William Joseph Somerville Pringle (10 November 1916 – 21 October 1962) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

politician and trade unionist. Born in

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

, Pringle was the son of William Pringle, the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

member of Parliament, and Lilas Sommerville. He attended

Bembridge School Bembridge School was a British independent school in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and seco ...

, and then studied science and technology at the

Chelsea Polytechnic Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

, and also economics through the University of London External Programmes.David E. Martin, "Pringle, William Joseph Sommerville", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.II, pp.312–313 He married the prominent child psychologist Mia Lilly Kellmer on April 18, 1946.Tizard, Barbara (2004). "Pringle, Mia Lilly Kellmer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online). Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press (published 2007). In 1937, Pringle became a research chemist with the Cereals Research Station, moving to

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

. He joined the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...

in 1944, and was elected as a Labour Party member of St Albans City Council in 1945, then to

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. After the 2021 election, it consists of 78 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, ...

in 1946. In 1950, he relocated to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

to work for the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

. While there, he stood unsuccessfully for

Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham Edgbaston is a constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Preet Gill, a Labour and Co-operative MP. The most high-profile MP for the constituency was former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain ...

at the 1951 general election, and for

Birmingham Hall Green Birmingham Hall Green is a parliamentary constituency in the city of Birmingham, which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Tahir Ali of the Labour Party. It has become in recent years a Labour sa ...

at the 1955 general election. Pringle also became active in the

Association of Scientific Workers The Association of Scientific Workers (AScW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. It was founded as the National Union of Scientific Workers in 1918, changing its name to the Association of Scientific Workers in 1927. The union largely rep ...

, and through it, the

World Federation of Scientific Workers The World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW) is an international federation of scientific associations. It is an NGO in official partnership with Unesco. Its goal is to be involved internationally in all aspects of the role of science, the ...

(WFSW). He served on the council of the WFSW, with responsibility for co-ordinating the groups in Western Europe, which involved much travel. He suffered a heart attack in 1962 and died at the age of 45.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, William 1916 births 1962 deaths British trade unionists Councillors in Hertfordshire Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People from Putney