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Thomas Russell Williams (1869 – 1926) was a British socialist politician. Williams grew up in Huddersfield and largely educated himself. He entered the textile industry and rose to become manager of a mill. He tried to enter the civil service, but was rejected, and instead turned his attention to the trade union movement. He became interested in ethical socialism and joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP), serving on its national council, though never becoming a figure well-known to the public.〔Robert B. Perks, "(The New Liberalism and the Challenge of Labour in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1885 - 1914, with special reference to Huddersfield )", p.398〕 Williams stood as the Labour Representation Committee candidate for Huddersfield at the 1906 UK general election.〔 He was initially selected by the local trades council, and only later gained the backing of the ILP, against the private wishes of Ramsay MacDonald.〔Robert B. Perks, "(The New Liberalism and the Challenge of Labour in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1885 - 1914, with special reference to Huddersfield )", p.441〕 He believed that he had a strong chance of winning the seat, but ultimately took a close second place, with 35.2% of the vote, on an extremely high turnout of 94% of eligible voters.〔Robert B. Perks, "(The New Liberalism and the Challenge of Labour in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1885 - 1914, with special reference to Huddersfield )", pp.431, 441-442〕 Williams stood again at the Huddersfield by-election, 1906, for the renamed Labour Party, but again lost narrowly, his vote dropping slightly to 33.8%. Although blaming this on the disqualification of some working class voters, he also admitted that the party had failed to make new converts.〔Robert B. Perks, "(The New Liberalism and the Challenge of Labour in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1885 - 1914, with special reference to Huddersfield )", pp.471-472〕 Williams lost further favour with the ILP leadership after he endorsed Victor Grayson in his successful independent labour campaign at the Colne Valley by-election, 1907. However, he was selected for Spen Valley, taking 23.3% of the vote at the January 1910 UK general election. In anticipation of an election in 1914 or 1915, he was made Labour's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Darlington, but was not happy as he felt there was little chance of winning the seat, and by the time the 1918 UK general election came around, there was no Labour candidate in the town.〔Duncan Tanner, ''Political Change and the Labour Party 1900-1918'', pp.247, 263-265〕 Williams died in 1926.〔Independent Labour Party, ''Report of the Annual Conference'' (1926), p.26〕 ==References== 〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「T. Russell Williams」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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