781 Walter James

Constituency : Gateshead  1874-93

Walter  succeeded  Sir  William  Hutt  at  Gateshead. The  James  family  were  lords  of  the  manor  and  philanthropic  in  the  town.

Walter  was  the  son  and  heir  of  Baron  Northborne, a  former  Conservative MP  who  became  a  Peelite  and  was  a  close  friend  of  Gladstone  He  was  educated  at  Oxford.

Walter  opposed  alterations  to  Charterhouse  Schoool  as  "an  act  of  Philistinism  and  Vandalism".

Walter  had  to  resign  his  seat  in  1893  when  he  succeeded  his  father.

He  died  in  1923  aged  76.

780 Charles Palmer

Constituency : North  Durham  1874-85, Jarrow  1885-1907

Charles  succeeded  Hedworth  Williamson  at  North  Durham. His  election  was  also  voided  on  petition  but  unlike  Lowthian  Bell  he  came  through  the  by-election  at  the  head  of  the  poll.

Charles  was  the  son  of  a  Newcastle  ship-owner. At  15  he  went  into  the  business  himself  and  became  a  partner  in  1842. He  was  also  invited  to  become  a  manager  and  then  partner  in  a  number  of  local  collieries. He  used  the  profits  to  expand  the  business  and  becaome  a  leading  coke  supplier  to  English  railways. This  led  him  on  to  shipbuilding   on  a  huge  scale  at  the  hitherto  obscure  fishing  village  of  Jarrow. He  founded  Palmer's  Shipbuilding  and  Iron  Company  Limited  and  was  by  far  the  largest  local  employer. He  was  the  first  mayor  of  the  town. He  contested  South  Shields  in  1868.

Charles  became  a  director  of  the  Suez  Canal  Company.

Charles  was  created  a  baronet  in  1886. He  was  president  of  the  Newcastle  and  Gateshead  Chamber  of  Commerce. He  was  a  cautious  advocate  of  temperance.

Charles  was  almost  unseated  by  a  Socialist  candidate  in  1900  but  decided  to  forego  retirement  and  contest  the  seat  again  in  1906. He  defeated  the  trade  unionist  Peter  Curran  with  the  support  of  the  Irish  Nationalist  Party, a  factor  in  the  seat.

He  died  in  1907 ,still  an  MP,  aged  84. His  son  Godfrey  was  a  later  MP  for  the  seat.

  

779 Lowthian Bell

Constituency  : North  Durham  1874,  Hartlepool  1875-80

Lowthian   won  North  Durham  at  the  second  attempt.

Lowthian  was  the  son  of  one  of  the  founders  of  the  iron  and  alkali  firm,  Losh, Wilson  and  Bell. He  studied  physical  science  at  Edinburgh  University  and  the  Sorbonne. He  took  over  the  Walker  ironworks  on  his  father's  death  in  1845. He  co-founded  a  chemical  company  with  his  uncle  and  father-in-law. In  1852  he  founded  a  major  ironworks  in  Middlesbrough  with  his  brothers. They were  major  suppliers  to  railways  and  Lowthian  was  a  director  of  the  North  Eastern  Railway  from  1864  until  his  death.  Lowthian  was  a  scientific  pioneer continually  looking  to  develop   new  processes; in  this  field  his  greatest  triumph  was  a  plant  that  could  produce  pure  aluminium  using  the  Deville  sodium  process.   He  also  owned  coal  mines  and  quarrries. Lowthian  started  serving  on  Newcastle's  town  council   from  1850. He  was  mayor  in  1852  and  1864.

Lowthian's  triumph  in  1874  was  voided  on  the  grounds  that  his  agents  were  guilty  of  intimidation.  He  was  able  to  stand  in  the  by-election  but  came  a  close  third.  He  came   back  in  at  a  by-election  in  Hartlepool  in  1875.  He  was  a  close  friend  of  Gladstone.

