William J. West

William James West (born 15 July 1868) was a British Liberal Party politician and trade unionist. He served on the London County Council, and as Mayor of Battersea.

Born in Ramsgate, West worked for an insurance company, and joined the Peace Society and the temperance movement, attending a very large number of meetings. He also joined the Liberal and Radical Association, and was soon elected to its executive committee. When he was only nineteen, two years under the legal age, he served as polling agent for the Liberal-Labour Member of Parliament, John Burns.

In 1902, West became a railway clerk and joined the Railway Clerks' Association (RCA). He was parliamentary secretary of the union from 1903 until 1908, president from 1906 until 1908, and served as acting general secretary for part of 1906.

West stood unsuccessfully in Winchester at the 1918, 1923 and 1924 United Kingdom general elections, in the 1919 Isle of Thanet by-election, and in Battersea South at the 1929 United Kingdom general election.