722 Reginald Greville-Nugent

Constituency : Longford  1869-70

Reginald  inherited  his  father's  seat  when  he  was  elevated  to  the  peerage. He beat  the  veteran  nationalist   John  Martin  by  1478  to  411  votes.

Reginald  held  the  seat  for  less  than  6  months  when  the  election  was  voided  for  voting  irregularities.

Reginald  loved  horses and  was  both  a  huntsman  and  a  steeple  chase  jockey.

He  died  at  Sandown  Park  in  1878  when  he  fell  off  his  horse  during  a  steeple  chase. He  was  29. His  illegitimate  son  became  the  writer  R C F  Maugham.

721 Norman Grosvenor

Constituency : Chester  1869-74

Norman  was  elected  unopposed  at  Chester  when  his  cousin  Robert  became Duke of Westminster.

Norman  didn't  speak  in  the  Commons  and  didn't  stand  in  1874.

He  died  in  1898  aged  53. His  daughter  married  John  Buchan.

720 Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth

Constituency  : Hastings  1869-80, Clitheroe  1885-1902

The  medievally-monikored  Ughtred  took  over  from  the  deceased  Frederick  North  to  whom  he  was  related  by  marriage.

Ughtred  was  the  son  of  James Kay-Shuttleworth  an  economist  and  civil  servant  who  had  been  made  a  baronet. His  mother was  from  an  old  Lancashire  landed  family. He  lived  at  Gawthorpe  Hall  near  Burnley  which  gives  me  a  personal  connection  here; it  was  there  that  my  future  wife  and  I  decided  we  were  going  steady.

Ughtred  was  interested  in  education, penal  matters  and  housing. He  chaired  a  number of  Prison  Conferences  in  the  1880s. In  1874  he  had  a  resolution  passed  which  called  for  a  reform  of  metropolitan  government  in  London.

Ughtred  was  unseated  in  1880 when  he  came  behind  Thomas  Brassey  and  a  Tory. Brassey  attributed  his  defeat  to  "general  causes".

Ughtred  blamed  Chamberlain  for  the  Liberal  setbacks  in  1885  writing  " I  get  letters  daily  from  politicians  of  various  degrees  of  Radicalism, attributing  their  difficulties  or  disasters  to  our  friend  Chamberlain  and  his  programme, and  the  spirit  in  which  he  has  thrust  it  forward".

In  1886  Gladstone  made  Ughtred  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  India.Two  months  later  he  was  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  after  Edward  Heneage's  resignation  over  Home  Rule. He  was  Parliamentary  and  Financial  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty  from  1892  to  1895.As  the  First  Lord  was  a  peer  Lord  Spencer  he  was  the  Admiralty's  spokesman  in  the  Commons. In  office  Ughtred  found  that   his  hands  were  pretty  effectively  tied  by  the  previous  government's  commitments.

Ughtred  was  dismayed  by  the  1900  election  in  his  home  county. He  wrote  "I  hoped  Lancashire  would  have  done  better . The  great-town  populations  go  sadly  astray".

In  1902  Ughtred  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Shuttleworth.

Ughtred  lost  both  his  sons  in  the  First  World  War.

Ughtred  died  in  1939  aged  95 by  which  time  he  was  blind  and  bedridden. His  daughter  Rachel  lived  on  at  Gawthorpe  Hall  into  my  lifetime  dying  in  1967  after  which  the  house  went  to  the  National  Trust.

719 Sir John Sinclair

Constituency : Caithness  1869-85

Sir  John  took  over  at  Caithness  after  the  resignation  of  George  Traill.

Sir  John  was  a  baronet's  son. His  grandfather  was  a  former  MP  for  the  seat. He  was  a  page  of  honour  for  Queen  Adelaide  as  a  child. He  was  educated  at  Cheam  and  Durham  University. He  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Scots  Guards. he  had  a  large  estate  in  northern  Scotland.

Sir  John's  only  parliamentary  contributions  were  a  couple  of  questions  about  the  operation  of  the  Irish  Land  Bill  in  1870.

In  1874  Sir  John  had  a  majority  of  13  over  the  Conservative  candidate.

In  1885  Sir  John  stepped  down  for  his  son  Clarence  but  he  was  beaten  by  the  Crofters' candidate.

Apparently  Sir  John  was  the  earliest  born  person  to  make  a  gramophone  recording  in  1906.

Sir  John  died  in  1912  aged  86. He  is  a  direct  ancestor  of  the  current  Caithness  MP  John  Thurso.

718 Charles Seely

Constituency : Nottingham 1869-74 , 1880-85 , Nottingham  West  1885-86, 1892-95 (Liberal Unionist )

Charles  took  over  at  Nottingham  after  the  death  of  Sir  Robert  Clifton.

Charles  was  the  son  of  the  MP  for  Lincoln  of  the  same  name. He  was  a  coal  owner  and  had  a  country  estate  and  the  family's  wealth  greatly  increased  during  his  lifetime. He  was  a  noted  philanthropist  in  the  city  particularly  towards  Nottingham  General  Hospital. He  lived  on  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  was  generous  there  too.

Charles  expressed  scepticism   about  Cardwell's  Army  Regulation  Bill.

In  1894  Charles  condemned  the  public  lectures  of  a  Nottingham  professor  Symes  who  was  advocating  property  taxes.

Charles  was  invited  to  stand  as  a  Conservative  in  Lincoln  in  1895. He  initially  accepted  but  then  withdrew  in  favour  of  his  son.

Charles  was  created  a  baronet  in  1896. He  suffered  from  bronchial  trouble  in  later  life.

In  1905  Charles  broke  with  the  Notts  Liberal  Unionist  Association  when  it  endorsed  Chamberlain's  Tarriff  Reform  plans.

He  died  in  1915  aged  82.

717 Montague Guest

Constituency : Youghal 1869-74, Wareham 1880-85

Montague  took  over  from  Christopher  Weguelin  whose  election  had  been  voided.

Montague  was  a  baronet's  son  whose  brother  Ivor  was  created  a  baron.

In  his  second  spell  as  an  MP  Montague  became  preoccupied  with  French  actions  in  North  Africa  and  persistently  badgered  the  Foreign  Office  about  them.

In  1880  Montague  headed  a  deputation  to  the  Lord  Chancellor to  protest  about  the  behaviour  of  a maverick  judge  called  Lefroy.

Montague  was  unsuccesful  at  Poole  in  1885.

He  died  in  1909  aged  70.

716 Edward Villiers aka Lord Hyde

Constituency : Brecon  1869-70

Edward  Villiers  ( aka  Lord  Hyde )  took  Brecon  when  the  Tory  MP's  election  was  declared  void.