Lowthian  was  a  juror  at  International  Exhibitions  in  Philadelphia  in  1876  and  Paris  in  1878. In  1877  he  founded  the  Institute  of  Chemistry.  He  wrote  many  papers  on  science  and  metallurgy.

Lowthian  stood  down  in  1880. He  was  knighted  in  1885.

Lowthian  became  a  director  of  the  Forth  Bridge  company  in 1882.

Lowthian  correctly  predicted  that  Germany  would  outstrip  the  UK  in  industrial  production  and  later  in  life  divested  many  of  his  industrial  holdings  in  anticipation  of  this.

Lowthian  was  personally  abrasive  and  inconsiderate  according  to  the  testimony  of  family  members.  However  he  was  admired  as  the  "high  priest  of  British  metallurgy"  and  was  friends  with  Darwin  and  Ruskin.

He  died  in  1904  aged  88.  His  granddaughter  Gertrude  would  make  a  name  for  herself  as  an  adventurer  in  the  Middle  East. He  was  played  by  David  Calder  in  the  film  Queen  of  the  Desert.

778 Thomas Thompson

Constituency : City  of  Durham  1874, 1880-5

Thomas  reversed  the  by-election  loss  of  1871  at  Durham.

Thomas  was  a  barrister  educated  at  Harrow  and  University  College, Durham.  He  came  from  a  wealthy  family with  an  estate  at  Sherburn  Hall, He  unsuccessfully  contested  Sunderland  in  1868  on  a  radical  platform  including  support  for  female  suffrage  and  the  abolition  of  religious  disabilities.

Thomas's  election  in  1874  was  declared  void  almost  immediately. He  was  re-elected  in  1880.

Thomas  was  a  noted  philanthropist.

He  died  in  1892  aged  71.

777 Edward Reed

Constituency  : Pembroke  1874-80 ; Cardiff 1880-95 , 1900-06

Edward  gained  the  hitherto  Tory  seat  of  Pembroke.

Edward  was  a  shipwright's  son  from  Kent. He  started  out  as  a  naval  apprentice  and  entered  the  School  of  Mathematics  and  Naval  Construction  at  Portsmouth.  After  a  time  editing  the  Mechanic's  Magazine  he  became  the  Admiralty's  Chief  Constructor  overseeing  the  transition  from  wooden  to  ironclad  warships. He  resigned  after  Parliament  decided  to  fund  a  ship  built  by  his  rival  Captain  Coles  which  foundered  in  less  than  a  year. He  was  not  recalled  and  instead  built  ships  for  other  nations. In  1873  he   contested  a  by-election  at  Hull  where  he  owned  a large  naval  engineering  firm  but  was  unsuccessful.

Edward  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  debates  on  naval  matters. In  1879  Edward  visited  Japan  on  a  trade  mission  to  secure  orders  for  warships  and  wrote  a  sympathetic  history  of  the  country  on  his  return. He  felt  the  country  should  not  be  rushed  towards  full  democracy   by  Western  governments.

Edward  switched  to  Cardiff  in  1880. In  1886  he  became  a  whip  in  Gladstone's  brief  ministry.

In  the  1880s  Edward  became  a  substantial  railroad  magnate  in  Florida.

Though  he  stuck  with  Gladstone  he  was  never  enthusiastic  about  Home  Rule  and  in  1892  The  Spectator  complained  that  he  was  hedging  his  support  with  so  many  conditions  that  he  may  as  well  be  considered  an  opponent. His  Irish  constituents  denounced  him.

Edward  was  defeated  in  1895   which  at   least  in  private   he  welcomed  with  relief  "I  am  like  a  lark  or  a  nightingale  that  somehow  found  itself  tethered  awhile  by  some  bramble  hooked  to  its  foot  &  having  got  clear  of  it, has  sailed  up  into  the  beautiful  blue  above ,&  there  began  to  let  the  heavens  know  that  it  has  a  singing  soul  still".

