958 Edmund Wodehouse

Constituency : Bath  1880-1906 ( from  1886  Liberal Unionist )

Edmond  took  the  second  seat  at  Bath  from  the  Tories.

Edmond  was  a  cousin  of  the  Earl  of  Kimberley. Edmond  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Oxford . He  became  a  barrister. Her  was  private  secretary  to  Kimberley  when  he  was  Viceroy  of  Ireland  (1864-66 ), Lord  Privy  Seal  ( 1868-70 ), Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  ( 1870-74 ).

Edmond  wanted  to  reform  parliamentary  procedure. In  a  pamphlet  Obstruction and  the  Reform  of  Procedure  he  described  sticking  to  ancient  traditions  as  wearing  "a  suit  of  ancient  armour  as  a  defence  against  paralysis".

Edmond  refused  the  offer  of  under-secretary  for  the  colonies  and  switched  to  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  1886. He  made  a long  speech  about  preserving  the  Union  that  year.

He  died  in  1914  aged  79.

957 Francis Baring

Constituency : Winchester  1880-85  , Biggleswade  1886-92  ( Liberal  Unionist )

Francis  recaptured  one  of  the  Winchester  seats  for  the  Liberals.

Francis  was  the  son  and  heir  of  Baron  Northbrook and  was  known  as  Viscount  Baring.. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  joined  the  army. From  1873  to  1876  he  was  aide-de-camp  to  his  father  the  Viceroy  of  India.

Francis  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists  and  returned  as  MP  for  Biggleswade. His  only  parliamentary  contributions  were  on  army  matters.

In  1904  Francis  succeeded  his  father.

He  died  in  1929  aged  78.

956 Walter Wren

Constituency : Wallingford  1880

Walter  recaptured  Wallingford  from  the  Tories  by  41  votes.

Walter  was  from  Hampshire  and  educated  in  Guernsey  and  at  Cambridge,  He  suffered  from  a  spinal  condition. He  became  a  teacher  at  a  preparatory  school  he  founded  for  military  college  and  the  Indian  Civil  Service. He  was  an  anti-aristocratic  Radical.

Walter's  election    was  voided  for  bribery  by  one  of  his  agents. He  stood  unsuccessfully  for  Lambeth  Noth in  1885  and  1886.

In  1881  Walter  joined  the  executive  of  the  newly  formed  International  Arbitration  and  Peace  Association. He  was  a  friend  of  the  American  land  reformer  Henry  George  and  invited  him  to  dine  at  the  Reform  Club  in  1882.

In  1889  Walter  was  elected  to  London  County  Council.

Walter  was  described  as  a  partly  affected Bohemian.

He  died  in  1898  aged  64.

955 Chartles Butt

Constituency  : Southampton  1880-3

Charles  was  the  other  Liberal  victor  at  Southampton.

Charles  was  a  clergyman's  son. He  was  educated  privately  and  became  a  barrister.

Charles'  first  parliamentary  speech  was  in  favour  of  Charles  Bradlaugh  being  allowed  to  take  the  oath.

Charles  resigned  his  seat  in  1883  to  become  a  High  Court  judge.  Chamberlain  appointed  him  to  the  royal  commission  on  merchant  shipping  in  1884.

Charles  was  the  judge  in  Charles  Dilke's  first  divorce  trial. He  had  an  improper  meeting  with  Chamberlain  before  it.

He  died  in  1892  aged  61.

954 Henry Lee

Constituency  : Southampton 1880-85

The  Liberals  took  both  Southampton  seats  for  the  first  time  since  1859.

Henry  was  a  cotton  manufacturer  from  Chorley. He  was  educated  by  a  Congregationalist  minister  and  became  very  active  in  that  church. He  was  a  director  of  the  Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce , an  ironworks  company  and  the  Manchester  and  Salford  Bank. He  was  a  governor  of  Manchester  Grammar  School. He  stood  for  Salford  in  1874.