Edward  was  the  son  and  heir  of  the  Earl  of  Clarendon  the   Foreign  Secretary  ( an  office  he had  also  held  under  Aberdeen, Palmerston  and  |Russell ). He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and Cambridge.  He  contested  South  Warwickshire  in  1868.

Edward  was  only  an  MP  for  a  brief  time  as  his  father  died  in  1870  and  he  succeeded  to  the  earldom.

Edward  was  part  of  the  Liberal  Unionist  secession  and  became  a  Lord-in-Waiting  in  1895. In 1900  he  became  Lord  President  of  the  Council  and  held  the  position  until  Balfour's government  fell  in  1905. He  was  aide-to-camp  to  both  Victoria  and  Edward VII.

Edward  was  a  keen  cricketer  and  a  supporter  of  football  nurturing  what  became  Watford FC.

He  died  in  1914  aged  68.

715 Edward Clive

Constituency : Hereford  1869-71

Edward  was  the  other  new  Liberal  at  Hereford; in  his  case  he  was  replacing  his  ejected father, George.

Edward  served  in  the  Rifle  Brigade  then  the  Grenadier  Guards. He  rose  to  the  rank  of  General.

Edward  seems  to  have  been  a  somewhat  reluctant  MP  and  resigned  his  seat  in  1871. He became  Commandant  of  the  Staff  College  at  Sandhurst  in  1885  then  Governor  of  the  Royal Military  College  from  1888  to  1893.

He  died  in  1916  aged  78.

714 Chandos Wren-Hoskyns

Constituency : Hereford  1869-74

Chandos  was  one  of  two  new  Liberals  replacing  the  incumbents  at  Hereford  after  the  election  had  to  be  re-run.

Chandos  was  the  son  of  a  local  baronet. He  married  a  descendant  of  Christopher  Wren.
He  was  educated  at  Oxford  and  became  a  barrister.

Chandos's  main  interest  was  in  land  reform  and  he  wrote  a  number  of  works  on  the  subject  some  of  them  sponsored  by  the  Cobden  Club.

He  died  in  1876  aged  64.

713 Thomas Whitworth

Constituency : Drogheda  1869-74

Thomas  was  another  MP  who  succeeded  his  father  in  the  seat. In  his  case  his  father  Benjamin  was  unseated  by  petition  after  a  very  rough  election  campaign. Thomas  was  then  elected  unopposed. You  do  wonder  why  his  father's  opponents  took  the  trouble  to  get  up  a  petition  and  then  let  Thomas  have  a  free  run.

Thomas  was  defeated  in  1874  by  William  O' Leary  who  stood  as  a  "Liberal*  and  Home  Rule" candidate.

Thomas's  only  parliamentary  speech  was  a  question  on  a  local  civic  matter.

He  died  in  1912  aged  67.


* As  O' Leary's  "Liberalism"  doesn't  seem  to  have  been  anything  more  than  an  electoral  ploy  to  syphon  off  Thomas's  votes he's  not  going  to  get  a  post  here.

712 Harcourt Vanden-Bempe Johnstone

Constituency : Scarborough  1869-80

Harcourt  succeeded  his  father  John  both  as  baronet  and  MP  for  Scarborough.

Through  his  mother  Harcourt  was  also  the  grandson  of  an  Archbishop  of  York. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  lieyutenant  in  the  2nd  Life  Guards.

In  1881  Harcourt  went  to  the  Lords  as  Baron  Derwent.

He  died  in  1916  aged  87.

711 Edward Miall

Constituency : Rochdale  1852-7, Bradford  1869-74

We  now  look  at  the  by-election  victors  of  the  1868-74  parliament, Gladstone's  epochal  first  ministry. Each  one  of  their  great  reforms  produced  some  political  damage  so  you'd  expect  the  flow  of  new  Liberals  to  tail  off  as  the  parliament  progressed. The  early  by-elections  were  dominated  by  the  casualties  of  1868  such  as  Hartington and  Henry  Bruce  getting  back  in  for  new  seats  although  Lionel  Rothschild  was  able  to  reclaim  his  old  one  at  the  City  of  London  because  the  Tory  interloper  died.

Edward  was  the  first  victor  that  we  haven't  already  discussed, coming  in  at  Bradford  in March  1869  when  Henry  Ripley's  election  was  declared  void. He  was  a  moderate  with  little support  among  the  party  activists  but  had  pushed  Edward  into  third  place  in 1868.  Edward's supporters  successfully  got  up  a  petition  against  him. After  two  previous  bruising  battles  Edward  decided  not  to  visit  the  constituency  and  let  the  local  activists  promote  his  cause. He  easily  defeated William  Thompson, the  former  MP  from  the  Ripley  faction.

Edward  was  a  familiar  face. He  was  originally  a   lower  middle  class  Congregationalist  minister  from  Portsmouth. In  1841  he  founded  The  Nonconformist  , a   weekly  newspaper  promoting  his  lifelong  cause, the  disestablishment  of  the  Church  of  England. He  was  active  in  trying  to  get  more  nonconformists  into  Parliament; he  was  a  friend  of  Cobden  and  Bright  and  helped  to  get  the  latter  elected. In  1844  he  founded  the  British  Anti State-Church  Association  which  eventually  became  known  as  the  Liberation  Society, one  of  the  most  formidable  pressure  groups  of  the  Victorian  era.   He  was  keen  to  forge  links  with  the  working  class, declaring  for  annual  parliaments, payment  of  MPs  and  universal  suffrage.. He  stood  at  a  by-election  for  Southwark  in  1845  but  was  trounced  by  the  Radical  Sir  William  Molesworth  after  a  bitter  contest.  Edward  was  himself  elected  for  Rochdale  in  1852  but  paid  the  penalty  for  helping  to  bring  Palmerston  down  in  1857  even  though  his  opponent  was  a  Tory  rather  than  a  Palmerstonian  Whig. Later  that  year  he  stood  in  a  by-election  at  Tavistock  but  was  defeated  by  the  Russell  interest. Edward  then  spent  a  dozen  years  outside  Parliament , concentrating  his  efforts  in  Bradford  from  1861. He  dropped  out  of  the  battle  in  1865  but  stood  in  the  by-election  of  1867 .

Edward  was  prominent  in  the  debates  on  the  Education  Act  introduced  by  his  Bradford  Colleague  W  E  Forster  pushing  for  an  end  to  sectarian  education. His  series  of  disestablishment  motions  went  nowhere  against  Gladstone's  fierce  opposition.

Edward  stood  down  in  1874  on  health  grounds. His  supporters  raised  a  subscription  of  10,000   guineas  in  appreciation  of  his  efforts.

He  died  in  1881  aged  71.

