ROMANTIC CAREER

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 126, 1 June 1927, Page 9

ROMANTIC CAREER

STORY OF A STORMY LIFE

It is quite common to read the life stories of captains of industry, prominent politicians, great soldiers and Bailors, and of fathers who, from a lowly station of life,

have risen to positions of eminence in their respective spheres, and invariably they make interesting reading. In these troublous days it is doubly interesting to read of the men -who have faced hard knocks in the arena •of life,

and have given as they have received. Such men are never flagging in their endeavours towards further effort, they are unmindful of the rebuffs ■which would discourage a weaker man, and they come up smiling after what should have been a knock-out blow. The world is full of such men, who have blazed a trial through life to the highest positions in. tho land. All, however, have not attained to the pinnacles, but for all that they.have left their mark on events'as they passed, and of such is Mr. J. Havelock Wilson. Beginning life as a boy in Sunderland, he. became a sailor, and later still a trades union official, his great ideal being" the formation of a seamen's union. He has been imprisoned, he has been before the courts time after time, both as plaintiff and defendant, he has been in Parliament, and he has even been in business for himself. His business he sacrificed for the sake of his ideals, as he has done all through the vicissitudes of his life. A SHIP-OWNEE'S TRIBUTE. Two years ago Sir Walter Eunciman, one of the biggest ship-owners in Great Britain, paid a marked tribute to Mr. Wilson when he wrote: "He and I have always been good friends privately; indeed, my fondness for him was such that it often got me into trouble with my friends. It would put a strain on the imagination to picture the critical positions this extraordinary man extricated himself from time after time. The efforts to keep him out of Parliament only caused him to be elected with i larger majorities, and forced him to bo a more determined foe than ever. As an open-air speaker, Mr. Wilson put every other Labour leader in the shade, and ultimately ho wrought his way to victory in the national interests. His errors were pardonably many during those strenuous years, but ho was never vindictive. Two years before tho War, tho Newcastle shipowners wisely took tho,definite step of recommending the federation council to recognise the seamen's union, and Mr, Wilson as its leader. The council, with commendable wisdom, decided to close the long years of tragedy and begin a now era. Ik was not only wise, but providential, for looming in the distance there was a great human uphoaval sweeping along, and when it burst upon us tho nation had a contented, patriotic Mercantile Marine, led by a great leader, without which we could not have survived."

Mr. Wilson 'a flrat real venturo on bohalf pf the seamen so far as organisation was concerned, was the formation, I in July, 1887, of the National Amniga'. mated Sailors' and Firemen's Union of] Great Britain and Ireland, the members consisting of himself and one other. That it was a stop in the right direction was evidenced from the fact that the _ new organisation grew ~ rapidly, until it has become one pf the great unions of the United Kingdom. By the end of the year its founder discovered that the i»ork of- such a body entailed considerable expense, and he had of necessity to dip deep into his own business capital. However, in two years I from its commencement the union membership could be numbered in thousands, there were branches in over sixty ports, and its income was considerable. The early days of the union were full of trouble, however, not only from tho opposition shown by the ship-owners, but because the union itself attempted far too much. Large sums of money were lost in an attempt to found homes for seamen in various ports, with the consequence that the union lost in prestige even among the seamen. For over thirty yoars the fight between masters and men was bitter. Combined effort was strange to both sides, and many mistakes were madb before the ultimate ideal was in any way achieved. Those years of striving took a heavy toll on the health of the leaders, and Mr. Havelock Wilson has suffered in this direction moro than any other man in the movement. He has certainly had no cause to complain that his life was dull and unoxciting, for he has been attacked by the Shipping Federation, attacked by the Independent Labour Party because he dared to be independent, attacked by the Government because he was a demagogue, and attacked by the Liberals because he was too outspoken. Added to thi s was the added calamity in 1894 of the National Amalgamated Sailors' and Firemen's Union of Great Britain and Ireland having to go into voluntary liquidation aa a result of many foolish ventures, but as soon as its affairs were wound up the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union came into existence, rising like a phoenix from the ashes of past mistakes. HIS POLITICAL CAREER. Mr. Wilson's political career started in 1892 when he entered Parliament as Liberal member for Middlesborough. He held the seat for eight years, but was then defeated, only to win it back in 1906, but four years later he was ousted for a second time. For eight years he devoted himself entirely to the work entailed in running the union, but again entered the House of Commons in 1918 as Coalition-Liberal for South Shields, but in 1922 he was badly beaten by both a Liberal and a Labour candidate, being at the bottom of the poll. For the past five years ho lias been president of the Seamen's Union, facing many serious problems during that period, including the great schism which divided the seamen for some time, and nearly smashed the parent union. He has now decided to retire after all these years of striving, and ship-own-ers and seamen combine'in wishing him years of ease before he completes I his life's journey. This is as it should be, for he has done much to help both sides in a quarrel which, at one time, to bg insurmountable.