1900]]
 | before = [[Isaac Wilson (English politician)|Isaac Wilson]]
 | after = Sir [[Samuel Sadler]]
}}
{{Succession box
 | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Middlesbrough (UK Parliament constituency)|Middlesbrough]]
 | years = [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]]–[[January 1910 United Kingdom general election|1910]]
 | before = Sir [[Samuel Sadler]]
 | after = [[Penry Williams (politician)|Penry Williams]]
}}
{{Succession box
 | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[South Shields (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shields]]
 | years = [[1918 South Shields by-election|1918]]–[[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922]]
 | before = [[Cecil Cochrane]]
 | after = [[Edward Harney]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Havelock}}
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:British trade union leaders]]
[[Category:Liberal-Labour (UK) MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress]]
[[Category:National Democratic and Labour Party MPs]]
[[Category:National Union of Seamen-sponsored MPs]]
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1892–1895]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1895–1900]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1906–1910]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1910–1918]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1918–1922]]
[[Category:Trade unionists from Tyne and Wear]]
[[Category:People from Sunderland]]
[[Category:Politicians from Tyne and Wear]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) politicians]]
[[Category:British Merchant Navy personnel]]
[[Category:Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom]]