Bill Lauchlan

William Sinclair Lauchlan (or Laughlan,[1][2] 10 May 1916 – 2009) was a Scottish communist activist.

Lauchlan was born in Irvine in May 1916 to James Lauchlan, a plasterer, and Catherine Sinclair.[3] He was educated to secondary school level.[4] A Plasterer to trade, Lauchlan joined the Independent Labour Party in Irvine, Ayrshire 1933, then in 1935 switched to the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).[5] He quickly rose to prominence, serving as Lanarkshire Organiser in the 1940s,[6] then becoming Scottish District Secretary in about 1951,[7] then in the 1960s served as National Organiser.[4]

He was also active on Glasgow Trades Council, and in 1946 represented it at the Scottish Trades Union Congress.[7]

Lauchlan stood for the CPGB in Glasgow Govan at the 1950 general election, then in West Fife in 1951, 1955, 1959 and 1964, although he was never elected.[4] Following his retirement from being a full-time officer within the CPGB, Lauchlan returned to Glasgow in 1968 and worked for Scottish Homes in Glasgow and Edinburgh until his retirement in 1981. In retirement, he worked as a Volunteer with the Citizens Advice Bureau in Livingston, having moved to the New Town in West Lothian/Midlothian in 1972.

He was interviewed in May 2000 in Moffat, Dumfriesshire.[8] Lauchlan died in Kelso in 2009 at the age of 93.[9]

References

1. Voices from Work and Home, pg. 513
2. Index to the Correspondence of the Foreign Office for the Year, Parts 1-4, pg. 508
3. Scotland's People: 1916 LAUGHLAN, WILLIAM SINCLAI (Statutory registers Births 595/ 154)
4. The Times House of Commons (1964), p.214
5. The Times House of Commons (1950), p.199
6. The Word, Vols. 2-8, p.40
7. The Times House of Commons (1951), p.199
8. Party People, Communist Lives: Explorations in Biography
9. Scotland's People: William Sinclair Laughlan death record