William Mackinder (28 April 1880 – 8 September 1930[1]) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician.

Born in Hull, Mackinder worked in the wool industry in Bradford before becoming active in the trade union movement.

[3] He was expected to be at work by 6am, and was late 4 times in his first week on the job, leaving him in debt to his employer due to fines.

[2] In 1925, Mackinder was one of a small group of Labour MPs to visit Bulgaria in the wake of the bombing of the St Nedelya Church.

A report prepared by the MPs laid the blame for the attack at the feet of the government of Aleksandar Tsankov and its tactics in suppressing opposition activity.

Their report was criticised in The Daily Telegraph as being too sympathetic to the Communist side and bearing similarities to the official line from Moscow.

[2] Mackinder's health began to deteriorate in late 1929, when he fell ill in the House of Commons and had to be operated on for appendicitis.

Fellow Labour MP Ben Turner, gave an address at the funeral, and also wrote an obituary in the Yorkshire Evening Post.