710 William Price

Constituency :  Tewkesbury  1868-80

William  claimed    Tewkesbury  , now  reduced  to  one  member,  for the  Liberals  despite  both  the  sitting  MPs  from  1865  being  Tories.

William  was  the  son  of  the  MP  for  Gloucester  of  the  same  name. He  was  educated  at  Eton , University  College, London  and  the  Royal  Military  Academy, Woolwich. He  served  in  the  36th  Regiment  of  Foot  until  1865. He  was  a  Unitarian

William's  victories  in  1868  and  1874  were  both  very  narrow  , his  majorities  being  32  and  27  respectively  . His  opponent  got  exactly  the  same  number  of  votes  on  both  occasions. William's  re-election  in  1880  was  declared  void.

William  got  married  to  Margaret  Phillips  , scion  of  the  Manchester  Liberal  family,  in  1878  and  honeymooned in  America. Their  son  later  published  their  travel  diary.

William  was  a  keen  huntsman  who  kept  a  pack  of  hounds.

He  died  in  1886  aged  44. His  son  Morgan  became  a  Labour  MP.

William  concludes  our  look  at  the  MPs  elected  in  the  1868  election.

709 Sebastian Dickinson

Constituency : Stroud  1868-74

Sebastian  took  over  from   Edward  Horsman  at  Stroud.

Sebastian  was  the  son  of  a  Major  General  serving  in  India. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  became  a  barrister. He  was  an  Anglican.

Sebastian  was  re-elected  in  1874  but  his  election  was  declared  void  shortly  afterwards.

He  died  in  1878  aged  63.

708 John Lush

Constituency : Salisbury  1868-80

John  took  over  from  Matthew  Marsh  at  Salisbury.

John  was  educated  at  St  Andrews  University. He  became  a  doctor, was  a  member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  and  a  proprietor  of  a  lunatic  asylum. He  was   mayor  of  Salisbury  in  1866.

In  1871 and  1879  John  introduced   bills  to  reform  the  general  Medical  Council.

John  stepped  down  for  health  reasons  in  1880.

He  died  in  1888  aged  73.

707 Samuel Marling

Constituency :Gloucestershire  West 1868-74, Stroud  1875-80

Samuel  took  the  second  seat  at  West  Gloucestershire  from  the  Tories.

Samuel  was  a  cloth  manufacturer  with  a  country  estate nearby  and  a  noted  philanthropist. He  founded  a  school  and  church  in  the  village  of  Selsey . He  later  made  a  substantial  contribution  to  the  founding  of  Marling  School  in  Stroud.

Samuel  was  created  a  baronet  in  1882.

He  died  in  1883  aged  73.

706 Edgar Bowring

Constituency : Exeter  1868-74

Edgar  took  the  second  Exeter  seat  from  the  Tories.

Edgar  was  the  son  of  John  Bowring, the  Governor  of  Hong  Kong. Edgar  started  out  as  a  civil  servant. He  was  librarian  and  registrar  to  the  Board  of  Trade  from  1848  and  secretary  to  the  Commission  for  the  Exhibition  of  1851,  Edgar  was  a  scholar  who  translated  a  number  of  German  poets  into  English. He  was  an  Anglican.

Unsurprisingly  Edgar  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  discussions  of  the  Civil  Service  Estimates.

Edgar's  sister-in-law  Deborah  was  active  in  the  female  suffrage  movement  and  he  presented  a  petition  from  Exeter  on  the  subject.

He  died  in  1911  aged  85.

705 John Heathcoat-Amory

Constituency :  Tiverton  1868-85

John  evicted  the  Tory  who'd  got  in  alongside  Palmerston  in  1865.

John  was  the  grandson  of  a  previous  member  for  Tiverton. He  was  a  partner  in  a  lace  manufacturing  firm  but  was  more  interested  in  building  up  a  country  estate  than  the  business.  He  won  show  prizes  as  a  shep  breeder. He  was  also  a  keen  huntsman.


John  was  created  a  baronet  in  1874. He  was  a  backbencher  who  never  spoke  in  the  Commons.

John  was  a  keen  promoter  of  the  Exe  Valley  railway  line.

John  was  the  great  grandfather  of  Tory  MP  David  Heathcoat-Amory.

He  died  in  1914  aged  85.

704 John Lewis

Constituency : Devonport  1868-74

John  held  on  to  Lord  Elliott's  by-election  gain  of  1866.

John  was  born  in  St  Petersburg  to  a  Russia  merchant. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge  and  became  a  barrister. He  had  a  second  home  in  France  and  wrote  a  number  of  travel  books  in  both  English  and  French. Sketches  of  Cantabs  sold  well  and  was  rated  by  Dickens. He  was  the  son-in-law  of  Sir  Jervoise Clark-Jervoise  the  MP  for  South  Hampshire.

John  was  defeated  in  1874  ( and  at  Oxford in the  by-election  when  Edward  Cardwell  was  raised  to  the  peerage )  and  an  unsuccessful  candidate  in  1880.

He  died  in  1884  aged  56.

703 Frederick Cadogan

Constituency  : Cricklade  1868-74

Frederick  reclaimed  one  of  the  Cricklade  seats  for  the  Liberals.

Frederick  was  the  brother  of  Earl  Cadogan. He  was  educated  at  Westminster  and  Oxford. He became  a  barrister.  Frederick  had  been  trying  to  get  elected  for  some  time. He  stood  for  Bridgnorth  in  1852  and  Stafford  in  1857.

Frederick  supported  controls  on  drink.

He  died  in  1904  aged  83.

702 Charles Magniac

Constituency : St  Ives  1868-74, Bedford  1880-85, Biggleswade  1885-86

Charles  won  St  Ives  for  the  Liberals.

Charles  was  the  son  of  Hollingworth  Magniac, the  banker  for  the  Jardine  Matheson  Trading Company. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge, He  himself  became  a  partner  in  Matheson  and  Company.

Charles  was  anxious  for  the  UK  to  intervene  in  the  Maori  Wars  in  New  Zealand  in  1869-70.

In  1882  Charles  had  to  deal  with  a  massive  instance  of  embezzlement  from  the  company.

Charles  was  defeated  in  1874  and  again  in  1886 by  a  Liberal  Unionist. He   became  chairman  of  Bedfordshie  County  Council  and  planned  to  stand  again  in  1892  but  death  intervened.

Charles  was  an  agriculturalist  who  bred  cattle  and  horses. He  was  also  an  art  patron  like  his  father  and  particularly  prized  originality. He  was  at  one  point  President  of  the  London  Chamber  of  Commerce.

He  died  in  1891  aged  64.

701 Arthur Vivian

Constituency : Cornwall  West  1868-85

Arthur  took  over  from  Richard  Davey  at  West  Cornwall.

