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up a second candidate at the 1924 general election, ensuring Duff Cooper was elected on the back of
Liberal votes. The local parties also had a written agreement not to engage in three-cornered fights at municipal elections and putting up a by-election candidate put these arrangements at risk. In addition, Wiggins proposed to make the Budget, free-trade and the question of duties on silk products the principal issue of the election. He was expected to receive support from many Conservative supporters of free-trade who were also opposed to silk and artificial silk duties. In the event the Tories chose not to put up a candidate but Wiggins emphatically denied that any pact had been arranged between the parties. It just seems that the Conservatives did not wish to risk handing the seat back to Labour and ruining their local government arrangements with the Liberals. The Liberals played to this with Conservative minded voters in the campaign, with Lloyd George declaring at a speech in Oldham that the issue was about
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373:, Wiggins felt this undermined the tacit understanding the party had with the Conservatives and he declined to stand for re-election. He may also have felt the winds of political change coming in Oldham and decided to jump before he was pushed as the Labour party gained both Oldham seats in the 1929 general election.
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In 1938, against the background of the trade recession, in his capacity as chairman of the
Monetary Policy Committee of his Federation, he wrote to the Times newspaper advocating a national monetary system to protect British interests against the policies of foreign governments. Then in 1939, Wiggins
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on the prospects for the cotton trade with India. In 1934, as chairman of the special committee appointed by
Federation of Master Cotton Spinners Associations he produced a report into the management and policies of the cotton trade starting from research into the problems of silver from the point of
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Wiggins, described as a staunch free-trader and robust
Radical was selected as Liberal candidate and Tout was invited to stand again by the Oldham Trades and Labour Council. The Tories were in a difficult spot concerning a possible candidate for the by-election. Oldham Liberals had decided not to put
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to make representations about the depression in the cotton industry. The delegation called for special measures to protect the industry and give government assistance to
Lancashire to help overcome the economic and social effects of the depression. They blamed the subsidies given to foreign cotton
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in taking positive government action to intervene in financial and fiscal matters. He proposed restoring international trade through rising prices, guaranteed by government action. In Rome in the spring of 1935 he represented his industry at the World Cotton
Congress and presented a paper on silver
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After he retired from
Parliament, Wiggins continued to play a leading public role in representing the cotton manufacturing industry and the development of practices in the field. But apart from his fierce defence of the interests of the Lancashire cotton trade, it is sometimes difficult to find a
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of the
Borough in 1919. In business Wiggins was a successful cotton manufacturer, a director of several spinning companies and was at one time president of the Federation of Master Cotton Spinners Associations and president of International Federation of Cotton Spinners and Manufacturers. He was
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After the War, Wiggins served as one of the employers’ representatives on the Cotton
Working Party set up in October 1945 which proposed a comprehensive programme for the re-equipment and reorganisation of the industry with government help and finance but stopping short of a request for
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as it was clear that the town needed a much larger school than the existing
Grammar School in Boarshaw, a district in the north of the town. Together with his friend Frederick Bagot who was to become editor of the local paper in Middleton, Wiggins initiated a campaign that ended with
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with other local businessmen in Manchester to object formally to Australia's tariff regimes against Lancashire cotton goods. In early 1936, Wiggins spoke in favour of the Cotton Spinning Bill then before Parliament saying that people needed to recognise that the days of
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in relation to monetary policy and the cotton trade of the world. On this occasion he took the opportunity to promote a free trade agenda and to attack the idea that nations could isolate themselves or attempt to practice
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Wiggins won the by-election with a majority of 4,623 over Tout in a poll where turnout was 66% and in his acceptance speech freely acknowledged the wholehearted support of Liberals and Conservatives against Socialism.
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and raising the spectre of Tout's record of supporting the state ownership of many industries. The free-trade issue was also a continuing feature of the election with Sir
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It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Wiggins was for free trade when it benefited Lancashire cotton and against it when circumstances changed.
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to intervene more robustly to counter some of the practices of American cotton manufacturers and traders.
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consistent policy thread in his public utterances and recommendations.
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When the Oldham Liberals decided to contest both seats at the
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Later in 1935, Wiggins met the prime minister of Australia,
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but the second seat had been retained by William Tout the
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Member of Parliament and the Oldham by-election, 1925
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Active behind the scenes – News – Middleton Guardian
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637:contributions in Parliament by William Wiggins
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335:Minister of Labour
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475:Who was Who
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283:Elizabeth I
106:Gordon Lang
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