William Wood (trade unionist)

William Wood (1872 or 1873 – 3 March 1956) was a British trade union leader.

Wood left school at the age of eleven, and began working half-time at a cotton mill. He joined the Bolton and District Operative Cotton Spinners, and began working for the union in 1905. In 1914, he became its assistant secretary, then its secretary in 1920.^[1]

Wood became a magistrate in 1923, and was also involved with the Trustee Savings Bank, and sat on the executive of the United Textile Factory Workers Association.^[1]

In 1926, Wood was elected as vice-chairman of the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners, to which the Bolton Spinners were affiliated. In 1936, he became its president, and was also elected for two years to the General Council of the Trades Union Congress. However, in 1940, he was suffering with poor health, and decided to retire.^[1]

References

1. 1 2 3 "Obituary: William Wood", Annual Report of the 1956 Trades Union Congress, p.313