574 Edmond de la Poer

Constituency : County  Waterford  1866-73  

Edmond  won  the  seat  from  the  Tories  after  the  Earl  of  Tyrone  succeeded  to  a  peerage. His  election  was  welcomed  by  Cardinal  Cullen  who  wrote  that  he  would  "shake  the  superiority  of  the  present  Government".

Edmond  was  the  18th  Baron  Le  Power  and  Coroghmore. His  family  had  been  in  Ireland  since  the reign  of  Henry  II  and  were  major  landowners  in  the  county. He  was  created  a  Count  of  the  Papal States by  Pius  IX  in  1864.

In  1870  Edmond  opposed  the  Land  Act  on  the  grounds  that  fixity  of  tenure  would  interfere  with the  rights  of  landlords. He  resigned  his  seat  in  1873.

He  died  in  1915  aged  74.

573 Charles White

Constituency : Tipperary  1866-74 , 1874-5  ( Home  Rule  League )

Charles  took  over  from  the  deceased  John  Dillon.

Charles  was  the  son  of  Lord  Annaly. He  was  a  captain.

Charles  was  in  favour  of  Irish  land  reform  and  suggested  that  the  landlords  were  opposing  it  to  retain  their  political  position.

Charles  stood  under  Home  Rule  colours  in  1874  but  resigned  his  seat  the  following  year.

He  died  in  1890  aged  52.

572 Jervoise Smith

Constituency : Penryn and Falmouth 1866-8

Jervoise  took  over  from  Thomas  Baring  who  was  raised  to  the  peerage. He  won  by  376  to 313 votes.

Jervoise  was  the  son  of  John  Smith,  MP  for  Chichester. He  was  part  of  the  family  banking  firm.

The  Liberals  lost  both  seats  in  1868

He  died  in  1884  aged  55.

571 William Nicholson

Constituency : Petersfield 1868-74, 1880-85

William  took  Petersfield   ( unopposed  strangely )  when  the  Tory  William  Jolliffe  was  elevated  to  the  peerage.

William  was  from  a  family  of  gin  distillers. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge. Between  1845  and  1869  he  played  first  class  cricket. He  gave  loans  for  purchasing  the  freehold  at  Lord's  and  building  the  new  pavilion.

William  was  an  old-fashioned  Whig  who  rebelled  over  disestablishing  the  Irish  Church. He  was  defeated  in  1874  but  won  the  seat  back  in  1880.

In  April  1885  William  declared  that  he  was  resigning  from  the  Liberal  party  and  would  contest  the  next  election  as  a  Liberal-Conservative. He  said  the  Liberals  were  just  a  remnant  of  disunited  Whigs  and  radicalsThe  Conservatives  adopted  him  as  their  candidate  but  he  was  defeated  by  the  Liberal, Viscount  Wolmer. He  lost  again  in  1886.

He  died  in  1909  aged  83. Two  of  his  sons  became  Tory  MPs. He  was  the  great  grandfather  of Emma  Nicholson  who  defected  from  the  Tories  to  the  Liberal  Democrats.

570 Philip Vanderbyl

Constituency : Bridgwater  1866-9,  Portsmouth 1885-6

We  now  enter  the  period  when  new  Liberal  MPs  were  going  into  opposition  following  the  fall  of  Russell's  government  over  the  Reform  Bill.  Philip  was  a  beneficiary, snatching  Bridgwater  from  the  Tory  MP George  Patton  at  the  by-election  necessitated  when  he  was  appointed   Lord  Advocate. Philip  won  by  312  to  275 votes  and  survived  an  electoral  commission  to  investigate  charges  of gross  bribery.

Philip  began  his  working  life  as  a  doctor  but  gave  up  medical  practice  for  business  in  1858. He  joined  a  London  merchant  house  trading  with  Australia  and  New  Zealand. He  was  also  involved  in  transporting  frozen  meat  between  Britain  and  the  USA, iron  and  Indian  trade. He  was  a  director  of  the  National  Bank  of  New  Zealand. He  stood  at  Great  Yarmouth  in  1865.