Nevertheless  he  stood  again  in  1900  and  regained  the  seat. He  announced  his  retirement  in  1905  when  suffering  with  a  heart  complaint.

He  died  in  1906  aged  76.

776 Peter Eyton

Constituency  : Flint  Boroughs  1874-8

Peter  unseated  the  Liberal  by-election  victor  Robert  Cunliffe  who  finished  third  behind  the  Tories. He  was  described  as  "a  pitiable  sight"  who  had  lost  the  use  of  both  legs  and  an  arm. He  was  a  radical  without  the  support  of  the  local  association.  

Peter  was  a  solicitor  and  town  clerk  of  Flint.

He  died  in  1878  aged  51.

775 David Davies

Constituency : Cardigan Boroughs  1874-86

David  took  over  from  Thomas  Lloyd  at  Cardigan  Boroughs. He  was  unopposed.

David  was  a  modestly  educated  self-made  man.  He  was  a  Calvinistic  Methodist. He  started  working  as  a  sawyer  but  took  over  his  father's  farm  when  the  latter  died.  He  was  able  to  increase  his  holdings  then  moved  into  engineering, building  a  bridge  over  the  Severn  at  Llandinam.  He  went  on  to  greatly  increase  the  railway  network  in  Wales.  He  used  part  of  the  profits  to  move  into  mining.  He  played  a  huge  part  in  the  development  of  the  Rhondda  Valley  as  an  industrial  hub  and  created  new  docks  at  Barry  and a  railway  to  reach  them   to  cope  with  the  increased  production  and  avoid  the  high  charges  levied  by  the  existing  rail  companies.David  was  a  strict  teetotaller  and  sabbatarian, He  built  a  number  of  chapels  in  Wales. He  was  one  of  the  first  governors  of  the  university  at  Aberystwyth  and  later  the  treasurer. He  hoped  to  succeed   Henry  Richard  in  the  county  seat  in  1865  but  was  defeated  by  Lloyd, a  moderate  Whig  landowner.

David  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  poor  public  speaker.  His  first  speech  in  Parliament  was  on  the  malt  tax. He  blamed  drink  for  costing  him  £50,000  in  a  year  through  causing "the  irregular  working  of  the  men".

David  was  re-elected  unopposed  in  1880. In  1885  his  seat  was  merged  with  the  county  seat. David  won  the  seat  in  1885  helped  by  an  efficient  Liberal  organisation  led  by  the  solicitor  H  Fryer  but  when  he  tried  to  hold  it  as  a  Liberal  Unionist  he  was  defeated  by  nine  votes. He  took  some  of  his  supporters  with  him  and  had  the  support  of  local  landowners  but  too many  of  the  voters  wanted  to  stick  with  Gladstone.

David  became  a  county  councillor  in  1889  and  served  on  the  Llandinam  school  board.

He  died  in  1890  aged  71.

774 Morgan Lloyd

Constituency : Beaumaris  1874-85

Morgan  took  over  from  William  Stanley  at  Beaumaris

Morgan  was  a  Methodist   educated  at  a  Calvinistic  college  at  Bala  and  then  at  Edinburgh  University  and  became  a  barrister. He   first  challenged    Stanley  in  1868.  He  said  Wales  needed  to  return  men  "who  understood  the  minds  of  the  Welsh, who  could  think  like  they  did, and  feel  like  they  did, and  therefore  knew  by  instinct  when  a  question  came  before  parliament, how  the  Welsh  people  think  of  it ".

In  1885  Beaumaris  was  abolished  and  Morgan  decided  to  contest  his  native  Merionethshire   despite  the  local  Association  having  selected  Henry  Robertson.  He  attacked  the  Scottish  Robertson  on  nationalist  grounds. He  had  support  from  the  slate  quarrymen  at  Ffestiniog  who  shouted  down  Robertson's  supporters  at  a  public  meeting  but  he  was  still  defeated.