Arthur  was  the  son  of  the  industrialist  John  Vivian.  He  was  educated  at   Eton  and  Cambridge. After  his  father's  death  in  1855   he  managed  the  family's  copper  smelting  works  and  collieries  at  Port  Talbot.

Arthur  was  a  travel  writer  and  published  Wanderings  in  the  Western  Land  in  1877  recounting  travels  in  North  America.

Arthur  spoke  in  favour  of  attempts  to  ban  the  sale  of  drink  in  Cornwall  on  a  Sunday.

Arthur  ceased  to  be  an  MP  after  West  Cornwall  was  split  up  in  1885  but  held  local  government  positions  in  both  Glamorgan  and  Cornwall  until  his  death.

Both  Arthur's  wives  were  the  daughters  of  earls.

He  died  in  1926  aged  92.

700 Edward Willyams

Constituency  : Truro  1857-9, Cornwall  East  1868-74, Truro  1880-85

Edward  was  one  of  the  two  Liberal  victors  in  East  Cornwall  in   1868  replacing  Thomas  Agar-Robartes  and  a  Tory.

Edward  was  the  son  of  a  banker  and  landowner. He  was  educated  at  Oxford.

Edward  stood  down  in  1874  after  being  cited  in  a  divorce  case  by  the  Tory  MP  for  Wells.

Edward  ceased  representing  Truro  when  it  became  a  single  member  constituency. He  contested  St  Austell   in  an  1877  by-election  as  a  Liberal  Unionist  but  was  defeated.

Edward  was  keen  on  hurling  and  owned  several  race  horses. He  was  heavily  reliant  on  mineral  royalties  for  his  income. He  also  had  interests  in  smelting

In  1910  Edward's   daughter-in-law  was  sent  to  prison  for  trying  to  obtain  money  from  him  by  forgery.

He  died  in  1917 aged  80.

699 Edmund Haviland-Burke

Constituency : Christchurch  1868-74

Edmund  chalked  up  a  gain  for  the  Liberals  at  Christchurch.

Edmund  was  a  barrister. He  contested  the  seat  in  1865.

Edmund  supported  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  church.

He  died  in   Dublin  in  1886  aged  50. His  son  was  later  a  Nationalist  MP  for  King's  County.

698 Henry Samuelson

Constituency : Cheltenham  1868-74, Frome  1876-85

Henry  regained  Cheltenham  for  the  Liberals  with  a  campaign  centred  on  universal  education. He  apologised  to  the  Jewish  community  for  what  was  perceived  as  an  anti-semitic  slur  in  one  of  his  remarks.

Henry  was  the  son  of  Bernhard  Samuelson, the  industrialist  MP  for  Banbury. He  was  educated  at  Rugby  and  Oxford.

Henry  had  an  uncomfortable  maiden  speech  on  the  Commons  Ladies  Gallery  screen  when  he  failed  to  see  the  humour  in  what  he  was  saying.Henry  presided  at  a  women's  suffrage  meeting  in  Bristol  in  1872.

Henry  was  defeated  in  1874  but  returned  for  Frome  in  a  by-election  in  1876. The  campaign  was  dominated  by  the  Eastern  Question, the  Tories  hoping  to  hold  their  seat  on  their pro-Turkish  policy. When  Henry  won  by  93  votes  he  described  his  victory  as  a  "warning  note"  telling  Disraeli  "that  the  English  people  were  not  in  favour  of  an  unnecessary  war ".

In  1883  Henry  visited  the  US  and  told  the  Chicago  Tribune  that  some  form  of  Home  Rule  must  be  conceded  to  Ireland.

Henry  stood  down  in  1885  due  to  ill-health  and  retired  to  France. Henry  succeeded  to  his  father's  baronetcy  in  1905.

He  died  in  1937  aged  91.

697 Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice

Constituency : Calne  1868-85,  Cricklade  1898-1906

Edmond  took  over  at  Calne  from  Robert  Lowe  who  moved  over  to  the  London  Universities  seat. He  was  unopposed.

Edmond  was  the  brother  of  the  Marquess  of  Lansdowne  who  owned  the  seat.  He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge  where  he  was  President  of  the  Union  in  1866. He  was  trained  as  a  barrister  but  never  practised.

Edmond's  maiden  speech  was  against  the  university  tests.   He  was  one  of  Henry  Fawcett's  acolytes. In  1872  he  became  Lowe's  parliamentary  private  secretary  and  held  the  position  until  1874. In  1880  Gladstone made  him  a  Commissioner  at  Constantinople  to  help  reorganise  the  European  provinces  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  but  his  plans  never  really  came  to  fruition. He  was  then  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  from  1883  to  1885.

When  Calne  was  abolished  in  1885  Edmond  was  adopted  for  a  Glasgow  constituency  but  illness  forced  his  withdrawal.  When  he  recovered  he  found  it  difficult  to  return  to  Parliament, losing  at  Deptford  in  1892  and  Cricklade  in  1895. He  got  back  in  for  the  latter  constituency  at  a  by-election  in  1898. He  was  chairman  of  Wiltshire  County  Council  from  1896  to  1906.

In  1905  Edmond  resumed  his  old  position  at  the  Foreign  Office  under  Sir  Edward  Grey  and  had  actually  been   Campbell-Bannerman's  second  choice  for  the  top  job  if  Grey  were  to  refuse  it.

Edmond  declined  to  stand  in  1906  and  was  elevated  to  the  Lords  as  Baron  Fitzmaurice. He  retained  his  post  and  was  soon  elevated  to  the  Cabinet  as  Asquith's  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster. However  he  soon  fell  ill  again  and  he  had  to  resign  in  1909.

Edmond  was  also  a  biographer  with  published  works  on  his  ancestor  Lord  Shelburne  , the  economist  Sir  William  Petty  and  Lord  Granville.

Despite  his  background  Edmond  was  favourable  to  agricultural  trade  unionism  and  chaired  a  meeting  of  the  West  of  England  Labourers  Association  in  the  1870s.  He  supported  allotments.  He  was  a  local  benefactor  to  Bradford-on-Avon.

Despite  his  health  problems  Edmond   lived  to  89 , dying  in  1935.

696 Donald Dalrymple

Constituency : Bath 1868-73

Donald  took  the  second  Bath  seat  from  the  Tories.