Philip  was  re-elected  in  1868  but  the  following  year  he  was  unseated   on  petition  and  the  borough was  disenfranchised  for  bribery and  corruption  in  1870/.

Philip  returned  as  MP  for  Portsmouth  in  1885  but  was  defeated  in  1886. He  stood  at  a  by-election  in  Winchester  in  1888 but  was  soundly  defeated.

He  died  in  1892  aged  64.

569 William Eliot

Constituency :  Devonport  1866-8

William  was  the  other  Liberal  victor  at  Devonport.

William  was  the  son  and  heir  of  the  Earl  of  St  Germans. He  was  educated  at  Eton   then  joined  the  Diplomatic  Service. He  served  at  Hanover, Lisbon, Berlin, Constantinople, St  Petersburg, Rio, Athens  and  Washington  DC.

In  1870  William  was  accelerated  to  the  Lords  as   Baron  Eliot  until  succeeding  his  father  in  1877.

He  died  in  1881  aged  51.

568 Montagu Chambers

Constituency : Greenwich  1852-7, Devonport  1866-74

As  happened  in  1859,  the  Devonport  result  of  1865 was  disputed  and  the  result of  the  by-election was  that  two  Liberals  evicted  the  Tories.

Montagu  could  well  be  the  last  MP  we  come  to  who  was  born  in  the  eighteenth  century. Montagu  was  educated  at  Sandhurst  and  served  in  the  Grenadier  Guards. He  went  on  to  become a  barrister  and  editor  of  The  Law  Journal.  He  was  elected  for  Greenwich  in  1852  after  losing  at a  by-election  there  earlier  in  the  year. He  lost  in  1857  and  was  unsuccessful  at  Bedfordshire  in 1865.

Montagu  supported  the  abolition  of  flogging  in  the  army.

Montagu  stood  down  in  1874.

He  died  in  1885  aged  85.

567 William Fordyce

Constituency :  Aberdeenshire  1866-8, East  Aberdeenshire  1868-75

William  restored  Aberdeenshire  ( Tory  since  the  elevation  of  Lord  Haddo  in  1860 )  to  the  Liberals  after  the  resignation  of  the  Tory.

William  was  a  Scottish  landowner  with   a  reputation  for  benevolence. He  arranged  insurance  and  transport  for  his  tenants. He  promoted  the  reform  of  gaming  laws  to  improve  the  local  economy.
His  parliamentary  interventions  were  usually  on  agricultural  questions.

He  died  in  1875  aged  39. His  tenants  subscribed  for  the  Culsh  Monument  to  commemorate  him.

566 John Russell aka Viscount Amberley

Constituency : Nottingham  1866-8

As  in  Windsor, the  election  in  Nottingham  had  to  be  re-run  with  new  candidates  and  the  end  result was  a  double  Liberal  victory.

John  was  the  eldest  son  of  Lord  John  Russell. Since  his  father's  elevation  to  the  peerage  in  1861 he  had  been  known  as  Viscount  Amberley. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge  although he  left  without  taking  a  degree. John  had  unorthodox  religious  views; he  rejected  Christ's  divinity   and  argued  that  the  Church  of  England  should  consider  all  theologies  because  all  citizens  paid towards  its  maintenance.  Mill  considered  him  a  disciple  and  his  father  pushed  him  towards  politics. In  1864  he  married  the  daughter  of  the  Liberal  peer  Baron Stanley . His  father  disliked  the  match, despite  Stanley  holding  office  in  both  his  administrations,  and   at  one  point  blocked  them  from seeing  each  other  for  6  months.   John  stood  for  Leeds  in  the  1865  election.

John's  religious  views  caused  him  all  sorts  of  trouble. He  refused  to  observe  the  Sabbath.   In  1867 he  introduced  a  bill  to  allow  public  meetings  on  scientific  and  religious  questions  to  take  place  on a Sunday.  Mill  supported  it. He  was  an  advocate  of  women's  rights  and  birth  control  as  a  way  of  checking  the  downward  pressure  on  wages. which  led  to  accusations  of devaluing  marriage, promoting  abortion  and  insulting  doctors.

