Alexander Haycock

Who was Alexander Haycock?

Alexander Wilkinson Frederick Haycock was a Canadian-born British Labour politician, a leading member of the free trade movement.

Born in Ontario, Alexander Wilkinson Haycock was the son of Joseph Langford Haycock – an MPP in Ontario. He was educated at Kingston Collegiate Institute and Queen's University. Prior to the outbreak of the First World War he had taken up residence in the United Kingdom, was working as a commercial traveller, and was a secretary and lecturer for Norman Angell's Neutrality League. In the First World War he was a conscientious objector, and was sentenced by courts-martial to three terms of imprisonment with hard labour after military service tribunals refused to recognise his objection.