Henry  was  defeated  in  1885. He  stood  unsuccessfully  for  Manchester  North  West  in  1886.

Henry  became  President  of  the  Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  1889  and  held  the  post  for  three  years.

He  died  suddenly   in  1904  aged  87.

953 Frederick Inderwick

Constituency : Rye  1880-5

Frederick  captured  Rye  for  the  Liberals.

Frederick  was  the  son  of  a  naval  captain. He  was  educated  privately  in  Leicestershire  then  went  to  Cambridge.He  became  a  barrister. He  stood  unsuccessfully  at  Cirencester  in  1868  then  Dover  in  1874. He  wrote  on  political  and  legal  history  and  was  an  antiquarian.

Frederick  spoke  in  favour  of  the  Employers  Liability  Bill in  1880. He  spoke  in  favour  of  abolishing  the  extraordinary  tithe  on  hops  in  1883. He  supported  married  women's  property  rights  and  the  Infants  Bill  of  1884  but  not  female  suffrage. He  believed  "that  the  extension  of  the  franchise  to  women  would  be  a  calamity  to  the  country, because  it  would  add  tens  of  thousands  to  that  already  too  numerous  class  of  electors  who  never  knew  their  own  minds".

In  1901  Frederick  represented  a  claimant  for  the  Duke  of  Portland's  millions

Frederick  was  Mayor  of  Winchelsea  in  1892-3  and  1902-03. He  is  remembered  for  preserving  Winshelsea's  Municipal  Corporation  so  as  not  to  diminish   its  status  as  a  Cinque  port. It  is  still  in  existence  today.

He  died  in  1904  aged  68.

952 Joseph Chitty

Constituency : Oxford  1880-81

Joseph  recaptured  the  second  seat  at  Oxford  after the  by-election  defeat  in  1874.

Joseph  was  the  son  of  a  celebrated  barrister  who  wrote  legal  textbooks. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Oxford. He  excelled  at  cricket  and  rowed  in  the  Boat  Race  in  1849. He  umpired  it  on  a  number  of  subsequent  occasions. He  became  a  successful  barrister.

Joseph  resigned  his  seat  in  1881  to  become  a  Chancery  judge. He  hadn't  yet  spoken  in  Parliament.

In  1897  Joseph  was  promoted  to  the  Court  of  Appeal.

H  died  in  1899  aged  70.

951 Charles Spencer

Constituency : North  Northamptonshire 1880-5, Mid  Northamptonshire  1885-95, 1900-05

Charles  took  one  of  the  North  Northamptonshire  seats  from  the  Tories.

Charles  was  a  son  of  Earl  Spencer. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge.

Charles  got  out  of  his  sick  bed  to  campaign  in  1885  because  he  wasn't  sure  of  his  new  seat  although  his  brother's  influence  should  have  made  it  safe.

Charles  was  a  groom-in-waiting  to  Queen  Victoria  in  1886.  From  1892  to  1895  he  was  Vice-chamberlain  of  the  Household.  He  was  defeated  in  1895  but  recaptured  the  seat  in  1900.

 He  was  a  whip  from  1900  to  1905. He  negotiated  with  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  over  education.

In  1905  Charles  was  created  Viscount  Althorp  and  became  Lord  Chamberlain  in  Campbell-Bannerman's  government. In  1910  he  inherited  the  earldom  from  his  elder  brother.

Charles  resigned  as  Lord  Chamberlain  in  1912

He  died  after  catching  a  chill  in  1912, aged  64. He  was  the  great-grandfather of  Princess  Diana.

950 Charles Bradlaugh

Constituency  : Northampton  1880-91

There's  no  doubt  who  the  most  controversial  of  the  new  intake  of  Liberal  MPs  was. Charles  was  one  of  the  two  Liberal  victors  at  Northampton  alongside  the  ostentatious  Radical  Henry Labouchere.

