William Harold Hutchinson (25 April 18781939 England and Wales Register – 19 May 1965) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party activist.
Educated to secondary school level, Hutchinson became active in the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, and was first elected to its Executive Council in 1913. The following year, he was also elected to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, becoming its chairman in 1920. He stood for the party in Bolton at the 1924 general election, but was not successful."HUTCHINSON, William H", Who Was Who
Unusually for a trade union official, Hutchinson was a supporter of guild socialism,Ed. Norman Mackenzie, The Letters of Sidney and Beatrice Webb: Volume III, p.91 and was close to G. D. H. Cole and the Fabian Society.Margaret Cole, The Story of Fabian Socialism, p.181
In 1925, Hutchinson was elected to London County Council in Woolwich East, although he did not defend his seat at the following election.
From June 1930, Hutchinson was President of the renamed Amalgamated Engineering Union. However, in August 1932, he was removed from office by the Executive Council after it was alleged that Hutchinson had attended a dinner and social gathering organised by Peterborough District of the AEU ‘in a state of intoxication’. In reply, Hutchinson stated ‘that he had an adequate explanation’.London Evening News, 3 August and 10 August 1932.
However, following a decision by the union's Final Appeal Court, the Executive Council declared the office of President vacant, and called a new election, in which Hutchinson was not permitted to stand. John C. Little was then duly elected by the end of March 1933.Nottingham Journal, 29 December 1932; News Chronicle, 1 April 1933.
After his dismissal as president, Hutchinson retained a considerable degree of support from the membership of the AEU. He was elected to the Final Appeal Court in 1934, and then elected as one of the union's full-time National Organisers in 1938.Sunderland Echo, 21 August 1934; Sheffield Independent, 21 October 1938.
Hutchinson stood again for the Presidency in 1937 and 1939, on both occasions reaching the second ballot, but then being defeated each time.Daily Mail, 30 June 1937; Daily Herald, 1 July 1939.
Hutchinson retired from full time trade union work in 1943 when he reached the AEU's age limit for full time officials of 65 years old. He then worked as an organiser for the Industrial Orthopaedic Society, before retiring from public life in 1946.
Hutchinson died in Cardiff, aged 87.England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007
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