He  died  in  1893  aged  71.

773 Hugh Law

Constituency : County  Londonderry  1874-81

Hugh  was  the  other  successful  Liberal  at  Londonderry.

Hugh  was  a  barrister  educated  at  Trinity  College  , Dublin. Hugh  was  a  close  ally  to  Gladstone, like  him  Hugh  had  originally  been  a  Conservative. He  was  the  main  drafter  of  the  disestablishment  legislation  of  1869  and  the  first  Irish  Land  Act.  He  started  out  in  the  government  of  1868  as  law  adviser  to  Lord  Spencer  and  was  rapidly  promoted  to  attorney-general  for  Ireland. This  meant  it  was  desirable  to  find  him  a  parliamentary  seat.

Hugh  resumed  the  role  when  Gladstone  returned  to   power  in  1880  and  was  involved  in  prosecuting  Parnell  and  the  Irish  National  Land  League  for  conspiracy. In  1881  he  was  created  Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland  in  order  to  steer  through  the  second  Irish  Land  Act  in  the  Lords  which  he  did  with  great  skill  and  tact.

He  died  in  1883  from  a  lung  infection. He  was  65.

772 Richard Smyth

Constituency : County  Londonderry  1874-8

The  Liberals  took  both  seats  in  Londonderry  from  the  Tories.

Richard  was  a  Presbyterian  minister  from  Antrim. He  was  educated  at  the  universities  of  Bonn  and  Glasgow.  In  1865  he  was  appointed  professor  of  oriental  languages  and  biblical  studies  at  Magee  College, Londonderry. In  1870  he  became  a  professor  of  theology  at  the  same  college. He  was  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  Gladstone  backing  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  church  and  the  Irish  Universities  Bill.

In  1874  Richard  tried  to  get  the  law  prohibiting  alcohol  sales  in  Scotland  on  a  Sunday  extended  to  Ireland. He  opposed  Home  Rule.  He  did  however  support  Butt's  land  bill  of  1875  and  recognised  the  dangers  of  Liberals  supporting  James  Sharman  Crawford's  bill  on  tenant  right  in  Ulster  but  not  Butt's  proposals  for  the  South. He  said  northeners  should  be  ready  to  help  the  South  "extricate  themselves  out  of  the  difficulties , which  I  am  bound  to  say, are  greater  than  our  own".

Richard  authored  a  number  of  pamphlets.

He  died  in  1878  aged  52.

771 Thomas Dickson

Constituency  : Dungannon 1874-80,  County  Tyrone 1881-5,  Dublin  St  Stephen's  Green 1888-92

Thomas  took  Dungannon  from  the  Tories  where  the  Ranfurly  family's  interest  in  the  seat  had declined.

Thomas was  a  Presbyterian  factory  owner  known  for  his  philanthropy..

Thomas  was  part  of  a  Royal  Commission  on  waterways  in  Ulster. He  wanted  amendments  to  the  1870  Irish  Land  Act ; the  machinery for  fixing  judicial  rents  was  too  slow.

Thomas's  re-election  in  1880  was  declared  void  but  he  returned  at  a  by-election  for  County Tyrone  in  1881. Tyrone  was  split  in  1885  but  Thomas  got  back  in  at  Dublin  in  a  by-election  in  1888.

He  died  in  1909  aged  75.

770 Alexander Swanston

Constituency : Bandon  1874-80

Alexander  reclaimed  Bandon  for  the  Liberals  after  the  defection  of  William  Shaw  who  switched  to  County  Cork.

Alexander  was  originally  from  Scotland. He  managed  the  Bandon  estates  of the  Duke  of  Devonshire.

Alexander's  main  concern  in  Parliament  was  that  the  boroughs  and  large  towns  in  Ireland  should  be  treated  the  same  as  regards  the  sale  of  liquor  on  a  Sunday.

He  died  in  1882  aged  73.