Charles  was  a  legal  clerk's  son  from  London. He  started  in  clerical  jobs. After  a  spell  as  a  Sunday  school  teacher  he  began  having  religious  doubts  and  was  expelled  from  both  hi  post  and  the  family  home. He  was  taken  in  by  the  widow  of  atheist  agitator  Richard  Carlile  who  introduced  him  to  the  secularist  George  Holyoake. Her  encouraged  Charles  to  start  giving  atheist  lectures.  In  the  1850s  he  served  briefly  in  the  army  in  Dublin  but  soon  bought  himself  out. He  then  became  a  solicitor's  clerk  who  published  pamphlets  in  his  spare  time  , anonymously  first  to  protect  his  employer's  reputation. He  became  editor  of  the  secularist  paper  the  National  Reformer   which  fought  off  a  government  prosecution  for  blasphemy  and  sedition  in  1868. In  1866  he  founded  the  National  Secular  Society. He  was  a  member  of  the  Reform  League  but  attacked  its  leadership. In  1876  he  and  his  cohort  Annie  Besant  were  again  prosecuted  for  re-publishing  an  American  pamphlet  advocating  birth  control. They  got  six months  and  a  heavy  fine  but  got  off  on  Appeal  on  a  technicality. The  trial  led  to  the  start  of  the  Malthusian  League. Charles  was  also  a  republican  who  resigned  from  his  masonic  lodge  when  Prince  Edward  became  its  Grand  Master. The  young  Philip  Snowden  saw  him  speak  and  recalled  "He  was  a  massive  figure, with  a  fine  head  and  powerful  voice  and  in  declamation  he  was  a  tremendous  force".

When  Charles  became  an  MP  he  had  a  problem  with  swearing  the  Parliamentary  oath  of  allegiance  because  of  its  religious  character  and  asked  to  be  allowed to  affirm  instead  as  was  allowed  in  the  courts. The  Speaker  Henry  Brand  was  opposed  to  the  idea  and  asked  the  House  for  its  judgement. Gladstone's  government  referred  the  matter  to  a  Select  Committee. The  Attorney  General  Sir  Henry  James  thought  the  affirmation  was  OK  but  the  Select  Committee  rejected  his  advice  on  the  casting  vote  of  the  chairman  when  the  Liberal  Charles  Hopwood  sided  with  the  Conservatives.

Charles  then  said  he  would  take  the  Oath  but  wrote  a  letter  to  The  Times  explaining  that it  was  involuntary  and  he  would  "regard  myself  as  bound, not  by  the  spirit  of  its  words, but  by  the  spirit  which  affirmation  would  have  conveyed  had  I  been  allowed  to  take  it".  A  Tory  MP  objected  to  Charles  taking  the  Oath  an  Brand  took  his  side. Gladstone  now  proposed  a  second  Select  Committee  to  decide on  whether  such  an  objection  was  permissible  and  the  House  agreed.

The  Select  Committee  rejected  the  idea  of  allowing  Charles  to  take  the  oath  but  said  he  should  be  allowed  to  affirm  in  the  hope  that  it  would  provoke  a  legal  challenge  and  thus  pass  the  decision  to  the  courts. Labouchere  moved  to  effect  this  in  the  Commons  but  was  defeated  by  a  Tory  amendment  closing  off  either  option. Charles  turned  up  the  next  day  to  take  the  oath. Brand  ordered  him  to  withdraw  but  permitted  him  to  argue  his  case  from  "behind  the  Bar". When,  after  this,  Charles  refused  to  leave  the  House  he  was  taken  into  custody  by  the  Serjeant-at-Arms  and  placed  in  the  Tower  of  London.  In  his  last  effective  act  as  Tory  leader,  Disraeli  persuaded  his  party  it  was  advisable  to  release  him.

