William Tyson Wilson

Who was William Tyson Wilson?

William Tyson Wilson was a British trade unionist and Labour politician.

Tyson was born in Westmorland, moving to Bolton, Lancashire, in 1889. He was a carpenter, and joined the Bolton branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners. He was a member of the executive or general council of the union on several occasions from 1893, and was chairman of the general council in 1910.

At the 1906 general election Wilson was one of 29 successful Labour Representation Committee candidates, being elected MP for Westhoughton. On 22 February 1906 he introduced a private member's bill seeking to amend the Education Acts and create a statutory school meals service. The bill received the support of the government and was enacted as the Education Act 1906.

He was made a whip in 1915, and was promoted to chief whip in 1919, when the Labour Party became the official opposition.

W T Wilson died suddenly of a cerebral haemmorhage on a Bolton street on Sunday, 14 August 1921.