Leonard Hall (socialist)
William Leonard Hall (1866 – 29 June 1916) was a British trade union leader, journalist, and socialist activist, who held prominent positions in the Independent Labour Party. Biography Born in Windermere, a part of Cumberland at the time, he was one of six children of Spencer Timothy Hall, a homeopath with degrees from the University of Tübingen and University of Cincinnati. However, these degrees were not recognised in the UK, leaving the family in financial difficulty. Leonard left school at the age of thirteen to work delivering parcels. He undertook various jobs until he was sixteen, when he became a sailor. He travelled to the United States, and worked there for a time, including a stint as a cowboy. In the United States, Hall joined the Knights of Labor. He moved to Manchester in England in 1888, becoming leader of the local branch of the Socialist League. He worked part-time as a journalist, and part-time as the Lancashire district secretary of the Navvies, Bricklayers' Labourers and General Labourers' Union. In this role, he attempted to organise workers from a wide variety of industries. He and Tom Fox led a campaign to improve the working conditions of the navvies building the