1979
(521)
(RETIRED COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE)
Born on 30June 1915 at Loughborough, Leicestershire and educated at King Richard’s Road School, Leicester.
On leaving school at the age of 15 years he joined the Royal Navy where he continued his education for the next three years.
Married Rose Evelyn Jackson at the Leicester Register Office on 29 February 1936. They had three daughters; Helen, Patricia and Karen.
William Scotton served with the Royal Navy from 1929 until the end of the Second World War. He was a submariner and rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, during which time he was on active service in submarines in many parts of the world including the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific Oceans during the war years.
On leaving the Royal Navy, he became a telegraphist at the Leicester General Post Office from 1947-1967, following which he became a company representative for a city firm.
After unsuccessful attempts to win the Spinney Hill Ward (1960), the Belgrave Ward (1961), and Wycliffe Ward (1962), as a Labour Party candidate, Councillor Scotton was elected to the City Council in 1963 as the representative for Belgrave Ward. He lost his seat briefly in May 1966 but a month later was returned for the De Montfort Ward in a crucial by-election, which effectively gave the Labour Party control of the Leicester City Council. He later represented Belgrave Ward (1969), Charnwood Ward (1971) and Wycliffe Ward (1977).
Councillor Scotton’s main interests on the Council were the Traffic and Finance Committees, both of which he was the Chairman and the Establishment Committee where he was the Vice–Chairman. He also served on the Education Committee. In May 1973, he was elected to serve on both the new Leicester District Council and the new Leicestershire County Council as the representative for the Charnwood Ward.
Councillor Scotton was the Assistant District Organiser for the National Union of Post Office Workers.
He was appointed High Bailiff of the City on 19 May 1977 for the year 1977-78.
Councillor Scotton was elected to the office of the Lord Mayor of the City on 17 May 1979. He chose his eldest daughter, Mrs Helen Scott to be his Lady Mayoress. The Lady Mayoress was born in Malta in 1938, whilst her father was in the Royal Navy, and spent the first four years of her life on the island.
The outstanding feature of Councillor Scotton’s year of office was the visit to the City of Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh on 14 March 1980. Whilst in Leicester, Her Majesty opened the new extension and development at the Leicester Royal Infirmary prior to paying an official visit to the Town Hall, where Councillor Scotton addressed the Royal visitors at a Civic Reception, before the assembled dignitaries and guests. The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress then had the privilege of escorting the Royal party on a walkabout to the Clock Tower to the delight of thousands of people who lined the route.
Later the Lord Mayor and the Chairman of the Leicestershire County Council were joint hosts at a Civic Luncheon in honour of Her Majesty and Prince Phillip which was held at County Hall, Glenfield. In the afternoon the Queen and Prince Philip toured the factory of Jones and Shipman Limited, Machine Tool Manufacturers Narborough Road South. The visit marked the Queen’s return to Leicester after an interval of 22 years.
On 13 June 1979, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress were guests of the Lord Mayor and the City of London at a banquet in honour of the President of the Republic of Kenya held at the Guildhall, London.
Leicester’s twinning links were strengthened with a visit to Krefeld in September 1979 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the formal link between the two cities. The Lord Mayor led a party of 350 people from Leicester representing the various cultural and sporting clubs and organisations. A Freedom of the City Parade was led by the 16thSignal Regiment, Royal Corps of Signals and a concert was given by the band of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment at the Krefeld Town Hall. Two days of celebrations culminated in the Anglo-German Ball.
Councillor Scotton maintained the City’s close association with the various regiments of the British Army. One such link was the historical connection with Her Majesty’s Coldstream Guards which dated back to 1653 and resulted in Leicester becoming a recruiting area for the Regiment. On 26 May 1979, he was present at a special service in Leicester Cathedral, to witness the laying up of the Colours of the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards. This was followed by a March Past of the Battalion at which the Lord Mayor took the Salute in the Town Hall Square. Later Councillor Scotton hosted a Civic Luncheon for members of the Battalion at the De Montfort Hall to mark a unique occasion in the history of the City and the Regiment.
On 20 April 1980, the Lord Mayor attend a ceremony, at Victoria Park, in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, the Deputy Colonel in Chief of the Royal Anglian Regiment. Her Royal Highness presented new Colours to the 7th (Territorial) Battalion and later took the Salute of the Battalion in an impressive march past.
The Lord Mayor also visited the 47th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, based at Colchester, during his Year of Office.
On 1 June 1979, Councillor Scotton hosted a Civic Reception in Leicester in honour of the veterans of the American 82nd Airbourne Division, who were stationed in Leicestershire during the second World War. The Division had the distinction of being among the first troops to land on French soil in the Allied Invasion of Normandy on D-Day – 6 June 1944.
His Year of Office will be remembered for his ’Save our Services’ (SOS) Appeal on behalf of the Royal Leicestershire, Rutland and Wycliffe Society for the Blind. This was a Charity, which was dear to Councillor Scotton, who had served on the Society’s Management Committee for 18 years. His Appeal raised £67,000 and resulted in a complete transformation in the Society’s financial position. The bank overdraft was eliminated and the General Charity Account showed a surplus for the first time in over a decade.
Councillor Scotton’s Year of Office was concluded on 15 May 1980 whereupon he was appointed Deputy Lord Mayor for the year 1980-81.
Councillor Scotton died in Leicester on 23 December 1988, aged 73 years.