This  meant  a  by-election  which  Charles  easily  won  and  the  whole  fiasco  was  re-run  each  year  with  Charles  being  re-elected  four  times. The  matter  was  a  severe  disruption  to  government  business , a  factor  that  probably  informed  much  of  the  Tory  opposition. Gladstone  supported  his  right  to  affirm  but  found  it  difficult  to  persuade  enough  of  his  party  to  let  a  bill  through  on  the  matter. A  huge  petition  gathered  by  Charles  in  1882  failed  to  break  the  deadlock.

Charles  was  finally  allowed to  take  the  oath by  the  new  Speaker  Arthur  Peel   in  1886  and  two years  later  helped  secure  a  new  Oaths  Act  which  allowed  MPs  to  affirm  and  clarified  the  use  of  affirmations  in  the  courts. In  1886  he  moved  to  reduce  the  supply  estimates  relating  to  missions  and  embassies. He  supported  Home  Rule  and  opposed  Salisbury's  imperialist  policies.

Aside  from  his  views  on  religion  and  monarchy   Charles  was  quite  a  right  wing  Liberal  committed  to  classical  political  economy . He  opposed  social  reform  which  discouraged  self-reliance  and  backed  away  from  social  republicanism  after  the  Paris  Commune.  He  and  Besant  drifted  apart  over  her  support  for  socialism  which  he  vigorously  opposed.

He  died  in  1891  aged  57.      

949 Thomas Bevan

Constituency : Gravesend  1880

Thomas  recaptured  Gravesend  for  the  Liberals.

Thomas  was  a  doctor's  son  from  Kent. He  was  a  cement  manufacturer.

Thomas's  election  was  voided  on  petition  because  he  had  given  his  workers  the  afternoon  off  to  vote  for  him.

He  died  in  1907  aged  78.

948 Rupert Carington

Constituency : Buckinghamshire  1880-5

Rupert  took  over  from  Nathanael  Lambert  at  Buckinghamshire.

Rupert  was  the  son  of  Baron  Carington. He  joined  the  Grenadier  Guards  and  fought  in  the  Anglo-Zulu  War of  1879  as  a  lieutenant. He  won  the  Distinguished  Service  Order.

Rupert  was  a  commanding  officer  in  the  Boer  War.

Despite  being  a  third  son,  Rupert  succeeded  to  the  barony in  1928.

He  died  in  1929  aged  76. Mrs  Thatcher's  Foreign  Secretary  Lord  Carington  was  his  grandson.

947 William Marriott

Constituency  : Brighton  1880-4,  1884-93   ( Conservative )

William  was  the  other  Liberal  victor  in  Brighton.

William  was  educated  at  Cambridge. He  was  ordained  as  a  deacon  and  became  a  curate  in  Manchester  briefly  before  deciding  to  switch  to  the  law.He  became  a  barrister.

Once  in  Parliament  William  became  disillusioned  with  his  Liberal  colleagues. In  1884  he  published  a pamphlet  The  Liberal  Party  and  Mr  Chamberlain  fiercely  attacking  the  latter.  He  also  clashed  with  Gladstone  over  Egypt. That  same  year  he  stood  down  and  fought  the  by-election  as  a  Conservative. He  was  re-elected.

When  Salisbury  came  to  power  in  1885  he  made  William   Judge  Advocate  General. He  held  the  same post  from  1886  to  1892. He  helped  the  deposed  Khedive  of  Egypt  receive  compensation  from  the  Egyptian  government.

In  1893  William  resigned  from  Parliament  to  concentrate  on  his  legal  career. He  later  emigrated  to  South  Africa.

He  died  in  1903  aged  69.

946 John Hollond

Constituency : Brighton  1880-5

John  was  one  of  two  Liberal  victors  at  Brighton.

John  was  a  clergyman's  son  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge. He  became  a  barrister.

John's  particular  interest  was  Poor  Law  reform.

