# Will Ballantine

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{{short description|British trade unionist and socialist activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''William Ballantine''' (1900 –) was a [Scottish](/source/Scottish_people) fireman, trade unionist and socialist activist.<ref name="bradford">{{cite news |title=FIreman is ILP Hope for East Bradford |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003150/19440619/058/0003 |access-date=7 November 2023 |work=Bradford Observer |date=19 June 1944 |page=3 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Ballantine was born in [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh) and was educated in [Lanarkshire](/source/Lanarkshire).<ref name="bradford"/>  He worked on farms before and after school from an early age. He left school at the age of twelve, and began doing farm work full-time. He eventually left to work on the railways, becoming an engine cleaner at [Carstairs Junction](/source/Carstairs_Junction), and joined the [National Union of Railwaymen](/source/National_Union_of_Railwaymen).<ref name="bagwell">{{cite book |last1=Bagwell |first1=Philip S. |title=The Railwaymen |volume=2 |date=1982 |publisher=George Allen & Unwin |location=London |isbn=9780043310847 |pages=94&ndash;95}}</ref> He later worked as a railway fireman.<ref name="register">''[1939 England and Wales Register](/source/1939_England_and_Wales_Register)''</ref>

Ballantine joined the [Independent Labour Party](/source/Independent_Labour_Party), and remained loyal to it after it split from the [Labour Party](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)) in 1932. He was due to stand in local elections in [Perth](/source/Perth%2C_Scotland) for the ILP, but brokered a deal with the Labour Party that he would withdraw in their favour. Although this was criticised by some party members, it achieved a longer-term influence for the ILP locally. By 1939, he was one of the most prominent trade unionists in the party, and he was elected to its [National Administrative Committee](/source/National_Administrative_Committee), serving until 1950. He stood for the party in [Bradford East](/source/Bradford_East_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) at the [1945 UK general election](/source/1945_UK_general_election), taking third place, with 14.6% of the votes cast.<ref name="bagwell" /><ref name="cohen">{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Gidon |title=The Independent Labour Party 1932-1939 |date=2000 |publisher=University of York |location=York |url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/9803/1/326548.pdf |accessdate=27 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="craigminor">[F. W. S. Craig](/source/F._W._S._Craig), ''Minor parties at British Parliamentary elections 1885–1974''</ref>

In line with ILP policy, Ballantine opposed British involvement in [World War II](/source/World_War_II). He was the chair of the No Conscription Fellowship founded in 1939, although he was not a pacifist, and accepted the need for socialist opposition to Nazism.<ref name="cohen" />

Ballantine was elected to the NUR's executive in 1937, representing the Locomotive Group, Area No.1. In 1946, he began working full-time for the NUR as an organiser, and in 1958 he became an assistant general secretary of the union. He retired in 1965<ref name="bagwell" /><ref name="cohen" /> and was named to the Western Railway Board of [British Railways](/source/British_Railways) for 1966.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ex-Union Man on Railway Board |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002471/19651111/111/0011 |access-date=7 November 2023 |work=Reading Evening Post |date=11 November 1965 |page=11 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==References==
<references />

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{{succession box|title=Assistant General Secretary of the [National Union of Railwaymen](/source/National_Union_of_Railwaymen)|years=1958&ndash;1965|before=Frederick E. Bell|after=[Sidney Weighell](/source/Sidney_Weighell)}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballantine, Will}}
Category:1900 births
Category:Year of death missing
Category:Trade unionists from Edinburgh
Category:Independent Labour Party parliamentary candidates
Category:British firefighters

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