William Crawford Anderson

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William Crawford Anderson (1877 – 25 February 1919) was a British socialist politician.

Born on 13th February 1877 at findon, Crawford in fact does not appear on his birth certificate. His father Francis Anderson, a blacksmith, in 1868 married Barbara Cruickshank and ardent radical; she being responsible for Anderson’s education. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed in Aberdeen as a manufacturing chemist and began to attend meetings of the local "SDF", at this time he also followed "Tom Mann"’s campaign for the by-election in 1896.

At an SDF meeting he listened to an eloquent speech by Carrie Martyn, he became intent on improving himself and began to read rigorously; he read everything from Dickens, Ruskin, Thackery and Hardy to name but a few. Robert Blatchford’s Merrie England had a profound effect upon Anderson although he did not at this point consider himself to be a socialist but advocated Land Nationalism.

The most important factor in his transition to Socialism was A. E. Fletcher the edititor of New Age. Fletcher was running in the Glasgow elections supported by the ILP. In 1900 Anderson moved to Glasgow and volunteered to help Fletcher in the election, he in turn joined the Glasgow branch of the ILP and also the Shop Assistants Union then moved to the Manufacturing Chemists. The transition from radical to socialist politics was completed after Anderson's move to Glasgow, where he contested the Camlachie (Glasgow) seat in the 1900 ‘khaki’ election on a pro-Boer platform, supported by the Independent Labour Party (ILP). He was elected chairman of the Union after just three months. In 1902 he was the delegate of the ILP to the Manchester Conference. By 1903 he had become an organiser and official of the union with the aim of strengthening local branches and creating new ones and was a major figure in the vigorous campaign of 1907 to improve the conditions of shop managers, before he left the union that year. In the same year he attended his first ILP conference and reinforced his reputation as a public speaker, he addressed audiences on a number of subjects ranging from tarrif reform, national service, and key political issues. During his many addresses it is rumoured he was forced to do an encore by the audience, so he repeated part of his speech again. Still only in his early thirties but he was one of the best known leaders of the ILP. To reinforce this he was elected to the National Administration Council of the ILP in 1908. His aim was to avoid a particular faction, it was noted by Brockway, who Anderson influenced to take the job of editor of the Labour Leader, in 1910 that Anderson was an ’influential member of the NAC, stood midway between Snowden and Macdonald in their quarrels. Wanted to work with labour party to smooth suspicions with which it regarded the ILP.’

In 1910 he was elected chair of the ILP which he held until 1913. In September of 1911 he married Mary Macarthur and also became the chair of the committee to set up a new Labour Newspaper which became the Daily Citizen. He acted as the vice chairman and leader writer. The paper was launched in 1912 but never flourished, Anderson left before it failed.

In 1913 he was the speaker for the special conference on the Public Transport Strike and in 1914 was a supporter of Anti-War stance. The National Council of the ILP met to formulate a manifesto. Anderson read a draft which the council ended up choosing above Hardies or Glasiers. Finally in 1914 on his third attempt he entered parliement however lost it in 1918 due to his opposition to war.

In 1919 he caught a chill which developed into influenza, he died not long after. He was cremated at Golders Green. Mary Macarthur survived only until 1921 and his daughter Nancy.

Glasier’s Opinion of him was: ‘Most naturally gifted parliamentarian born front bench, and maybe prime minister. Neither a prophet nor a pioneer.’

[edit] References

• Spartacus: William Anderson
• Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees, Who's Who of British MPs: Volume II, 1886-1918
• Dictionary of National Biography, J. Saville

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Joseph Pointer	Member of Parliament for Sheffield Attercliffe 1914–1918	Succeeded by Thomas Worrall Casey
Political offices
Preceded by Frederick William Jowett	Chairman of the Independent Labour Party 1911–1913	Succeeded by Keir Hardie