John  was  defeated  in  1885. In  1886  he  became  a  Liberal  Unionist  and  stood  unsuccessfully  for  East  Perthshire. In  1889  he  became  president  of  the Marylebone  Liberal  Unionist  Association.

John  was  vice-president  of  a  psychic  research  society.

He  died  in  1912  aged  70.

945 George Russell

Constituency : Aylesbury 1880-85, Biggleswade 1892-5

George  took  the  second  seat  at  Aylesbury  from  the Tories.

George  was  a  cousin  of  the  Duke of  Bedford. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Oxford  where  he  suffered  from  myelitis. He  became  a  journalist. He  was a  High  Churchman.

In  1883  Gladstone  appointed  George  parliamentary  secretary  to  the  Local  Government  Board. He  was  defeated  in  1885.

In  1889  George  became  an  alderman  on  London  County  Council.

George  was  a  big  admirer  of  Gladstone  and  published  a  biography  of  him  in  1891.

In  1892  George  was  appointed  under  secretary  of  state  for  India. Rosebery  moved  him  to  the  Home  Office.

He  died  in  1919  aged 66.

944 Francis Buxton

Constituency :  Andover  1880-85

Francis  recaptured  Andover  for  the  Liberals.

Francis  was  the  grandson  of  the  anti-slavery  campaigner Thomas  Buxton. He  was  educated  at  Cambridge  and  became  a  barrister. He  became  a  partner  in  a  banking  firm.

Francis  was  a  member  of  the  London  School  Board  from  1899  to  1904.

He  died  in  1911  aged  64.

943 James Bryce

Constituency : Tower  Hamlets  1880-5, Aberdeen  South  1885-1907

James  took  over  from  Joseph  Samuda  at  Tower  Hamlets.  He  became  one  of  the  great  party  servants  over  the  next  decades.

James  was  a  Scottish  lawyer's  son  born  in  Belfast. He  was  educated  at  Glasgow  High  School  and  Oxford. He  became  a  barrister. He  became  a  Professor  of  Civil  Law  at  Oxford  holding  the  post  between  1870  and  1893.  He  was  also  a  historian  and  travelled  to  Iceland  and  Armenia in  pursuit  of  his  interests. In  the  1860s  he  chaired  a  Royal  Commission  on  Secondary  Education.  He  was  a  prolific  author  with  works  on  botany, history, law  and  travel. He  was  a  keen  mountaineer.

In  1882  James  established  the  National  Liberal  Club. He  was  a  close  friend  of  Gladstone.

In  1884  James  introduced  the  first  right  to  roam  bill.

James  was  under-secretary  of  state  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  Gladstone's  brief  third  ministry.  He  clashed  with  Henry  Richard  over  the  practicality  of  continuous  parliamentary  consultation  on  foreign  affairs. He  opposed  the  alterations  to  Charterhouse  School. He  deplored  to  Gladstone  that  fewer  businessmen  had  time  to  sit  in  the  Commons. He  had  a  reputation  as  a  radical  but  George  Campbell  said  of  him  over  Egypt  "It  is  sad  to  see  how  a  Radical  , when  he  accepts  office, gets  into  the  official  groove... Formerly  there  was  no  man  who was  more  robust  in  his  sympathy  with  people  struggling  to be  free".

In  1887 James  helped found  the  Liberal  Publications  Department.

In  1888  James  published  The  American  Commonwealth  which  was  very  popular  in  the  U.S.  despite  his  concerns  about  growing  inequality.

James  was  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  in  Gladstone's  last  ministry. He  was  a  rather  reluctant  "Home  Ruler"  anticipating  that  it  would  alienate   Presbyterian  Liberals   but  helped  Gladstone  draft  the  Second  Home  Rule Bill.  Rosebery  made  him  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade.

With  the  Liberals  out  of  office  James  visited  South Africa  and  became  a  fierce  critic  of  British  rule  there   in  a  book  Impressions  published  in  1897. This  provided  much  material  for  opponents  of  the  Boer  War. James  denounced  the  concentration  camps.

