{{Short description|British trade unionist}} {{for|the American general|William B. Kean}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=September 2022}}
'''William Kean''' (17 March 1871 – 5 January 1954) was a British trade unionist.
Born in Sheffield, Kean became a cutler working in silver and a trade unionist. By his early twenties he was secretary of the small Sheffield-based Spoon and Fork Filers, Odd Workers and Stampers Society.<ref>Trades Union Congress, ''Labour'', vol.II, p. 64.</ref> From this position, he masterminded a merger of several small unions which formed the National Union of Gold, Silver and Allied Trades (NUGSAT), completed in 1911, and became its first secretary.<ref name="obituary">Trades Union Congress, ''Report of Proceedings at the 86th Annual Trades Union Congress'' (1954), p. 319.</ref>
In 1921, Kean was elected to the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), remaining in place until 1945, and serving as President of the TUC in 1934/1935.<ref>Hugh A. Clegg, Alan Fox and A. F. Thompson, ''A History of British Trade Unions Since 1889: 1934-1951'', p. 435.</ref>
In his spare time, Kean was a magistrate, was active on the Sheffield Trades Council, a founder of Sheffield's Labour Representation Committee, and served on a variety of government committees.<ref name="obituary" /> In the 1939 New Year Honours, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.<ref>Jack Eaton and Colin Gill, ''The Trade Union Directory'' (1981), pp. 137–138.</ref> He finally retired as secretary of NUGSAT in 1953, and died the following year.<ref name="obituary" />
==References== <references />
{{start box}} {{s-npo|union}} {{succession box|title=Secretary of the National Union of Gold, Silver and Allied Trades|years=1911–1953|before=''New position''|after=J. Edley}} {{succession box|title=Iron, Steel and Minor Metal Trades representative on the General Council of the TUC|years=1921–1945|before=''New position''|after=Lincoln Evans and Ambrose Callighan|with=Arthur Pugh (1921–1935)<br />John Brown (1935–1945)}} {{succession box|title=President of the Trades Union Congress|years=1934/35|before=Andrew Conley|after=Allan Findlay}} {{succession box|title=Trades Union Congress representative to the American Federation of Labour|years=1936|with=George Gibson|before=Andrew Conley and Andrew Naesmith|after=John C. Little and William R. Townley}} {{end box}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kean, William}} Category:1871 births Category:1954 deaths Category:Cutlers Category:Trade unionists from Sheffield Category:Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Category:Presidents of the Trades Union Congress