769 William Whitworth

Constituency : Newry  1874-80

William's  was  another  Liberal  gain  from  the  Tories.

William  was  a  partner  in  the  cotton  firm  Benjamin  Whitworth  and  Brothers.

William  argued  for  a  reduction  in  the  naval  estimates  in  1877.

William  was  mayor  of  Drogheda  in  1876.

He  died  after  a  stroke  in  1886  aged  72.

768 James Sharman-Crawford

Constituency : Down  1874-8

James's  victory  was  another  gain  from  the  Tories  in  the  first  contested  election  since  1859. His  victory  was  largely  down  to  the  support  of  tenant-right  organisations.

James  was  the  son  of  William  Sharman-Crawford  an  MP  for  Dundalk  and  Rochdale, The  Sharman-Crawfords  were  a  prominent  landed  family.

 James   spent  most  of  his  short  parliamentary  career  trying  to  establish  Ulster's  tenant right  customs  in  law,  a  cause  that  had  been  taken  up  by  his  father..

He  died  in  1878  aged  66. The  Tories  reclaimed  the  seat  in  the  by-election  after  the  Liberals  were  less  assiduous  in  cultivating  the  Catholic  vote.

767 Daniel Taylor

Constituency  : Coleraine  1874 - 80

Daniel  took  Coleraine  from  the  Tories  in  the  first  contested  election  since  1847.

Daniel was  a  local  man.

Daniel  campaigned  for  an  extension  of  the  Irish   Land  Act.

The  Tories  reclaimed  the  seat  in  1880.

He  died  in  1889  aged 64.

766 John Maitland

Constituency  :  Kikcudbright  1874-80

John   tried  to  reform  the  Scottish  Game  Laws  with  a  Bill  in  1874. He  was  a  temperance  enthusiast  and  called  for  a  permissive  bill  in  Scotland.

He  died  in  1922  aged  81.

765 Ernest Noel

Constituency  : Dumfries  Burghs  1874-86

Ernest  took  over  from  Robert  Jardine  at  Dumfries. He  lost  out  to  Jardine  in  1868  but  had  a  clear  run  against  a  Conservative  in  1874.

Ernest  was  a  nephew  of  the  Earl  of  Gainsborough. He  was  educated  at  Edinburgh  and  Cambridge. He  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Geological Society  in 1849. In  the  early  1870s  he  travelled  in  Egypt  where  he  befriended  the  artist  Edward  Lear.

Ernest  became  interested  in  artisans'  dwellings  and  from  1880  was  chairman  of  the  Artizans, Labourers  and  General  Dwellings  Company. He  was  responsible  for  Noel  Park  in  Tottenham, one  of  the  first  garden  suburbs. He  was  also  a  director  of  an  insurance  company  and  the  Mercantile  Investment  Trust.

Ernest  was  a  supporter  of  female  suffrage.

In  1886  Ernest  was  on  the  platform  at  the  public  meeting  in  Edinburgh  where  Hartington  and  Goschen  launched  their  campaign  of  opposition  to  the  Home  Rule  Bill. In   the  1886  and  1892  elections  he  stood  as  a  Liberal  Unionist  in  Stirlingshire  but  was  unsuccessful.

He  died  in  1931  aged  99.

764 James Cowan

Constituency : Edinburgh  1874-82

James  unseated  fellow  Liberal  John  Miller  in  coming  second  at  Edinburgh.

James  was  the  son  of  a  papermaker  and  philnthropist .His  older  brother  Charles  was  a former  MP  for  the  city. James's  penchant  for  pranks  did  not  please  his  father.

James  was  a  keen  huntsman , angler  and  yachtsman.

James  resigned  his  seat  in  1882  due  to  ill  health.

James  suffered  from  depression  in  later  life  and  perceived  himself  as  cold  and  unsympathetic. He  was  chairman  of  the  Royal  Edinburgh  Hospital  for  the  Insane.