Campbell- Bannerman  made  James  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland  in  1905.

In  1907  James  was  made  ambassador  to  the  USA  and  had  to  resign  his  seat. He  became  a  great  friend  of  Rooseveldt. He  was  a  strong  advocate  of  Anglo-American  unity  and  the  civilising  mission  of  the  English-speaking  peoples.

James  retired  in  1913 , much  to  the  relief  of  the  Germans , and  was  given  a  peerage  as  Viscount  Bryce. In  1915  he  published  the  influential  Bryce  Report  about  German  atrocities  against  the  Belgians  although  it  contained  exaggerations  such  as  cutting  off  childrens'  hands.  He  was  critical  of  Asquith's  conduct  of  the  war. He  appealed  for  mercy  for Sir  Roger  Casement.

James  later  raised  the  issue  of  the  Armenian  and  Assyrian  genocides  in  the  Lords   and  published  an  account  of  those  in  1916.

James  was  an  opponent  of  female  suffrage.

In  his  last  years  James  served  the  International  Court  at  The  Hague  and  supported  the  establishment  of  the  League  of  Nations. His  last  speech  in  the  Lords  supported  the  Anglo-Irish  Treaty  of  1921.

He  died  in  1922  aged  83.

942 James Thorold Rogers

Constituency : Southwark  1880-85,  Bermondsey  1885-6

James  was  the  other  Liberal  victor  at  Bermondsey.

James  was   a  doctor's  son  from  Hampshire . He  was  educated  at  King's  College  London  and  Oxford. He  was  ordained  and  became curate  of  a  church  in  Oxford  before  turning  to  academia. He  became the  first  person  to  legally withdraw  from  his  clerical  vows  under  the  Clerical  Disabilities  Relief  Act  in  1870. In  the 1860s  he  taught classics  and  philosophy  at  Oxford. In  1862  he became  a  professor  of  political economy  and  a  friend  and  admirer  of  Cobden  who  became  his  brother-in-law  but  he  was  voted  out  in  1868  after  his  strictures  on  the  governance  of  Oxford  and  radical  political  opinions. He  was  President  on  the  first   day  of  the   Co-operative  Congress  in  1875.  He  was  also  a  historian  stressing  the  economic  basis  behind  political  action.  He  was  a  bit  too  wayward  to  confine  himself  to  one  doctrinal  school  but  always  remained  loyal  to  free  trade.In  1876  his  son  committed  suicide  but  James  never  accepted  the  fact  maintaining  it  was  a  gymnastic  experiment  gone  wrong.

James  got  into  a  bit  of  trouble  in  his  first  real  parliamentary  speech  when  he  appeared  to  refer  to  refer  to  Charles  Bradlaugh  as  "vermin".

In  1882  James  inspected  a  mining  property  in  Colorado  for  Crooke's  Mining  and  Smelting  Company  Ltd  and  subsequently  joined  the  Board.  By  1885  he  was  describing  it  as  a  "gigantic  swindle"  and  rueing  his  connection  with  it.  The  Economist  was  unympathetic :
"Mr  Thorold  Rogers  is  not  a  mining  expert, nor  as  far  as  we  know  has  he  had  any  experience  in  mining  affairs. What  those  who  had  approached  him  wished  , therefore, was  not  the  benefit  of  special  experience  in  the  conduct  of  the  business  of  the  company, but  the  advantage  of  a  name  which  would  favourably  impress  investors  and  induce  them  to  engage  in  a  speculation  of  which  they  would  otherwise  have  fought  shy. Of  this  Mr  Rogers  could  hardly  have  been  ignorant".

James  supported  the  Tithe-Rent  Charge  Redemption  Bill  of  1886.  That  same  year  he  moved  to  switch  local  taxation  from  earnings  to  capital  value.