Donald  was  from  Norwich, the son of an eminent doctor.He  was  educated  at  the grammar  school  there  and  became  a  doctor.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  but  had  retired  from  practice  by  the  time  he  entered  Parliament. He  was  a  director  of  the  Norwich  Unioon  Insurance  Company. He  was  an  Anglican  who  opposed  the  sale  of  livings. He  was  also  the  proprietor  of  a  lunatic  asylum

 Donald's  particular  concern  was  the  treatment  of  alcoholics  and  he  chaired  a  select  Committee  on  the  subject. He  viewed  alcoholism  as  an  illness  in  which  "self  control  is  suspended  or  annihilated "  rather  than  a  moral  weakness. He  dismissed  a  scheme  for  permissive  legislation  on  local  licensing  regulations  which  angered  his  temperance  supporters. In  1871  he  visited  inebriates  institutions  in  the  USA  and  Canada  and  came  back  convinced  that  some  element  of  compulsion  was  necessary. In  1872  he  promoted  a  Habitual Drunkards  Bill  based  on  the  recommendations  of  a  Select  Committee  but  it  was  held  up  by the  controversies  around  the  Irish  Universities  Bill  and  an  Act  wasn't  passed  until  1879 .  A  Home  for  Inebriates  opened  in  1884  was  named  after  him  in  recognition  of  his  efforts.

Donald  also spoke  against  the  abolition  of  imprisonment  for  debt.

Donald  wrote  On  The  Climate  of  Egypt.

He  died  while  on  a  shooting  expedition  in  1873  aged  59.

695 Henry Brassey

Constituency : Sandwich  1868-85

Henry  reclaimed  Sandwich, lost  in  1866 , for  the  Liberals.

Henry  was  the  son  of  the  railway  contractor  Thomas   Brassey   and  brother  of  the   MP  for  Hastings, Thomas  Brassey.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford. He  married  George  Stevenson's  daughter.

Henry   was  a  keen  cricketer.


He  died  in  1891  aged  50.  His  son  Henry  became  a  Conservative  MP.

694 William Cartwright

Constituency  :  Oxfordshire  1868 - 85

William  won back  a  share  of  Oxfordshire's  representation, lost  since  1863.

William  was  the  son  of  a  distinguished  diplomat. He  lived  in  Germany  for  many  years  and  had  some  expertise  in  ancient  and  medieval  art  and   literature. He  had  a  large  art  collection. He  wrote  books  about  aspects  of  Catholicism. He  was  a  supporter  of  Garibaldi  and  Italian  unification. He  was  a  wealthy  landowner  and  member  of  the  Carlton  Club.

William  served  on  the  Commons  Diplomatic  Committee. His  parliamentary  interventions  were  usually  on  diplomatic  matters. he  visited  Berlin  in  1871  and  prophesied  that  Germany  would  fight  Russia  within  a  few  years.

In  the  1880s  William  was  an  incongruously  senior  member  of   a  grouping  the  "young  Whig   party"  who  were  particularly  unhappy  with  Gladstone's  Irish  land  legislation. He  succeeded  in  getting  an  amendment  to  the  1881  Act  accepted  which  allowed  landlords  direct  access  to  the  Land  Court.  He  complained  of  Gladstone's  failure  to  consult  with  the  party  generally.

William  became  a  Liberal  Unionist  and  stood  unsuccessfully  for  Mid-Northamptonshire  in  1886.

He  died  in  1915  aged  89.

693 William Harcourt

Constituency : Oxford  1868-80, Derby  1880-95, West  Monmouthshire  1895-1904

William  took  over  from  Charles  Neate  at  Oxford. He  was  to  become  a  significant  figure  in  the  party.

William  was  the  son  of  an  Anglican  minister  and  grandson  of  the  Archbishop  of  York. He  was  related  to  the  Dukes  of  Bridgwater  and  Bedford  and  could  trace  his  ancestry  back  to  the  Plantagenets. William  went  to  Cambridge  after  a  home  education. His  elder  brother  Edward  was  a  staunch  Tory. While  at  Cambridge  he  wrote  for  the  Morning  Chronicle  in  support  of  Peel. In  the  early  1850s  he  became  a  barrister. In  1855  he  began  to  write  for  the  Saturday  Review, supporting  Gladstone  in  his  tussles  with  Palmerston. He  was  narrowly  defeated by  Robert  Ferguson  at  Kirkcaldy  Burghs  in  1859. Disraeli  tried  to  entice  him  with  the  offer  of  a  safe  seat  in  1866  but  he  declined.

 William  was  offered  the   post  of  judge  advocate  general early   on  but  declined  it  to  allow  him  to  continue  his  legal  work  ( though  in  fact  he  didn't  do  so  to  any  extent )  In  1871  William  attacked  Gladstone  for  the  lack  of  progress  on  political  economy. He  was  fierce  in  support  of  religious  equality  but  denied  the  radical  tag  claiming  he  was  espousing  traditional  Whig  principles.

In  1873  William  was  appointed  solicitor-general  after  George  Jessel's  resignation.  He  attacked  the  Irish  University  Bill  for  its  gagging  clauses. He   attacked   Gladstone for  opposing  Tait's  bill  on  ritualism.  Gladstone  in  turn  referred  to  his  "slimy, filthy, loathsome  eulogies  upon  Dizzy".  William  urged  Hartington  to  take  the  leadership  in  1875. Hartington  did  not   , particularly  like  him  feeling  he  was  opportunistically  promoting  his  own  cause. Despite  trying  to  persuade  Hartington  to  accept  the  premiership  William  was  made  Home  Secretary  by  Gladstone   in  1880. When  he  lost  his  by-election  by  54  votes  Samuel  Plimsoll  made  way  for  him  to  come  back  in  at  Derby  unopposed.

As  Home  Secretary  William    courted  radical  favour  with  the  Ground  Game  Bill  of  1880  which  supported  tenants  against  landowners. He  was  tough  on  law  and  order  in  Ireland  which  antagonised  some  of  the  Home  Rulers. He  came  through  a  rough  election  campaign  in  1885  when  his  meetings  in  Derby  were  subjected  to  organised  disruption.  At  the  beginning  of  1886  he  arranged  a  meeting  of  Liberal  MPs  opposed  to  Home  Rule   and  described  Gladstone  as  a  "criminal  lunatic"  but  then  accepted   Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  from  him   in  1886. This  was  the  start  of  a   general  perception  that he  was  a  careerist  whose  oratorical  capabilities  disguised  a  lack  of  real  political  convictions. In  personal  relations  he  was  clumsy  and  irascible, often  alienating  potential supporters  with  his  overbearing  manner. Gladstone  referred  to  his  "powers  of  self-deception "  ( which  was  rich  coming  from  him ). In  1887   he  took  part  in  the  Round  Table  Conference  of  1887  which  failed  to  effect  Liberal  reunion. In  1891  he  backed  the  Newcastle  Programme.