He  died  in  1895  aged  79.

763 Donald McGregor

Constituency :Leith  Burghs  1874-8

Donald  unseated  the  incumbent  Liberal  Robert  Macfie  by  a  large  margin.

Donald  was  a  shipowner  from  the  town. He  sought  to  benefit  from  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal  and  the  resultant  increased  trade  with  the  East.

Donald  resigned  the  seat  in  1878.  He  stood  again  in  a  by-election   in  1886  as  an  Independent  Liberal  Unionist  supported  by  the  local  Conservative  association  but  was  easily  defeated.

He  died  in  1889  aged  75.

762 Robert Reid

Constituency : Kirkcaldy  Burghs  1874-5

Robert  took  over  from  Roger  Aytoun  at  Kirkcaldy .

Robert  was  educated  at  Oxford  and  became  a  barrister.

In  1874  Robert  spoke  up  for  the  system  of  elementary  education  in  Scotland.

He  died  in  1875  aged  43.

761 Sir Charles Cameron

Constituency : Glasgow  1874-85, Glasgow  College 1885-95, Glasgow  Bridgeton 1897-1900

Charles  topped  the  poll  in   Glasgow.  Both  William  Graham  and  Robert  Dalglish  had  stood  down; a  Tory  got  the  other  seat.

Charles  was  a  doctor. He  was  born  in  Dublin  where  his  father  owned  a  newspaper  and  went  to  Trinity  College. He  studied  at  medical  schools  in  Europe  but  never  actually  practised. In  1864  he  became  editor  of  the  North  British  Daily  Mail  and  then  its  managing  proprietor  from  1871.

Charles  put  his  name  behind  a  number  of   radical  campaigns. He  introduced  an  Inebriates  Act  in  1898, helped  reform  Scottish  liquor  laws  and  sat  on  a  Royal  Commission  on  the  subject  in  1895. He  helped  secure   the  municipal  franchise  for  women  and  abolish  imprisonment  for  debt  in  Scotland. He  was  also  behind  the  introduction  of  the  sixpenny  telegram.

In  1886  Charles  opposed  the  Church  of  Scotland  Bill  as  disadvantaging  the  Presbyterians and  in  March  introduced  his  own  motion  for  disestablishment  and  disendowment. That  same  month  he  moved  to  reduce  the  naval  estimates  as  a  protest  against  waste.

Charles  was  president  of  the  Cremation  Society  of  Great  Britain.

Charles  was  defeated   in  1895  but  returned  at  a  by-election  in  1897. He  stood  down  in  1900.

In  later  life  Charles  was  a  keen  motorist.

He  died  in  1924  aged  82.

760 Edward Jenkins

Constituency : Dundee  1874-80

Edward  came  in  second  at  Dundee  displacing  Sir  John  Ogilvy  who  came  third. Edward  was  actually  absent  in  America  on  a  lecture  tour  during  the  campaign.

Edward  was  born  in  India, the  son  of  a  Methodist  minister. He  was  educated  in  Canada  and  the  USA  and  became  a  barrister. At  the  beginning  of  the  1870s  he  began  making  a  name  for  himself  as  an  author  of  satirical  novels  such  as  Ginx's  Baby  : his  birth  and  other  misfortunes  ( 1870 )  about  an  impoverished  child  tussled  over  by  rival  philanthropists. His  1871  novel  Lord  Bantam , about  an  idealistic  aristocrat  who  abandons  his  radicalism  when  he  inherits  , was  denounced  in  The  Times   as  a  vehicle  for  "Red  Republican  opinions". Edward  supported  Joseph  Arch's  campaigns  for  agricultural  labourers , reflected  in  his  1873  novel  Little  Hodge.  In  1871  he  travelled  to  Guyana  for  a  report  on  the  conditions  of  coolies  in  Guyana  by  the  English  Benevolent  Society. He  contested  by-elections  at  Truro  in  1870  and  Dundee  in  1873. In  1874  he  was  appointed  agent-general  of  the  Canadian  Dominion  dealing  in  emigration  matters.  He  promoted  the  ideas  of  imperial  federation. On  his  lecture  tour  in  1874 he  castigated  the  Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act  as  "a  gross  instance  of  special  legislation  aimed  at  and  affecting  in  almost  all  of  its  particulars  only  one  portion  of  the  community".

