William Gillies was a Scottish patriot and a socialist.
14 Facts About William Gillies
1.
2.
William Gillies helped to form the Scots National League, which joined with other bodies to form the National Party of Scotland, which in turn evolved into the Scottish National Party.
3.
William Gillies was interested in Scottish history from an early age and at the age of seventeen he became friend to John Murdoch who was then the editor of The Highlander.
4.
William Gillies became as enthusiastic for the rights of crofters in the Scottish highlands and joined the Highland Land League.
5.
William Gillies was at this stage in favour of some form of home rule for Scotland within the United Kingdom but grew to support Scottish independence instead.
6.
William Gillies began to learn Gaelic and wrote a number of plays in the language, serving as secretary of the Gaelic Society of London from 1904 to 1905.
7.
William Gillies, encouraged by Murdoch, became aware of the developments in the politics of Ireland becoming an ardent supporter of Sinn Fein, associating with prominent figures such as Art O'Brien who would become the head of the Irish Self Determination League.
8.
William Gillies supported the Easter Rising of 1916 and was deeply critical of those socialists who refused to support it, along with those in the Scottish Gaelic revival circles who refused to support it.
9.
William Gillies wanted the SNL to reflect the revolutionary aims of the Irish nationalists by then engaged in a war of independence with the British state.
10.
William Gillies hoped that it would be the organisation which would lead Scotland to independence and revive the Gaelic language.
11.
William Gillies became a regular contributor to the SNL's regular publication Liberty.
12.
William Gillies was involved in a little-known chapter of Scotland's history when he was involved in the establishment of a volunteer force which was ready to use armed force to win Scottish independence.
13.
In 1926 William Gillies became the first editor of the SNL's newspaper, The Scots Independent.
14.
William Gillies died in 1932, two years before the NPS evolved into the Scottish National Party, which at the time was even more moderate than the NPS had been.