James  was  defeated  in  1886  and  recovered  his  Professorship  at  Oxford  where  he  encouraged  the  view  that  it  was  restitution  for  the  earlier  injustice.

In  1889  James  was  fined  for  allowing  his  dog  to  run  in  a  park  without  a  muzzle  and  attack  another  dog.

James  was  a  prolific  author  on  economics  with  books  covering  agricultural  prices, wages  and  industrial  history.

He  died  in  1890  aged  67.

941 Arthur Cohen

Constituency : Southwark 1880-5, 1885-8

Arthur  recaptured  Southwark  from  the  Tories.

Arthur  was  Jewish. He  was  educated  in  Frankfurt  and  University  College London. After a  struggle  he  was  admitted  to  Cambridge  but  had  to  wait  for  the  1871  Test  Act  to  graduate. He  became  the  first  practising  Jew  to do so. He  became  a  barrister. As  an  expert  in  shipping  and  insurance  law  he  represented  England  in  the  Alabama  arbitration  in  Geneva  in  1872. He stood  for  Lewes  in  1874.

Arthur  declined a  judgeship  shortly  after  his  election.  He  often  represented  foreign  governments  in  cases  before  the  English  courts. He  became  vice-president  of  the  newly  formed  London  and  Counties  Liberal  Union.

Arthur resigned  hid  seat  in  1888  to  become  a  judge  of  the  Cinque  Ports.

Arthur  was President  of  the  Board  of  Deputies of  Jews  until  1894  when  he  resigned  because  one  of  his  daughters  married  out. He  was  scathing  of  Reform  Judaism.

He died in  1914  aged  84.

940 Daniel Grant

Constituency : Marylebone  1880-85

Daniel  won  the  second  seat  at  Marylebone  to  sit  alongside  Sir Thomas  Chambers.

Daniel  was  the  son  of  an  army  captain. He  was  educated  at  the  Upper  School  of  the  Royal Hospital  Greenwich. He  founded  a  printing firm  and  became its  principal  partner. He  stood  for  Marylebone   in  1874.

Daniel  spoke  for  extended  hours  of  admission  to  the  National  Gallery  and  British  Museum. In  1881  he  published  a  tract,  Land  Tenure  In  Ireland.

In  1885  Daniel  was   defeated  at  Marylebone  East.

939 Joseph Firth

Constituency : Chelsea  1880-85, Dundee  1888-9

Joseph  took  the  second  seat  at  Chelsea  alongside  Charles  Dilke.

Joseph  was  a  Quaker  from  Todmorden. His  family  had  been  major  landowners  in  Yorkshire  for  centuries. He  was  educated  at  Ackworth  School  and  the  University  of  London. He  became  a  barrister. He  became  involved  in  local  government  in  London  in  the  1870s  and  sat  on  the  London  School  Board. He  published  a  book  outlining  his  ideas  for  reform, Municipal  London.  He  was  also  a  keen  cyclist  and  wrote  a  book  in  1869  "The  Velocipede- Its  Past, Its  Present &  It's  Future  which  had  the  great  subtitle  "Straddle  a  Saddle  then  Paddle  and  Skedaddle".

Joseph  was  President  of  the  Municipal  Reform  League  from  1880  to  1882 . Most  of  his  parliamentary  interventions  were  about  London's government.  He  claimed  that  "with  a  great  measure  of  London  reform  behind  them, the  Liberal  party  might  for  a  generation  face  without  apprehension  electoral  issues  in  the  metropolis".  He  attacked  the  guild  system and  sat  on  a  royal  commission  under  the  Earl  of  Derby  but  its  findings  backed  the  livery  companies'  operations.