In  1892  William  became  Chancellor  again.  He  read  out  a  pre-prepared  eulogy  at  Gladstone's  last  Cabinet    and  held  on  to  the  office  when  Gladstone  was  replaced  by  Rosebery.  Rosebery  succeeded  in  part  because  the  Cabinet  didn't  fancy  William  as  their  chief. In  1894  he  made  his  largest  ministerial  mark  with  the  budget  which  introduced  death  duties  or  inheritance  tax. In  doing  so  he  came  out  with  the  phrase  "We  are  all  socialists  now"  marking  the  Liberals'  break  with  laissez-faire  and  acceptance  of  progressive  social  policies. It was  also  a  bid  for  Radical  support  for  his  leadership.  Contemporary  critics  noted  it  as  "a  second  son's  revenge". ( Rosebery  disliked  it and  the  two  hardly  communicated  afterwards ). He  was  also  now  the  party's  leader  in  the  Commons  but  he  and  Rosebery  failed to  agree  on  much. He  demanded  his  share  of  patronage  and  the  right  to  call  the  Cabinet  on  his  own  initiative. William  was  known  as  a  bruiser  ,"The  Great  Gladiator " who  did  not  command  much  of  a  personal  following. His  cause  was  assiduously  promoted  by  his  son  Lewis  who  was  his  private  secretary.In  1894  he  claimed  not  to  be  a  supporter  of  the  government  while  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer !

In  1895  William  tried  to  get  a  Local  Veto  Bill  through  which  would  allow  local  parishes  to  close  down  all  the  pubs  in  their  area. It  failed  and  was  thought  to  have  contributed  to  the  Liberals'  heavy  defeat  in  the  1895  election  and  his  own  ejection  at  Derby.

William  got  back  in  at  West  Monmouthshire  but  his  subsequent  displays  as  Leader  of  the  Opposition  were  lacklustre   and  it  was  clear  he  did  not  relish  the  role. He  made  a  very  poor  speech  on  the  Jameson  Raid  in  1896.  Rosebery  refused  to  meet  him  in  council. When  Rosebery  resigned  in  1896  over  the  Armenian  massacres   William  became party  leader  almost  by  default. He  held  the  position  for  two  years  before  resigning. He  told  Morley  that  the  dissension  over  policy  particularly  relating  to  imperialism  made  the  position  impossible.

Now  regarding  himself  as  an  independent  William  made  strong  speeches  against  government  policy  in  the  Transvaal  and  the  Boer  Wars. He  also  got  involved  in  church  matters  making  strong  speeches  against  ritualism  in  the  Anglican  church. He  offered  to  rejoin  the  shadow  cabinet  in  1900  but  wasn't  wanted. He  was  active  in  the  campaign  against  Chamberlain's  proposals  in  1903.

William  was  always  a  witty  speaker  who  sometimes  went  over  the  top  but  he  did  give  the  impression  of  enjoying  himself  too  much.

In  1904  William  succeeded  his  nephew  as  heir  to  his  father's  estate, having  to  pay  the  death  duties  that  he  had  introduced. He  died  shortly  afterwards  aged  76,  having  decided  not  to  seek  re-election.

692 Henry Robert Brand

Constituency : Hertfordshire  1868-74 , Stroud  1874-5, 1880-86

Henry  captured  another  of  the  Hertfordshire  seats  for  the  Liberals.

Henry  was  the  son  of  Henry  Brand, Palmerston's  chief  whip , MP  for  Cambridgeshire and  future  Speaker. He  was  a  captain  in  the  Coldstream  Guards.

Gladstone  appointed  Henry  Surveyor-General  of  the  Ordnance  in  1882. He  held  the  post  until  1886. Henry  was  an  old  school  Whig. He  advocated  coercion  in  Ireland  during  a  dinner  at  Brooks  in  1886.

Henry  succeeded  to  his  father's  title  of  Viscount  Hampden  in  1892.

 Henry   was  appointed  Governor  of  New  South  Wales  in  1895 and  served  four  uneventful  years. He  resigned  before  his  term  was  up  citing  private  interests.

Henry  married  a  Cavendish. He  is  a  direct  ancestor  of  Sarah  Ferguson,

He  died  in  1906  aged  65.

691 Sir Charles Wingfield

Constituency : Gravesend 1868-74

Charles  was  the  first  MP  for  the  new  seat  of  Gravesend.

Charles  was  the  son  of  a  judge  and  MP  for  Bodmin.  Richard  Wingfield-Baker  MP  for  Essex  South  was  his  older  half-brother. He  worked in  the  Bengal  Civil  Service  from  1840  to  1866. He  was  knighted  in  1864. There  is  a  park  named  in  his  honour  in  Lucknow.

Charles's  interventions  were  usually  concerned  with  India. In  1870  he said  experience  had  convinced  him  "that  the  moderate  use  of  this  drug ( opium ) is  not  more  prejudicial  or  injurious  than  the  moderate  use  of  alcoholic  drinks".

Charles  was  pro-Russian. In  1873  he  declared  Russia's  annexation  of  Khiva  was  "in  the  interests  of  humanity"  and  would  restore  "this  degraded  population  to  order  and  civilisation".
Charles  was  defeated  by  the  Tories  in  1874.

He  died  in  1892  aged  71.

690 George Jessel

Constituency : Dover  1868-73

George  was  a  rare  Liberal  victor  in  Dover.

George  was  the  son  of a  Jewish  coral  merchant. He  was  educated  at  a  Jewish  school  then  went  to  University  College, London. He  became  a  barrister  in  1847. Palmerston's  Lord  Chancellor  Lord  Westbury  disliked  him  and  tried  to  impede  his  career.

George  made  an  impression  during  debates  on  the  Bankruptcy  Bill  in  1869. Two  years  later George  was  made  solicitor-general  becoming  the  first  practising  Jewish  government  minister  which  was  made  possible  by  the  Promissory  Oaths  Act  of  that  year. He  was  knighted  in  1872.

In  1873  George  succeeded  Lord  Romilly  as  Master  of  the  Rolls  and   resigned  his  seat  though  this  was  not  strictly  necessary  at  the  time. He  is  remembered  for  being  extremely  efficient  and  able  to  master  the  complexities  of  the most  difficult  cases.

George  suffered  from  diabetes  and  died  in  1883  of  cardiac  syncope  aged  59.

689 Theodore Brinckman

Constituency : Canterbury  1868-74

Theodore  regained  one  of  the  Canterbury  seats  for  the  Liberals.

Theodore  was  the  son  of a  baronet  and  a  grandson  of  Baron  Godolphin. He  was  educated  at  Eton  then  joined  the  17th  Regiment  of  Foot. He  served  in  the  Crimean  War  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain. He  married  the  daughter  of  Marquess  Conyngham.

