William Power (30 August 1873 – 13 June 1951) was a Scottish

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, and politician. He was the leader of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

from 1940 to 1942, and served as President of the Scottish Convention between 1942 and 1951.

Early life

William Power was born in

Woodlands Woodlands may back refer to: * Woodland, a low-density forest Geography Australia * Woodlands, New South Wales * Woodlands, Ashgrove, Queensland, a heritage-listed house associated with John Henry Pepper * Woodlands, Marburg, Queensland, a her ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, the eldest of the five children of William Power snr, a commission agent and ship master. He attended Woodside School in Glasgow, but had to leave at the age of fourteen as a result of his father's death at

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

from fever, and found work as a bank clerk at the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...

.
Margery Palmer McCulloch, ‘Power, William (1873–1951)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press He continued to read and educate himself, and frequently contributed essays and articles to newspapers.

Writer and editor

In 1907, after working as a bank clerk for twenty years, Power joined ''

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' as a full-time member of its editorial staff and remained there as essay and leader writer for nearly twenty years. A considerable essayist and critic, Power was a supporter of the

Scottish Renaissance The Scottish Renaissance ( gd, Ath-bheòthachadh na h-Alba; sco, Scots Renaissance) was a mainly literary movement of the early to mid-20th century that can be seen as the Scotland, Scottish version of modernism. It is sometimes referred to as ...

literary movement in the 1920s. In 1926 he left the ''Glasgow Herald'' to become editor of the ''Scots Observer'', a new

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...

which was supported by the Scottish churches. However, the paper was not a commercial success, and he resigned as editor in 1929 to work for

Associated Newspapers DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...

. Power was a founding member of the Scottish centre of

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

. He was vice-president in 1930. He served as president of Scottish PEN from 1935 to 1938. He was also president of the Glasgow Esperanto Society, and the Scottish Ramblers' Federation.

Political career

On 12 March 1940, at the age of 66, Power was announced the

(SNP) candidate in the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. Power had come from nowhere to poll 37% (7,308 votes), coming second behind the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, registering the SNP's largest percentage of a by-election vote to date. Power succeeded Andrew Dewar Gibb as the leader of the SNP. At the SNP Annual Conference in May 1942, Power was re-nominated by

John MacCormick John MacDonald MacCormick (20 November 1904 – 13 October 1961) was a Scottish lawyer, Scottish nationalist politician and advocate of Home Rule in Scotland. Early life MacCormick was born in Pollokshields, Glasgow, in 1904. His father was Dona ...

for the post of leader of the SNP, but he was narrowly defeated (33 votes to 29) by Douglas Young. This led MacCormick to convene a meeting of his supporters, which established Scottish Convention.Keith Webb, ''The growth of nationalism in Scotland'', p.147 Power died in Clackmannan County Hospital,

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where ...

, in June 1951, aged 77. He was married in 1906 to Giulia Dick (1871–1922), and in 1924 to his second wife, Williamina Mills (1877–1946). There were no children of either marriage.

Publications

*''The World Unvisited'', 1922 *''Robert Burns and other Essays and Sketches'', 1926 *''My Scotland'', 1934 *''Scotland and the Scots'', 1934 *''Literature and Oatmeal'', 1935 *''Should Auld Acquaintance … : an Autobiography'', 1937 *''The Culture of the Scots: its Past and Future'', 1943

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, William 1873 births 1951 deaths Leaders of the Scottish National Party Politicians from Glasgow Scottish journalists The Herald (Glasgow) people Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish National Party parliamentary candidates