William Stewart (8 July 1856 – 27 August 1947) was a Scottish socialist activist and prominent figure in the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

. Born in Dunfermline, Stewart became a yarn dresser in a linen factory. From his youth, he began regularly writing to local newspapers about political and literary topics. When a parish council was created for the town, he was elected to it, and he also launched a socialist newspaper, ''The Worker''. In 1899, Stewart moved to

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 ...

, to work for the Independent Labour Party's (ILP) newspaper, the ''

Labour Leader The ''Labour Leader'' was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later renamed ''New Leader'' and ''Socialist Leader'', before finally taking the name ''Labour Leader'' again. 19th century The origins of the ...

''. He also contributed a weekly article to '' The Clarion''. During the late 1900s, he represented Scotland on the National Administrative Committee of the ILP, then in 1912, he became the secretary of its Scottish Divisional Council of the ILP. Stewart wrote a number of books, including ''Fighters for Freedom'', ''The Nativity of Adam'', ''Robert Burns and the Common People'', ''Keir Hardie: a Biography'', and ''War Time and Other Times Impression''. He retired in 1933.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, William 1856 births 1947 deaths Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members Politicians from Dunfermline Scottish journalists