Theodore's  only  speech  in  Parliament  was  on  a  trivial  issue  of  sherrifs' appointments  in  Ireland.

He  died  in  1905  aged  74.

688 Nathaniel Lambert

Constituency : Buckinghamshire  1868-80  

Nathaniel  captured  one  of  the  three  Buckinghamshire  seats  for  the  Liberals  that  had  been  lost  in  1863.

Nathaniel  was  a  privately  educated  mineowner. He  was  captain  commandant  of  the  Buckinghamshire  Yeomanry  from  1863  to  its  disbandment  in  1871.

In  1869  and  1870   Nathaniel  made   speeches  in  favour  of  reducing  the  national  debt  during  peacetime. In  1872 he  moved  for  a  select  committee  to  look  at  ministerial  salaries. He  also  called  for  majority  verdicts  in  Irish  trials  to  increase  the  conviction  rate.

He  died  in  1882  aged  71.

687 James Howard

Constituency :  Bedford  1868-74, Bedfordshire  1880-85  

James  took  the  second  Bedford  seat  from  the  Tories.

James  was  a  Bedford  man  educated  locally. With  his  brother  he  set  up  a  business  making  agricultural  machinery. In  1862  he  bought  a  large  part  of  the  estates  of  the  Earl  of  Ashburnham  and  set  up  a  model  farm  there. He  was  a  noted  pig  breeder. He  was  mayor  of  Bedford  in  1863-4. In  that  capacity  he  entertained  Garibaldi  in  1864.

James  was  defeated  in  1874. In  1879  he  founded  the  Farmers' Alliance  to  rally  support  for  more  flexible  land  laws.

He  died  in  1889  aged  68.

686 William McArthur

Constituency : Lambeth  1868-85

William  and  the  returning  James  Lawrence  replaced  Frederick  Doulton  and  Thomas  Hughes  at  Lambeth.

William  was  born  in  Donrgal  the  son  of  a  Methodist  minister  in  Londonderry.  He  started  out  as  a  draper's  apprentice  but  eventually  went  into  business  himself. In  1841  his  brother  went  to  Australia  helping  William  establish  a  number  of  trading  links  there. In  1857  he  relocated  his  business  to  London. He  had  interests  in  banking  and  insurance. He  was  originally  a  Conservative  but  considered  Derby's  Irish  views  "anti-Protestant"  and  admired  Palmerston. He  stood  unsuccessfully  for  Pontefract  in  1865. He  travelled  to  the  USA. He  was  teetotal. He  supported  equalization  of  the  poor  rates.

William  advocated  disestablishment  in  both  Ireland  and  England  because  he  felt  it  would  strengthen  Protestantism. In  Ireland  he  thought  it  would  strengthen  the  position  of  the  Ulster  Protestants  and  aid  the  conversion  of  Ireland  from  Catholicism. He  described  Methodism  as  "  a  breakwater  against  Popery, Puseyism  and  infidelity".

William  became  an  alderman  in  1872  and  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  1880. He  helped  found  the  London  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  1881.He  was  knighted  in  1882.

William's  parliamentary  interventions  were  mainly  on  imperial  questions. He  pressed  for  the  annexation  of  Fiji  which  would  help  his  business  interests  in  the  Pacific  as  well  as  missionaries  working  on  the  island. He  was  noted  for  a  rather  fumbling  manner  when  he  spoke.

William  supported  Gladstone  over  the  Eastern  Question. He  voted  against  payment  for  MPs.

Lambeth  was  scrapped  in  1885. William  stood  as  an  independent  Liberal  candidate  which  helped  the  Conservatives  take  the  seat.

William  was  involved  in  the  Aborigines  Protection  Society  and  the  City  of  London  Committee  for  the  Repeal  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  Act.

He  died  in  1887  aged  78.

685 Sir Charles Reed

Constituency : Hackney  1868-74, St Ives  1880-81

Charles   was  the  other  Liberal  victor  at  Hackney.

Charles   was  the  son  of  a  well  known  Congregationalist  minister  and  philanthropist. He  married  the  daughter  of  Edward  Baines. He  had  a  successful  typefounding  business  in  London.

In  1869  Charles  moved  a  bill  to  protect  Sunday  schools  from  being  rated.

In  1870  Charles  was  elected  to  the  newly-founded  London  School  Board  and  in  due  course  became  its  chairman.  He  also  founded  the  City  of  London  Library

Charles  was  involved  in  the  preservation  of  two  important  London  cemeteries.

Charles  was  knighted  in  1874  on  Gladstone's  recommendation.  He  collected  autographed  letters  and  keys  and  had  a  lifelong  interest  in  antiquities.

In  1874  the  election  result   at  Hackney   was  voided  and  at  the  by-election  Charles  made  way for  Henry  Fawcett.  He  returned  for  St  Ives  in  1880.

Charles  voted  against  the  party  in  the  Bradlaugh  debates  as  he  detested  atheism.

He  died  in  1881 aged  62.

684 John Holms

Constituency : Hackney  1868-85

John  was  one  of  the  first  MPs  for  the  new  seat  of  Hackney.

John  was  born  in  Scotland  where  the  family  business  was  spinning. John  was  a  cautious  Radical  who  looked  for  logical  cool  headed  arguments  to  justify  his  positions  rather  than  evangelical  fervour.

John  had  been  a  leading  supporter  of  Forster  for  the  Liberal  leadership. he  supported  Gladstone's  comeback  on  the  Eastern  Question. He  was  also  active  in  the  Commons  Preservation  Society. He  voted  against  the  royal  titles  bill  of  1876  though  he  was  not  a  republican.

Gladstone  made  John   a  whip  in  1880  and  then  Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Trade  from  1882.

John's  particular  concern  was  military  reform. He  wrote  books  on  military  matters. He  blamed  the  system  of  long  service  for  the  Contagious  Diseases  Act.

In  1885  Hackney  was  split  up  and  John  stood  for  the  Central  Hackney  seat.  Ill  health  impeded  his  campaigning  and  he  was  defeated  by  193  votes.

Just  a  few  days  later  John  fell  between  a  train  carriage  and  the  platform  at  Mansion  House  station  and  was  invalided  for  the  rest  of  his  life.

He  died  in  1891  aged  60.

683 Sir Charles Dilke

Constituency ; Chelsea  1868-86, Forest  of  Dean  1892-1911

Charles  was  one  of  the  first  MPs  for  the  new  seat  of  Chelsea. He  is  one  of  the  great  "might  have  beens"   of   British  politics.

Charles  was  the  son  of  the  baronet  of  the  same  name  who  was  MP  for  Wallingford. He  was  educated  at  Westminster  and  Cambridge  where  he  became  President  of  the  Union  Society.  Unlike  his  moderate  father  Charles  was  an  ardent  Radical  although  he  was  also  an  imperialist.