John  supported  Gladstone's  positions  in  the  Second  Reform  Act  debates. In  1868  he  supported Mill's  measure  against  corrupt  practices  at  elections.

John   was  not   happy  at  Nottingham  where  he  had  to  compromise  with  money  and  ignorance  and so  contested  South  Devon  in 1868  instead  but  was  defeated. He  gave  up  parliamentary  politics  to concentrate  on  writing  on  religion  and  philosophy. He  championed  Positivism. In  1870  he  joined  the Workmen's  Peace Association  but  did  not  support  total  disarmament.

John  engaged  an  amateur  biologist,  Douglas  Spalding,  who  was  recommended  by  Mill  as  a  private tutor  for  his  children. Spalding  was  consumptive  and  considered  unfit  for  marriage  so  John  agreed that  he  could  sleep  with  his  wife. In  1873  John  suffered  an  epileptic  fit. The  family  went  abroad  to  Rome  where  his  eldest  son  Frank  caught  diphtheria. He  recovered  but  in  the  summer  of  1874 both  his  wife  and  daughter  died  of  the  disease. He  had  them  cremated  and  buried  in  the  grounds  of  his  home  without  religious  ceremony  which  caused  further  outrage.

John  had  inherited  his  father's  short  stature  and  physical  frailty. Depressed , he  left  his  surviving children  to  the  care  of  Spalding  and  other  servants  while  he  tried  to  finish  his  study  of  world religions,  An  Analysis  of  Religious  Belief.

 John  died  of  bronchitis  in  1876  aged  just  33, predeceasing his  father. He  left  his  sons'  guardianship  to  Spalding  and  another  atheist  to  prevent  them  being  raised  as  Christians  but  his  parents  successfully  overturned  the  will  in  that  regard. His  mother  ensured  his  book  was  published  despite  disapproval  of  the  contents. His  younger  son  became  the  renowned  philosopher  Bertrand  Russell.

  

565 Charles Edwards

Constituency : Windsor  1866-8

Charles  was  the  other  Liberal  victor  in  the  re-run  at  Windsor.

Charles  had  an  estate  at  Dolserau  Hall  in  North  Wales.

In  1868 , when  the  constituency  was  reduced  to  one  member, Charles   left  the  field  clear  for  Roger Eykyn.

He  died  in  1889  aged  64.

564 Roger Eykyn

Constituency :  Windsor  1866-74

Roger  was  one  of  the  victors  when  the  whole  Windsor  election  had  to  be  re-run  with  new candidates. He  was  a  Member  of  the  Stock  Exchange  and  a  keen  huntsman. He  was  known  for   his  enthusiastic  support  for  the  Metropolitan  Police.

Roger  supported  the  secret  ballot.

Roger  was  defeated  in  1874.

He  died  in  1896  aged  76.

563 Robert Campbell

Constituency : Helston  1866

Robert  briefly  succeeded  Adolphus  Young  when  his  election  was  declared  void.

At  the  by-election  both  candidates  scored  exactly  the  same  number  of  votes  and  the  returning  officer  gave  a  casting  vote  for  Robert. This  decision  was  appealed  and  the  Commons decided  that  both  men  should  sit. However  when   the  votes  were  scrutinised  one  of  Robert's  was  struck  out  so  the  Tory  was  elected.

Robert  was  a  London  merchant.

He  died  in  1887  aged  76.

562 Julian Goldsmid

Constituency : Honiton  1866-8, Rochester 1870-80, St  Pancras  South  1885-96

Julian  took  over  from  his  deceased  father  unopposed.

Julian  was  educated  at  University  College, London  and  became  a  barrister  although  he  only   practised  briefly. He  contested  a  by-election  in  Brighton  in  1864  and  Cirencester  in  1865.

Julian  was  chairman  of  the  Submarine  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Imperial  and  Continental  Gas Association  and  a  director  of  the  London, Brighton  and  South  Coast  Railway. He  was  a philanthropist  for  Jewish  causes. He  was  opposed  to  female  suffrage.