In  1874  Edward  spoke  for  the  extension  of  voting  hours. In  1879  he  demanded  the  resignation  of  the  British  commander  Lord  Chelmsford  after  the  defeat  at Isandlwana.

Edward  decided  not  to  seek  re-election  in  1880  but  then  contested  a  by-election  in  Edinburgh  the  following  year.  His  imperialism  had  led  him  to  the  Conservatives  by  1885  and  he  stood  for  Dundee  again  in  1885  but  came  bottom  of  the  poll.

He  died  in  1910  aged  72  after  a  stroke  had  left  him  paralysed  some  years  before,

759 William Holms

Constituency : Paisley  1874-84

William  took  over  from  Humphrey  Crum-Ewing  at  Paisley.

William  was  educated  at  Paisley  Grammar  and  Glasgow  University. He  was  a  partner  in  a  textile  company  with  offices  in  Glasgow  and  London. He  was  the  brother  of  John  Holms, MP  for  Hackney.

William  was  chairman  of  Glasgow  Technical  College  in  1877.

William  stood  down   in   1884.

He  died  in  1903  aged  76.

758 William Mure

Constituency : Renfrewshire  1874-80

William  reversed  the  by-election  defeat  of  1873  when  Henry  Bruce  was  elevated  to  the  peerage. His  father  was  a  former  Peelite   MP  for  the  seat.

William  went  into  the  Scots  Fusilier  Guards  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel.

William  spoke  against  the  exploitation  of  pregnant  women  in  factories  in  1874.

He  died  in  1880  shortly  after  being  re-elected. He  was  50.

757 James Harrison

Constituency : Kilmarnock  Burghs  1874-80

James  took  over  at  Kilmarnock  following  the  retirement  of  Edward  Pleydell-Bouverie.

James  was  a  barrister  who  built  a  home  for  himself  in  Sussex

James  didn't  stand  again  in  1880.

He  died  in  1905  aged  85.

756 Alexander Duff aka Viscount Macduff

Constituency : Elgin  and  Nairnshire  1874-79

Alexander  chalked  up  one  of  the  few  Liberal  gains  of  1874  when  he  took  Elgin  and  Nairnshire  from  the  Tories.

Alexander  was  the  son  of  James  Duff  who  became  the  Earl  of  Fife  ( confusingly  an  Irish  peerage ) in  1857. He  was  a  great-grandson  of  William  IV  through  an  illegitimate  line. He  was  educated  at  Eton.

Alexander  became  Earl  of  Fife  in  1879.  This  was  combined  with   the  barony  of  Skeyne  which  gave  him  a  seat  in  the  Lords. He  served  as  Captain  of  the  Honourable  Corps  of  Gentlemen-at-Arms  from  1880  to  1881  and  went  on  a  diplomatic  mission  to  Saxony  in  1882.

Queen  Victoria  made  him  a  full  UK  peer  in  1885.  In  1889  he  married  Princess  Louise, the  eldest  daughter  of  Edward  Prince  of  Wales  after  which  he  was  elevated  to  a  duke.

Alexander  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Chartered  Company  of  South  Africa.

Alexander  was  Lord  High  Constable  at  the  coronations  of  Edward  VII  and  George  V.

In  December  1911  Alexander   and  his  family  were  shipwrecked  off  the  coast  of  Morocco. Although  they  were  all  rescued  , he  contracted  pleurisy  and  died  in  Egypt  the  following  month  aged  62.

