He became involved in a local seamen's union established in Sunderland in 1879 and had become its president by 1885. Wilson pursued a policy of attempting to build branches in nearby ports, which met with some success but led to disagreements within the leadership. In 1887, Wilson broke with the Sunderland union to establish his own
National Sailors' & Firemen's Union, which was committed to a policy of expansion. Wilson remained president of the union until his death. Wilson rose to prominence in the late 1880s, on the back of the success of his union and his involvement in various
strikes, including the
London dock strike of 1889. Wilson's first electoral contest was at a by-election in
Bristol East in 1890, at which he did poorly. He won his second contest, at
Middlesbrough in 1892, in which he stood as an independent labour candidate in opposition to a
Gladstonian Liberal, and a
Liberal Unionist. He also allied with existing
Lib–Lab Members of Parliament (MPs) such as
Thomas Burt and
John Wilson. Wilson continued to align himself with the Liberal Party in politics despite the establishment and growth of the
Independent Labour Party. Indeed, he was fiercely critical of the party and of key figures within it such as
Keir Hardie and
Ramsay MacDonald. Wilson's union suffered in the early 1890s and almost collapsed in 1894. Wilson retained his Middlesbrough seat in the
1895 general election but narrowly lost to
Samuel Alexander Sadler, a Conservative, in the
1900 election – an election characterised by a considerable swing towards the Conservatives. He was a founder of the
National Democratic Party but stood as a Liberal at the
October 1918 by-election in
South Shields, when he was elected unopposed. His last electoral contest came at the
1922 general election, when he stood as a
National Liberal candidate, but lost his seat – coming third with only 20.5% of the vote. In the 1920s, Wilson's reputation as a 'bosses' man' made him increasingly unpopular in the wider labour movement. His union was seen as having become little more than a “
company union”. Havelock Wilson was buried in Hendon Park Cemetery, with many dockers in attendance having walked to the graveside from Docklands. ==References==