Honiton  was  abolished  in  1868  and  Julian  was  defeated  at  Mid  Surrey.

Julian  came  through  a  rough  by-election  at  Rochester  in  1870  where  his  religion  was  openly  held against  him. The  local  Tory  paper  suggested  an  apolitical  voting  league  to  secure  a  Christian represenatative.

Julian  inherited  the  baronetcy  of  his  uncle  Francis  in  1878.

Julian  lost  in  1880  when  he  came  bottom  of  the  poll. He  contested  a  by-election  at  Sandwich  later that  year.

In  1886  Julian  became  a  Liberal  Unionist. In  1894  he  became  a  deputy  speaker. In  1895 he  won  with  a  big  majority.

He  died  in  1896  aged  57.

561 Henry Herbert

Constituency : Kerry  1866-80

Henry  replaced  his  identically-named   and  recently-deceased   father  in  Kerry  where  the  family  had   an  iron  grip  on  one  of  the  seats.

Henry  also  inherited  the  huge  estate  of  Muckross  but  was  not  able  to  manage  it  effectively. The estate  became  insolvent  in  1897  and  was  forfeited  a  year  later.

Henry  was  a  Protestant  but  supported  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church  and  land  reform.

Henry was  a  major  in  the  London  Irish  Rifles   and  a  captain  in  the  Coldstream  Guards.

Henry  suffered  from  Parkinson's  Disease  in  later  life.

He  died  in  1901  aged  61.

560 John Candlish

Constituency : Sunderland  1866-74

John  had  stood  in  the  1865  election  for  Sunderland  but  a  Tory  claimed  the  second  seat. He  won the  seat  at  the  by-election  when  the  Liberal  victor  Henry  Fenwick  became  Civil  Lord  of  the Admiralty.

John  was  a  Presbyterian  farmer's  son  from  Northumberland. He  received  a  rudimentary  education  before  going   to  work  in  a  bottle  works. He  moved  to  an  apprenticeship  as  a  draper. He  also  became  a  Baptist. He  became  involved  in  a variety  of  business  ventures  including  founding  the  Sunderland  News  in  1851 before  acquiring  a  lease  on  a  bottle  works  near  Seaham  Harbour.  He  was  a  beneficient  employer  and  local  philanthropist. With the  help  of  the  Marquess  of  Londonderry  it  became  the  largest  in  Europe. John  was  mayor  of Sunderland  in  1858  and  1861  and  held  various  offices  in  the  town.

In  1866  John  spoke  in  favour  of  the  the  Reform  Bill.  He  was  a  strong  critic  of  the  Abyssinian Expedition  of  1868   which  led  to  him  chairing  two  select  committees  on  the  subject  in  1868  and 1870.  He  was  also  strongly  against  compulsory  vaccination  and  in  1870  introduced  a  Bill  to  draw  some of  the  teeth  from  the  Vaccination  Act  of  1867.  He  then  became  a  member  of   the  select  committee  that  was  set  up  to  examine  the  operation  of  the  act  in  1871. He  was  not  radical  enough  for  some  of  Sunderland's  Liberals  and  he  had  to  have  a  vote  of confidence  at  a  meeting  in  1971.

In  1870  John  visited  India  on  parliamentary  business  and  it  seemed  to  have  an  adverse  effect  on his  health. He  stood  down  at  the  1874 election  and  died  just  a  month  later  in  Cannes.  He  was  58.

559 John Pratt

Constituency :  Brecon  1866

John  took  over  from  the  deceased  John  Watkins  unopposed.

John  was  the  son  and  heir  of  Marquess  Camden  and  since  1840  Earl  of  Brecknock.  He  was educated  at  Cambridge.

John's  father  died  a  few  months  after  his  election  and  he  went  to  the Lords. The  Tories  won  the by-election.

John  died  in 1872  aged  31.

