William Pearce (Liberal politician)

Sir William Pearce (18 March 1853 – 24 August 1932) was an English chemical manufacturer and Liberal Party politician in the East End of London, in England.

[1] He also served as the first Treasurer of the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers which was established in October 1916 to encourage co-operation in the industry in the face of effective co-ordination of the sector by wartime Germany.

In 1892 he was adopted as Progressive candidate for the London County Council (LCC) elections in the Tower Hamlets (Limehouse) division.

[11] He won his seat, topping the poll, gaining more votes than the sitting Progressive Party member, Arthur Leon.

This was the year of the Liberal landslide and Pearce gained the seat from Samuel in another straight fight by a majority of 974 votes.

[17] At this election he was opposed in Limehouse by the Labour Party whose candidate was future Prime Minister Clement Attlee.

Attlee insisted the real issue was Capital against Labour, a system based on exploitation or cooperative Commonwealth.

[20] He also served on a committee advising the Minister of Reconstruction Dr Addison on the procedure which should be adopted for dealing with the chemical trades after the war.

[24] Eventually a compromise position was reached which was endorsed by all the members of the committee and a report, drafted by Pearce, was adopted unanimously.

[25] In addition to his war profits responsibility, Pearce was asked to chair committees dealing with housing,[26] the funding of hospitals[27] and the relief of unemployment.

A right-handed batsman, he scored a total of 50 runs and took six wickets, including a hat-trick in his first over in his final first-class match, a fixture against Derbyshire at .