Charles  flirted  with  republicanism  in  a  speech  in  1871  but  was  forced  to  recant  his  position  due  to  public  outrage  when  the  Prince  of  Wales  fell  ill.. He  had  a  good  relationship  with  Hartington  realising  that  his  main  concern  was  with  party  unity  rather  than  ideological  opposition  to  radical  politics  

In  1880  Gladstone  made  Charles  Under-secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs.  Victoria  demanded  another  recantation  of  his  republicanism  before  she  would  consent  to  his  appointment. He  was  promoted  to  the  Cabinet  as  President  of  the  Local  Government  Board  in  1882  partly  to  balance  out  Bright's  departure. He  helped  negotiate  the  passage  of  the  Third  Reform  Act  in  1884.  That  same  year  he  chaired  a  Royal  Commission  on  housing  the  working  classes.He  was  favourable  to  female  suffrage , trade  union  rights  and  reducing  working  hours. He  was  a  useful  ally  to  Chamberlain  but  took  a  different  view  of  Home  Rule.

But  Charles  had  skeletons  in  his  closet. He  was  sleeping  with  his  brother's  mother-in-law  who  was  the  wife  of  his  Liberal  colleague  Thomas  Smith. In  1885  another  of  their  daughters, Virginia  accused  him  of  seducing  her  three  years  earlier. She  was  also  married  to   a  Liberal  MP, Donald  Crawford. He  sued  for  divorce  and  in  a  paradoxical  judgement  the  judge  found  that  she  had  been  guilty  of  adultery  with  Charles by  her  confession  and  granted  the  decree  ni  si  but also  said  there  was  no  admissible  evidence  against  Charles  and  dismissed  him  from  the  case  with  costs.

This  unsatisfactory  outcome  and  the  goading  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette   under  the  crusading  W T  Stead   led  to  Charles  taking  legal  action  opposing  the  decree  absolute  in  an  attempt  to  clear  his  name. Roy  Jenkins  describes  his  lawyers'  advice  as  "perhaps  the  worst  professional  advice  ever  given". The  idea  seems  to  have  been  to  try  and  subject  Virginia  to  a  harsh  cross-examination  but  instead  Charles  had  to  appear  in  the  witness  box  where  he  suffered  a  harrowing  cross-examination  by  Henry  Matthews  which  revealed  that  he'd  redacted  his  diary  to  hide  embarrassing  assignations. The  jury  decided  Virginia  was  probably  telling  the  truth.

Following  the  verdict  it  was  open  season  on  Charles  with  numerous  other  women  claiming  to  have  been  bedded by  him  and  wild  rumours  about  his  peccadilloes  circulating. He   was  threatened  with  a  trial  for  perjury. He  had  already   lost  Chelsea  in  the  1886  election  in  which   his  nemesis   Matthews  not  only  entered  Parliament  but  was  promoted  at  the  queen's  insistence  to  Home  Secretary. In  1889  a  proposal  to  nominate  him  as  a  London  County  Council  foundered  partly  due  to  women's  protests.

Charles  subsequently  spent   a  lot  of  time  and  money  on  trying  to  exonerate  himself . His  partial  rehabilitation  began  in  1892  when  he  returned  to  Parliament  as  MP  for  the  Forest  of  Dean. He  chaired  a  group  of  Labour  and  radical  Liberal  MPs  in  the  1900s.He  hoped  for  a  seat  in  Campbell-Bannerman's  Cabinet  in  1906  but  it  wasn't  forthcoming. As  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  Asquith  made  him  chair of  a  select  committee  to  look  at  his  proposed  new  tax  rates. Charles. as  Roy  Jenkins  put  it  "old  and  arid  with  disappointment " , opposed  them  but  was  over-ruled  by  the  rest  of  the  committee. he  introduced  a  motion  of  protest  at  the  Czar's  visit  in  1908.

He  died  in  1911  aged  67. A  local  hospital  was  named  after  him.

682 William Wells

Constituency : Beverley  1852-57, Peterborough  1868-74

William  unseated  fellow  Liberal  Thomson  Hankey  to  take  the  second  Peterborough  seat.

William  was  the  son  of  a  Navy  captain. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Oxford  and  served  in  the  First  Life  Guards  from  1839  to  1843. He  inherited  landed  estates. He  was  elected  for  Beverley  in  1852  after  coming  third  from  three  Liberals  at  Peterborough  but  defeated  by  a  fellow  Liberal in  1857. William  contested  the  result  on  the  grounds  that  the  victor  didn't  meet  the  property  qualification. He  was  successful  in  getting  the  result  declared  void  but  the  Conservatives  won  the  by-election. Disraeli  described  him  as  "the  most  offensively  conceited  fellow  that  ever  obtruded  himself".

William  retired  at  the  1874  election. He  became  President  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  in  1880. He  was  also  a  patron  of  the  arts,

He  died  in  1889  aged  71.

681 Edward Denison

Constituency :  Newark  1868-70

Edward  took  over  from  Arthur  Pelham-Clinton  at  Newark.

Edward  was  the  son  of  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  and  nephew  of  the  Speaker, John  Denison. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Oxford  and  became  a  barrister.

Edward  was  known  for  charitable  endeavours  in  London's  East  End. His  only  parliamentary  speech  called  for  reform  of  the  Poor  Law.

His  parliamentary  career  was  cut  short  by  his  early  death  in  1870. He  was  just  29.

680 Edward Bentall

Constituency : Maldon 1868-74 

Edward  recovered  Maldon, now  a  single  member  seat , after  both  had  been  won  by    the  Tories  in  1865.

Edward's  father  had  developed  a  business  making  agricultural  implements. He  was  educated  at  private  schools. The  business  greatly  expanded  under  his  watch.

In  1873  Edward  built  a  house  in  Maldon  which  pioneered  the  use  of  in  situ  concrete.

He  died  in  1898  aged  84

679 John Palmer

Constituency : Lincoln  1868-74,  1880-84

John  took  over  from  Edward  Heneage  at  Lincoln.

John  was  a  barrister  who'd  stood  unsuccessfully  in  1857 , 1859  and  the  1862  by-election.

In  1873  John  moved  an  amendment  to  the  Married  Women's  Property  Act which  had  to  be  withdrawn  for lack  of  time. In  1881  he  led  a  delegation  from  the  Married  Women's  Property  Committee   to  Lord  Chancellor  Selborne  which  successfully  asked  for  government  time  for  the  measure.

John  supported  a  public  library  for  Lincoln.

John  was  defeated  in  1874  but  returned  in  1880.

He  died  of  pleurisy  in  1884  aged  75.