Will Crooks

William Crooks (6 April 1852 – 5 June 1921) was a noted trade unionist and politician from Poplar, London. He is particularly remembered for his campaigning work against poverty and inequality. He was the third son of a ship's stoker, George Crooks, who lost his arm in an accident when Crooks was three years old. Crooks worked initially as a grocer's errand boy, then a blacksmith's labourer and then as an apprentice cooper. He set about reforming the local workhouse, creating a model for other poor law authorities. In 1900 Crooks became the first Labour mayor of Poplar. Two years later he was elected to Parliament as MP for Woolwich wresting the seat away from the Conservative Party. He supported the reforming Liberal governments of Campbell-Bannerman (1906–1908) and Asquith (1908–1910) Crooks lost his seat in Parliament at the January 1910 general election, but was re-elected at the December 1910 generalelection. In 1912 he supported the Feeble-Minded Persons (Control) Bill; Crooks has been quoted by the New Statesman as describing disabled people as "crawllike"