Constituency : North West Lanarkshire 1910-18, Penistone 1922-4
William took North West Lanarkshire from the Tories.
William was educated at Glasgow University and became a barrister. He stood at Glasgow Camlachie but failed to unseat the Liberal unionist, Alexander Cross.
William was a leftwing social radical.
William supported going to war in 1914 but opposed conscription in 1915. Although critical of Asquith , he was an implacable opponent of Lloyd George and harassed him from the backbenches during this wartime government.
Without the coupon, William stood for Glasgow Springburn in 1918 and came a poor third. He stood for Rusholme at a by-election in 1919 and came third again.
In 1921 William looked to hold Penistone for the independent Liberals after the resignation of Sydney Arnold but the intervention of a Coalition Liberal allowed Labour to take the seat. In 1922 William managed to unseat the victor. He held the seat in 1923.
William was critical of the Labour government's timidity but it did not help him get re-elected. He dropped to third place in 1924.
William blamed his defeat and others on Lloyd George not releasing enough money from his political fund to help the party.. He helped found the Liberal and Radical Candidates Association and became its first chairman. Its main aim was to prevent Lloyd George becoming chairman of the Liberal parliamentary party but it failed in this regard.
In 1925 William stood in the Ayr Burghs by-election but again came a poor third. With Lloyd George in charge of the party William looked to the newly created Liberal Council to gather opposition to him.
He died in 1928 aged 54.
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