predecessor successor death_date birth_place death_place party profession birth_date order term_start spouse article_title term_end name
andrew dewar gibb douglas young 13 june 1951 glasgow , scotland alloa , clackmannanshire , scotland scottish national party bank clerk ; journalist 30 august 1873 leader of the scottish national party 1940 giulia dick -lrb- m 1871-1922 -rrb- ; william power -lrb- scottish politician -rrb-
 30 may 1942 william power
william power -lrb- scottish politician -rrb-

william power -lrb- 30 august 1873 -- 13 june 1951 -rrb- was a scottish author , journalist , and politician .
he was the leader of the scottish national party -lrb- snp -rrb- from 1940 to 1942 , and served as president of scottish convention -lrb- 1942-1951 -rrb- .
william power was born in glasgow , the eldest of the five children of william power snr , a commission agent and ship master .
he attended woodside school in glasgow , but had to leave at the age of fourteen as a result of his father 's death at gibraltar from fever , and found work as a bank clerk at the royal bank of scotland .
he continued to read and educate himself , and frequently contributed essays and articles to newspapers .
in 1907 , after working as a bank clerk for twenty years , power joined the `` glasgow herald '' as a full-time member of its editorial staff and remained there as essay and leader writer for nearly twenty years .
a considerable essayist and critic , power was a supporter of the scottish renaissance literary movement in the 1920s .
in 1926 he left the `` glasgow herald '' to become editor of the `` scots observer '' , a new weekly newspaper which was supported by the scottish churches .
however , the paper was not a commercial success , and he resigned as editor in 1929 to work for associated newspapers .
power was a founding member of the scottish centre of pen international , and served as president of scottish pen from 1935 to 1938 .
he was also president of the glasgow esperanto society , and the scottish ramblers ' federation .
in 1940 , at the age of 66 , power succeeded andrew dewar gibb as the leader of the scottish national party -lrb- snp -rrb- following a shock by-election result in argyllshire .
power had come from nowhere to poll 37 % -lrb- 7,308 votes -rrb- , coming second behind the conservative party .
at the snp annual conference in may 1942 , power was re-nominated by john maccormick for the post of leader of the snp , but he was narrowly defeated -lrb- 33 votes to 29 -rrb- by douglas young .
this led maccormick to convene a meeting of his supporters , which established scottish convention .
power died in clackmannan county hospital , alloa , in june 1951 , aged 77 .
he was married in 1906 to giulia dick -lrb- 1871-1922 -rrb- , and in 1924 to his second wife , williamina mills -lrb- 1877-1946 -rrb- .
there were no children of either marriage .