558 Lord John Hay

Constituency : Wick  Burghs  1857-9, Ripon 1866-71

We  move  on  to  the  by-election  victors  of  the  1865-68  Parliament,. It  was  a  short  but  momentous  one  beginning  with  the  death  of  Palmerston, followed  by  the  short  second  outing  for  Russell  as  premier , the  effective  retirements  of  Derby  and  Russell  and  the  emergence  of  Gladstone  and  Disraeli  as  the  principal  protagonists  of  the  era,  exemplified  by  the  bewildering  tussle over  the  Second  Reform  Act.

Lord  John  took  over  at  Ripon  after  Charles  Wood  was  elevated  to  the  peerage.

Lord  John  was  another  younger  son  of  the  Marquess  of  Tweeddale. He  joined  the  Royal  Navy in 1840  and  saw  action  in  the  First  Opium  War. After  service  in  the  Mediterranean  he  took  part  in  the  Siege  of  Sevastopol  where  he  was  slightly  wounded. He  was  promoted  to  captain. He  gave  two  years  service  as  MP  for  Wick  Burghs  before  returning  to  the  sea. He  took  part  in  the  Battle  of  Taku  Forts  during  the  Second  Opium  War  in  1860.

Russell  made  Lord  John a  member  of  the  Admiralty  Board  on  his  election. Gladstone  made  him  a junior  naval  lord  in  1868  but  he  resigned  his  seat  in  1871  to  take  command  of  a  ship. He  was promoted  to  rear-admiral  in  1872  then  second  commander-in-chief of  the  Channel  Squadron in 1875. He  got  to  be  Commander  in   1877  quickly  followed  by  a  promotion  to  vice  admiral. In  1878  he sailed  to  Cyprus  to  take  over  in  line  with  the  terms  of  the  Congress  of  Berlin

Lord  John  was  made  Second  Naval  Lord  in  1880  then  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Mediterranean Fleet  in  1883  where  he  provided  support  for  the  Nile  Expedition  to  rescue  General  Gordon. He  was  made  First  Naval  Lord  in  1886  then  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  in  1888. He  retired  in  1897.

He  died  in  1916  aged  88.

557 Thomas Grove

Constituency : Wiltshire  South  1865-74,  Wilton  1885-92

Thomas  claimed  back  the  seat  lost  to  the  Liberals  on  the  death  of  Sidney  Herbert  in  1861.

Thomas  was  a  captain  in  the  6th  Dragoons.

After  his  defeat  in  1874 Thomas  was  made  a  baronet. He  declined  to  stand  again  until  1885.

Sir  Thomas  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  1886  and  held  his  seat  unopposed. By  1892  he  had  moved  back  to  Gladstone  and  lost  his  seat  to  the  Conservatives.

Sir  Thomas  was  elected  to Wiltshire  County  Council  in 1889.

He  died  in  1897  aged  73.

With  Sir  Thomas, our  coverage  of  the  Palmerston  era  comes  to  a  close.

556 Henry Gridley

Constituency : Weymouth  and  Melcombe  Regis  1865-7

Henry  took  the  seat  from  the  Tories.

Henry  was  a  barrister. He  was  45  at  the  time  of  his  election.

He  resigned  his  seat  in  1867.

That's  all  I  know.

555 Arthur Hayter

Constituency : Wells 1865-8, Bath  1873-85, Walsall  1893-5, 1900-06

Arthur  took  over  from  his  father  William  at  Wells.

Arthur  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Oxford, after  which  he  joined  the  Grenadier  Guards. He  became  a  captain.

Arthur's  maiden  speech  was  moving  an  amendment   calling  for  improvements  to  the  1866  Reform  Bill  which  he  felt  dealt  with  borough  representation  in  too  narrow  a  fashion. It  was  not  welcomed  by  the  Government.

