William Westwood, 1st Baron Westwood OBE (28 August 1880 – 13 September 1953), was a British trade unionist and Labour politician. Westwood was the son of William Westwood of

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He was national supervisor of the Ship Constructors' and Shipwrights' Association (now part of GMB Union) from 1913 to 1929 and its general secretary from 1929 to 1945 as well as chief industrial adviser from 1942 to 1945. He was appointed an officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in 1920. On 29 January 1944 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Westwood, of Gosforth in the County of Northumberland. He then served in the Labour government of

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...

as a lord-in-waiting (government whip in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

) between 1945 and 1947 and was also chairman of the Mineral Development Committee under the Ministry of Fuel and Power from 1946 to 1949. Lord Westwood married firstly Margaret, daughter of William Young, in 1905. After her death in 1916 he married secondly Agnes Helen, daughter of James Downie, in 1918. She died in 1952. Lord Westwood survived her by a year and died in September 1953, aged 73. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son from his first marriage,

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Westwood, William Westwood, 1st Baron 1880 births 1953 deaths Labour Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting Newcastle United F.C. directors and chairmen Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers British trade unionists Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 Barons created by George VI 1