He was national supervisor of the Ship Constructors' and Shipwrights' Association (now part of GMB Union) from 1913 to 1929 and its general secretary from 1929 to 1945 as well as chief industrial adviser from 1942 to 1945.
[1] On 29 January 1944 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Westwood, of Gosforth in the County of Northumberland.
Lord Westwood married firstly Margaret, daughter of William Young, in 1905.
Lord Westwood survived her by a year and died in September 1953, aged 73.
He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son from his first marriage, William.