Alexander Wilkie

Wilkie in the mid 1900s

Alexander Wilkie (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 two Labour Members elected in Scotland.

Biography

Alexander Wilkie was born in Fife in 1850 and prior to his political career was a ship carpenter. 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 Labour Representation Committee and visited the United States of America as a member of the Mosely Commission in 1902.

He unsuccessfully contested the Sunderland constituency at the 1900 general election, but was elected to the House of Commons at the 1906 general election as one of the two Members of Parliament for Dundee. 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.

While MP for Dundee, Wilkie was a Trustee of both University College, Dundee and the Dundee Technical College and School of Art. He also contributed to The Tocsin a monthly periodical that backed the Labour Party in Dundee which was edited by Joseph Lee.

From 1908 to 1922 his colleague as MP for Dundee was the Liberal 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 this reflected both the fact that his political views had moved to the right since 1914 and his support for British involvement in the Great War.

It was reported in 1920 that Wilkie would retire at the next general election. Wilkie then stood down at the 1922 general election.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Alexander Wilkie

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Leng and Edmund Robertson	Member of Parliament for Dundee 1906–1922 With: Edmund Robertson 1906–1908; Winston Churchill 1908–1922	Succeeded by Edwin Scrymgeour and E. D. Morel
Trade union offices
Preceded by New position	General Secretary of the Ship Constructive and Shipwrights' Association 1882–1928	Succeeded by Frank Purdy
Preceded by William Inskip and Will Thorne	Trades Union Congress representative to the American Federation of Labour 1899 With: James Haslam	Succeeded by Pete Curran and John Weir