Alexander Wilkie

Alexander Wilkie
Wilkie in the mid 1900s.
Member of Parliament
for Dundee
In office
8 February 1906 – 26 October 1922
Serving with Edmund Robertson (1906–1908), Winston Churchill (1908–1922)
Preceded byJohn Leng
Edmund Robertson
Succeeded byE. D. Morel
Edwin Scrymgeour
Personal details
Born30 September 1850
Fife, Scotland, UK
Died2 September 1928 (aged 77)
Political partyLabour

Alexander Wilkie CH (30 September 1850 – 2 September 1928) was a Labour Party politician in Scotland, best known for his service as a Member of Parliament for Dundee. Along with the Dundonian George Nicoll Barnes, Wilkie was one of the first-ever Labour MPs elected in Scotland.[1][2]

Biography

Wilkie was born in Fife in 1850 and, until his political career, was a ship carpenter.[3] Wilkie was known for his work in the Labour movement serving as general secretary of the Ship Constructive and Shipwrights Association. He helped to form the Labour Representation Committee and visited the United States as a member of the Mosely Commission in 1902.[3]

He unsuccessfully contested the Sunderland constituency at the 1900 general election[4] but was elected to the House of Commons at the 1906 general election as one of the two Members of Parliament for Dundee.[4] Wilkie's election has been argued to be an important part of a broader process of political change in Dundee, which saw the city's electorate move from supporting the Liberal Party to supporting the Labour Party.[5]

While he was an MP, Wilkie was a trustee of both the University College, Dundee and the Dundee Technical College and School of Art.[6] He also contributed to The Tocsin, a monthly periodical that backed the Labour Party in Dundee and was edited by Joseph Lee.[7]

From 1908 to 1922, his colleague as MP for Dundee was a future British prime minister, then a Liberal MP, Winston Churchill. At the 1918 general election, both Wilkie and Churchill were supported by the local Unionists as well as their own party organisations. In Wilkie's case, that reflected both the fact that his political views had moved to the right since 1914 as well as his support for British involvement in the Great War.[7][8] The Glasgow Herald noted in 1918 that Wilkie had "never been regarded as a rabid socialist" and had won support from many Liberal voters in the past because of his "moderate" opinions.[9]

It was reported in 1920 that Wilkie would retire at the next general election.[10] Wilkie stood down at the 1922 general election.[11] In the subsequent election not only was Churchill defeated by the only MP to be elected as a prohibitionist but Wilkie was replaced by the considerably more leftwing Labour MP E. D. Morel.

References

  1. ^ "Tracing the development of Red Scotland". Archives, Records and Artefacts at the University of Dundee. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  2. ^ "MS 325 Dundee City Labour Party". Archive Services Online Catalogue. University of Dundee. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  3. ^ a b The Times House of Commons 1910. London: John Parkinson Bland at the Times Office. 1910. p. 94.
  4. ^ a b Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  5. ^ Baxter, Kenneth; Kenefick William (2011). "Labour Politics and the Dundee Working Class c 1895-1936". In Jim Tomlinson and Christopher A. Whatley (ed.). Jute No More. Dundee: Dundee University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-84586-090-5.
  6. ^ The Dundee Directory 1911-1912. Dundee: James P. Mathew & Co. 1911. pp. 94–95. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  7. ^ a b Baxter, Kenneth. "General Election Special 1: Parliamentary Elections in Dundee 1910-2010". Archives, Records and Artefacts at the University of Dundee. University of Dundee. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  8. ^ Baxter, Kenneth; Kenefick William (2011). "Labour Politics and the Dundee Working Class c 1895-1936". In Jim Tomlinson and Christopher A. Whatley (ed.). Jute No More. Dundee: Dundee University Press. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-84586-090-5.
  9. ^ "Dundee Trouble in the Labour Camp". The Herald. No. 136th year No. 284. Glasgow. 27 November 1918. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  10. ^ "Why Wilkie is Retiring". Evening Telegraph and Post. 14 January 1920. p. 2.
  11. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Dundee
1906–1922
With: Edmund Robertson 1906–1908;
Winston Churchill 1908–1922 		Succeeded by
Trade union offices
Preceded by
New position
 General Secretary of the Ship Constructive and Shipwrights' Association
1882–1928 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress
1897 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Trades Union Congress representative to the American Federation of Labour
1899
With: James Haslam 		Succeeded by