William Richard Townley (born 1877) was a British trade unionist. Born in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, Townley left school at the age of ten to work at an engineering firm, later moving to a boot-making company. He joined the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives (NUBSO), and became president of his branch of the union. During World War I, he sat on a military service tribunal, making decisions on exemptions from conscription. This created controversy when he came before the tribunal himself and was granted six months' exemption by his colleagues. Townley was also active in the Labour Party, and was elected to Northampton Town Council, representing the North ward."Councillor W. R. Townley, JP", ''Northampton Mercury'', 20 December 1929 He additionally served as a magistrate. In 1929, Townley was elected as the president of NUBSO, and the following year, he was also elected to the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). He was the TUC's delegate to the

American Federation of Labour The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual ...

in 1937, and retired later that year. Trades Union Congress, ''Annual Report of the 1937 Trades Union Congress'', pp.441-444

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townley, W R 1877 births Year of death missing General Presidents of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress People from Northampton