Wells  was  abolished  in  1868  and  Arthur  didn't  return  until  1873 when  the  third  of  three  by-elections  in  the  constituency  put  him  in  at  Bath.  He  was  specifically  chosen  as  a  moderate  to  heal  divisions  that  had  surfaced  in  an  earlier  by-election. Handel  Cossham  described  his  politics  as  "milk  and  water  policy  with  the  milk  taken  out". A  member  of  the  National  Education  League  threatened to  stand  against  him  because  he  would  not  publicly  endorse  their  views  on  secular  education. After  a  physical  fracas  broke  out  between  their  supporters  Arthur  toed  the  line  and  his  challenger  withdrew.  He  was  not  successful  in  dislodging  the  Tories  at  his  first  attempt  but  succeeded  a  Liberal  in  the  second.   His  wife  made  a  favourable  impression  on  working  class  Liberals  by  canvassing  hard  in  the  poorest  areas. In  1878  he  succeeded  to  his  father's  baronetcy. Gladstone  made  him  a  whip  from  1880  to  1882  when  he  became  Financial  Secretary  to  the  War  Office. He  held  the  post  to  the  end  of  the  government.

Ejected  from  Bath  in  1885,  Arthur  came  back  at  Walsall  in  a  by-election  in  1893. He  lost  in  1895  but  won  in  1900  despite  failing  to  support  calls  from  the  local  Trades  Council  for  payment  of  MPs  and  universal  state  pensions.

Arthur  was  chair  of  the  Public  Accounts  Committee  from  1901  to  1905. Just  before  the  1906 election  he  was  created  Baron  Haversham.

He  died  in  1917  aged  81.

554 John Calcraft

Constituency : Wareham 1865-8

John  took  Wareham  from  the  Tories.

Wareham  was  something  of  a  family  borough  and  John  was  the  third  MP  of  the  same  name. He  was  a  lieutenant  in  the army.

He  died  shortly  after  his  re-election  in  1868  aged  37.

553 Lord William Hay

Constituency :  Taunton  1865-8, Haddington  Burghs 1878

Lord  William's  victory  made  it  a  double  gain  from  the  Tories  in  Taunton.

Lord  William  was  a  younger  son  of  the  Marquess  of  Tweeddale. He  was  educated  at  the  Imperial Service  College. He  then  served  in  the  Bengal  Civil   Service  from  1845  to  1862. Back  in  England he  became  Chairman  of  the  North  British  Railway  Company.

William  was  defeated  in  1868  and  returned  at  a  by-election  in  Haddington  Burghs  a  year  later. Shortly  after  his  election, his  brother's  death  made  him  the  new  Marquess of  Tweddale,  one  of Scotland's  richest  landowners. In  1881  he  was  upgraded  to  Baron. He  became  Lord  High Commissioner  to  the  Church  of  Scotland.

William  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists.

He  died  in 1911  aged  85.

 

552 Alexander Barclay

Constituency : Taunton  1865-80

Alexander  reversed  an  1859  by-election ( which  he  contested )  loss   at  Taunton.

Alexander  was  the  son  of  a  former  Whig  MP  for  Sunderland. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and Cambridge. He  had  some  training  as  a  barrister  but  went  into  the  family  brewing  business. He  also owned  racehorses. He  spent  two  years  living  in  Mauritius.

Alexander  stood  down  in  1880.

He  died  in  1893  aged  69.

551 Edward Hamilton

Constituency : Salisbury  1865-9

Edward  replaced  Edward  Buckley  at  Salisbury.

Edward  was  a  vicar's  son  from  Essex. His  brother  was  Bishop  of  Salisbury.

Edward  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge. He  qualified  as  a  barrister  but  never  practised. Instead  he  bought  a  cattle  and  sheep  station  in  New  South  Wales  in  1839  with  the  intention  of making  a  fortune  and  returning  to  England  as  a  gentleman  of  leisure. He  had  two  spells  on  the New  South  Wales  Legislative  Council    and  was  Provost  of  the  University  of  Sydney  from  1851  to 1854. In  1855  he  sold  up  and  returned  to  England. He  was  appointed  chair  of  the  Australian Agricultural  Company  in  1857  and  the  Bank  of  Australasia.

Edward's  most  notable  Parliamentary  contribution  was  a  question  about  the  British  North  America Bill  in  1867  which  led  to  a  clarifying  amendment  that  it  did  not  confer  female  suffrage.

In  August  1869  Edward  resigned  his  seat.

He  died  in  1894  aged  88.