William Winter Hamilton (26 June 1917 – 23 January 2000) was a British politician who served as a Labour

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for constituencies in Fife,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

for 37 years, between 1950 and 1987. He was known for his strong

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

views.

Background

Born in Houghton-le-Spring, the son of a County Durham miner, Hamilton joined the Labour Party as a teenager in 1936. He was educated at

Washington Grammar School Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

(BA, DipEd), and following graduation became a schoolteacher. After initially being a conscientious objector in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he served as a captain with the Pioneer Corps in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

Parliamentary career

Hamilton contested West Fife at the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgarian ...

, but lost to Communist Willie Gallacher. In

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

he overturned that result, winning by over 13,000 votes. In 1974, after boundary changes, he became MP for Fife Central. In 1986 Hamilton was replaced as Labour candidate in Fife Central by Henry McLeish, and stood in the ultra-safe Conservative seat of

South Hams South Hams is a local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Services divide between those provided by its own Council headquartered in Totnes, and those provided by Devon County Council headquartered in the city of Exete ...

in Devon, South-West England, where he came third, polling just 8% of the vote and losing to Conservative candidate and sitting MP Anthony Steen.

Anti-royal views

He sponsored the equal pay for equal work bill in the 1970s but is best remembered for his stridently anti-royalist views, which he set out in detail in his book ''My Queen and I''. He branded

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

"a clockwork doll", Princess Margaret "a floozy", Prince Charles "a twerp", and remarked upon the birth of Princess Anne's son "“How charming, another one on the payroll.”. However, he admired the

Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also u ...

, declaring on her 80th birthday: "I am glad to salute a remarkable old lady. May she live to be the pride of the family."

Personal life

In 1944, Hamiliton married Joan Callow (died 1968), with whom he had a daughter and a son. He married his second wife Margaret Cogle in 1982 and from his retirement in 1987 until his death the couple lived in

Woodhall Spa Woodhall Spa is a former spa Village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England, on the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, south-west of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, Horncastle, west of Skegness, east-south-east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Li ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. Willie Hamilton died in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

in 2000, aged 82.

References

External links

*
BBC report of death of Willie Hamilton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Willie 1917 births 2000 deaths British conscientious objectors British republicans Confederation of Health Service Employees-sponsored MPs Schoolteachers from County Durham Labour Party (UK) MEPs Scottish Labour MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fife constituencies MEPs for the United Kingdom 1973–1979 People from Houghton-le-Spring Politicians from Tyne and Wear People from Woodhall Spa Royal Pioneer Corps officers UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 British Army personnel of World War II