755 Charles Fraser-Mackintosh

Constituency : Inverness  Burghs  1874-85 ; Inverness-shire  1885-92  (from  1886  Liberal  Unionist )

Charles  unseated  the  incumbent  Liberal  Aeneas  Macintosh  to  take  the  seat.

Charles  was  a  solicitor  who  worked  in  land  and  property. He  was  chairman  of  the  Anglo-American  Land  Mortgage  and  Agency  Co. He  published  a  number  of  works  on  Scottish  history  and  was  a  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiquities  of  Scotland. He  was  a  champion  of  the  Gaelic  language  promoting  its  use  in  Highland  schools..

Charles  was  the  only  MP  who  could  speak  Gaelic  and  became  known  as  the  Member  for  the  Highlands.  In  1881  he  got  Harcourt  to  incorporate  a  question  on  speaking  Gaelic  in  the  1881  census. His  efforts  helped  get  the  Crofters  Commission  set  up  in  1883  on  which  he  then  sat.

Charles  was  a  keen  book  collector  and  helped  set  up  Inverness  Free  Library  in  1883.

In  1885  Charles  switched  the  county  seat  as  an  Independent  Liberal  allied  to  the  Crofters  Party. He  was  unopposed  in  1886  but  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  Parliament. This  was  regarded  as  an  act  of  treachery  by  the  Highland  Land  League  who  helped  Donald  McGregor  defeat  him  in  1892.

He  died  in  1901  aged  72.

754 Cromartie Leveson-Gower aka Marquess of Stafford

Constituency  : Sutherland  1874-86

We  now  come  to  the  1874  election  where  the  Conservatives  won  their  first  parliamentary  majority  since  1941. Gladstone  famously  attributed  his  defeat  to  the  drinkers' vote  but  more  significant  was  the  withdrawal  of  Whig  support ,  scared  off  by  the  general  tenor  of  Gladstonian  Liberalism,   in  many  constituencies  which   let  many  Tories  get  in  unopposed. Wikipedia  currently  says  the  Liberals  got  242  seats; I  make  it  249. The  difference  is  in  Ireland  where  it  now  becomes  unclear  whether  some  individual  MPs' primary  loyalty  lay  with  Butt's  Home  Rule  League  or  were  sympathetic  to  the  cause  but  still  loyal  to  the  Liberals.   Of  course  this  means  a  smaller  selection  of  new  faces  to  discuss  although  there  were  some  changes  of  personnel  in  the  seats  retained  as  the  workers  enfranchised  in  1867  started  flexing  their  political  muscles. Apart  from  Ireland  where  many  of  the  "losses"  involved  an  incumbent  MP  switching  rosettes  the  heaviest  losses  were  in  the  South  of  England.

Cromartie  replaced  Lord  Ronald  Gower  in  the  seat.

Cromartie  was  the  son  and  heir  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland  ( MP  for  the  seat  in  1859 ). He  was  educated  at  Eton. He  joined  the  Second  Life  Guards  as  a  cornet. He  was  a  lieutenant  by  the  time  of  his  retirement  in  1875.

Cromartie  stepped  down  in  1886. By  the  time  he  succeeded  his  father  in  1892  he  was  a  Conservative.  He  was  involved  in  a  legal  dispute  with  his  stepmother  over  his  inheritance; she  later  went  to  jail  for  destroying  documents  though  she  did  receive  a  settlement  eventually. He  was  Mayor  of  Longton  in  Staffordshire  in  1895-6.

In  his  later  years  as  duke  Cromartie  became  concerned  that  large  landholdings  in  the  UK  were  becoming  unprofitable. He  sold  some  of  his  estates  to  fund  land  purchase  in  Canada.

Cromartie  was  a  keen  huntsman  and  Master  of  Foxhounds for  the  North  Staffordshire  Hunt.  He  was  also  an  early  automobile  enthusiast.

He  died  in  1913  aged  61.