William John Tout (1870–1946) was Labour MP for

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

, a two-member constituency. Tout began working in a cotton mill in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

at the age of ten, initially as a half-timer. He opposed the half-time system, and took part in the

Burnley Weavers' Association The Burnley and District Weavers', Winders' and Beamers' Association was a trade union representing workers in the cotton industry in the Burnley area of Lancashire, in England. As cotton manufacturing dominated the town's economy, the trade un ...

's campaigns against it. This activity gradually brought him to prominence, and in 1911, Tout was elected as the general secretary of the

Todmorden Todmorden ( ; ) is a market town and civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is north-east of Manchester, south-east of Burnley and west of Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax. In 2011, it had a popul ...

Weavers' Association. Four years later, he was elected as vice-president of the

Amalgamated Weavers' Association The Amalgamated Weavers' Association, often known as the Weavers' Amalgamation, was a trade union in the United Kingdom. Initially, it operated in competition with the North East Lancashire Amalgamated Weavers' Association in part of its area, ...

, to which the Todmorden union was affiliated. He also served on the executive of the

United Textile Factory Workers' Association The United Textile Factory Workers' Association (UTFWA) was a trade union federation in Great Britain. It was active from 1889 until 1975. Objectives The federation was founded in 1889, to represent the various textile workers' unions in polit ...

. Tout stood as a UTFWA-sponsored candidate in Oldham at the 1922 general election, winning the seat, and held it in

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

. He lost his seat in 1924, possibly as a result of Labour standing two candidates. He stood unsuccessfully again at the 1925 Oldham by-election. He then won Sowerby from the Unionists in 1929, but lost it in 1931. Out of Parliament, Tout retained his trade union posts until 1945, and remained secretary of the Todmorden Weavers until his death the following year.

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* Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Oldham 1870 births 1946 deaths Place of death missing UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1929–1931 United Textile Factory Workers' Association-sponsored MPs {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub