1329 William Allan

Constituency : Gateshead  1893-1903

William  came  in  at  Gateshead  when  Walter  James  succeeded  to  his  father's  barony.

Willim's  father  had  run  a  foundry  business  which  fell  on  hard  times  so  William  was  obliged  to  find  work  as a  steamship  engineer. He  had  been  involved  in  gun-running  during  the  American  Civil  War  and  spent  six  weeks  in  a  Union  prison. He  returned  to  the  UK  and  worked  in  an  engineering  works  in  Sunderland  where  he  persuaded  the  directors  he  could  make  it  pay  if  put  in  charge. He  left  in  1887 to  set  up  his  own  Scotia  Engineering  Works. He  patented  a  number  of  improvements  to  the  steam  boiler.

William  was  a  large  man  with  a  beard.  He  was  a  frequent  contributor  on  naval  matters. He  supported  the  establishment  of  a  new  naval  base  at  Rosyth. He  was  a  fierce  critic  of  the   water  boiler  and  got  a  Commission  set up  to  investigate  boiler  efficacy.

William  was  interested  in  employee  welfare  and  voluntarily  introduced  the  eight  hour  day  at  his  works.

William  was  knighted  in  1902.

Although  William  was  largely  self-taught  he  wrote  poetry  in  Scotch  dialect.

He  died  in  1903  aged  66  having  suffered  heart  problems  for  some  years.