David Kirkwood, 1st Baron Kirkwood, PC (1872 – 16 April 1955) was a socialist from the East End of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, viewed as a leading figure of the Red Clydeside

Red Clydeside

Red Clydeside is a term used to describe the era of political radicalism that characterised the city of Glasgow in Scotland, and urban areas around the city on the banks of the River Clyde such as Clydebank, Greenock and Paisley...

 era.

Kirkwood was educated at Parkhead Public School and was trained as an engineer.
Kirkwood's earliest political involvement was through his trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

, the Associated Society of Engineers, and the Socialist Labour Party

Socialist Labour Party (UK, 1903)

The Socialist Labour Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1903 as a splinter from the Social Democratic Federation by James Connolly, Neil Maclean and SDF members impressed with the politics of the American socialist Daniel De Leon, a Marxist...

, which he left in 1914 to join the Independent Labour Party

Independent Labour Party

The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...

 (ILP). He was recognised as the Scottish engineers' leader for many years.

He served on the Glasgow Trade Council and was a member of the Clyde Workers' Committee

Clyde Workers' Committee

The Clyde Workers Committee was formed to campaign against the Munitions Act. The leader of the CWC was Willie Gallacher, who was jailed under the Defense of the Realm Act together with John Muir for an article in the CWC journal The Worker criticising World War I.-External links:**...

 (CWC), an organisation chaired by William Gallacher. The CWC grew out of the Clyde engineers' pay dispute of 1915. Until its effective suppression in early 1916 it organized shop floor opposition to the policies of the Ministry of Munitions with regard to Leaving Certificates and Dilution of Labour. Kirkwood was the convenor of shop stewards at Parkhead Forge of William Beardmore and Company

William Beardmore and Company

William Beardmore and Company was a Scottish engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active between about 1890 and 1930 and at its peak employed about 40,000 people...

, where, in January 1916, he helped to secure a dilution agreement. In March 1916, as a result of a strike related to the implementation of the dilution agreement, Kirkwood was arrested and deported from Glasgow to Edinburgh, an event which greatly increased his profile. He returned to Glasgow in 1917, and was employed as foreman at the Mile-End Shell Factory. In January 1919 Kirkwood was prominently associated with the 40 hours' Strike. Batoned and arrested at a riot in George Square, Glasgow, he was tried for incitement to riot and acquitted. In the 1922 General Election

United Kingdom general election, 1922

The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...

 Kirkwood was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) Dumbarton Burghs. He had previously served for four years on Glasgow Town Council.

Kirkwood was one of the leading figures of the ILP in Parliament as it came into increasing conflict with the Labour Party. In the 1931 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1931

The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...

 he was returned as one of five ILP MPs without Labour Party support. However, when the ILP, with the support of James Maxton

James Maxton

James Maxton was a Scottish socialist politician, and leader of the Independent Labour Party. A prominent proponent of Home Rule for Scotland, he is remembered as one of the leading figures of the Red Clydeside era.-Early years:...

, decided to disaffiliate from the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 in 1932 this was a step too far for Kirkwood, and he left the ILP and again took the Labour Party whip in 1932. Kirkwood published his autobiography, My Life of Revolt in 1935.

Kirkwood became a Privy Counsellor in 1948. When his constituency disappeared at the 1950 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1950

The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...

 he was elected for the new constituency of East Dunbartonshire

East Dunbartonshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Dunbartonshire is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

. He was created Baron Kirkwood in 1951 when he left the Commons. He died on 16 April 1955.