William Inskip

William John Inskip (1852 – May 1899) was an English trade unionist.

Inskip grew up in Leicester, where he worked as a laster in the bootmaking trade. He became active in the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives (NUBSO), of which he was elected treasurer in 1880,^[1] then general secretary in 1886.^[2]

In 1891, Inskip was elected to Leicester Town Council as a Liberal-Labour representative,^[1] and he was also appointed as a magistrate.^[2] However, he became increasingly politically isolated, as other leading figures in the union shifted to supporting independent labour representation.^[1]

Inskip was also active in the Trades Union Congress (TUC), serving on its Parliamentary Committee, and also as its treasurer. In 1898, he travelled to the United States as part of a TUC delegation, but on his return, he contracted tuberculosis, and he died in 1899, aged 47.^[1]^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ned Newitt, "The Who's Who of Radical Leicester"
^ ^a ^b ^c "Memorial notices: Mr. W. Inskip", Manchester Guardian, 12 May 1899, p.7

Trade union offices
Preceded by George Sedgwick	General Secretary of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives 1886 – 1899	Succeeded by W. Boyd Hornidge
Preceded by Henry Slatter	Treasurer of the Trades Union Congress 1890 – 1899	Succeeded by C. W. Bowerman
Preceded by Edward Harford and Havelock Wilson	Trades Union Congress representative to the American Federation of Labour 1898 With: Will Thorne	Succeeded by James Haslam and Alexander Wilkie

[radical-1] Ned Newitt, "The Who's Who of Radical Leicester"

[obit-2] "Memorial notices: Mr. W. Inskip", Manchester Guardian, 12 May 1899, p.7

[1]

[2]