William Kemp was born in 1913 in Aberdeen, Scotland. At the age of 14 he won a prize for an essay on the history of the Hazlehead and Birnieboozle areas of Aberdeen. In 1927, despite his obvious intelligence, he entered straight into employment when he left school working as a shipping agent and a vacuum cleaner salesman. His father had been a Marxist and William joined the Marxist Social Democratic Federation. At the age of 18 he joined the Labour Party and became an active Trade Unionist in the Shopworkers Union. In the 1930s, William won a scholarship to Ruskin College, Oxford, as his brother Chae had done. At this time he undertook a cycling tour of Nazi Germany to see conditions for himself. He became a full-time official with the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW), working first in Leeds, England, and later in Glasgow, Scotland.
In 1938 he married Mary Baxter, also from Aberdeen and a former Ruskin student. They had two children, Mary Lois and William Charles. Mary later married Sandy Hobbs, a left wing activist and was politically active herself. In the 1940s, William returned to Aberdeen to the Union's offices there and continued to work for them until he retired in the mid-1970s. William was an active member of the Labour Party, serving both the local constituency party and for many years on the Scottish regions Executive Committee. William also stood for the Labour Party in the 1959 General Election in West Aberdeenshire. He was a member of the Consumer Consultative Committee for the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, Chairman of the Aberdeen Endowments Trust and served on the Court of the University of Aberdeen. He was awarded the MBE in 1973 for his services to the community. After his retirement, despite failing health and the death of his wife, he maintained his interest in public affairs and in the Labour Party. He was also an active member of the Aberdeen Humanist Group. William died in Aberdeen in December 1997 .
Source: Glasgow Caledonian University Library Special Collections, William Kemp homepage http://www.lib.gcal.ac.uk/specialcollections/kemp/index.htm (Joe Fodey, 2002)
From the guide to the Papers of William Kemp, trade union and labour party activist, 1913-1997, 1936-1997, (Glasgow Caledonian University Archives)