In  1882  he  moved  the  address at  the  Opening  of  parliament  but  his  local  paper  reported  that no  one  could  have  "looked  more  miserable  or  guilty  than  did  Mr  Firth  when,  on   Tuesday  night, he  slunk up  the  floor  of  the  house  in  Court  dress. The  knowledge  that  his  trousers  did  not  descend  below  his  knees  was  as  plainly  stamped  upon  his  blushing  brow  as  it  had  been  engraved  by  a  ticket-writer; and  nothing  could  have  been  more  pathetic  than  the  manner  in  which, having  reached  his  place,  and  finding  himself  seated  directly  under  the  Ladies  Gallery,he  opened  his  copy  of  the  Orders  to  their  widest  limits  and  spread  them  over  his  knee".

In  1885  Joseph  left  Chelea  to  Dilke  and  unsuccessfully  contested  North  Kensington. In  1886  he  was  defeated  at  Newington  West. In  1888  he  got  back  in  at  a  by-election  in  Dundee.

Despite  sitting  for  a  Scottish  seat  Joseph  was  elected  a  Progressive  ( a  term  used  to  blur  Liberal  and  Labour  distinctions  in  London ) councillor  for  London  County  Council  in  1889. He  was  the  first  deputy  chairman  of  the  council.

However  he  didn't  have  time  to  make  an  impact  for  he  died  of  heatstroke in  Switzerland   where  he  had  gone  for  rest  and  recuperation  that  September.  He  was  47.

938 Marston Buszard

Constituency : Stamford  1880-85

Marston  took   Stamford  from  the  Tories.

Marston  was  educated  at  Rugby  and  Cambridge. He  became  a  barrister. He  stood  for  Stamford  in  1874.

Marston  opposed  the  scheme  for  a railway  into  Ennerdale  in  the  Lakes.

Maston  transferred  to  Rutland  in  1885  but  was  heavily  defeated. In  188g  he  stood  for  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  Rugby  but  lost.

Marston  was  Recorder  of  Derby  from  1890  to  1899. He  was  noted  for  an  unsentimental  application  of  Criminal  Law.

He  died  in  1921  aged  84.

937 George Whalley ( 2 )

Constituency : Peterborough  1880-3

George  took  over  from  Thomson  Hankey  at  Peterborough.

George  was  the  son  of  the  rabidly  anti-Catholic  Peterborough  MP  ( up  to  1878  )  of  the  same  name. He  was  educated  at  Brighton  College  and  became  a  naval  officer. In  1871  he  switched  to  the  army  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain. He  fought  in  the  Anglo-Zulu  War  where  he  successfully  defended  a  convoy  from  Zulu  attack  in  1879.

Ironically  in  the  light  of  later  events  George  raised  concerns  about  the  detention  of  Cetywayo  in  Parliament.

George  had  to  resign  his  seat  in  1883 because  of  impending  bankruptcy. In  1884  he  was  convicted  of  stealing  goods  from  his  landlord  and  sentenced  to  nine  months  hard  labour.

On  his  release  he  changed  his  name  to  George  White, emigrated  to  Australia  and  disappears  from  the  pages  of  history. Even  Hansard  doesn't  know  when  he  died.

936 Robert Gurdon

Constituency  : South  Norfolk  1880-85, Mid Norfolk 1885-92, Mid Norfolk  1895  ( from  1886  Liberal  Unionist  )

Robert  took  one  of  the  south  Norfolk  seats  from  the  Tories.

Robert  was  a  Norfolk  landowner  and  barrister. He  was  descended  from  a  17th  century  MP  and  High  Sheriff  for  Suffolk.

Robert  seconded  a  motion  for  an  increase  in  the Volunteers  Capitation  Grant  of  1886.

Robert  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  1886.

Robert  later  became  chairman  of  Norfolk  County  Council  in  1889.  In  1899  he  became  a  peer  as  Baron  Cranworth.

He  died  in  1902  aged  73.

935 Robert Laycock

Constituency :  North  Lincolnshire  1880-1

Robert  took  one of  the  North  Lincolnshire  seats  for  the  Liberals.

Robert  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy  Northern  industrialist  allowing  Robert  to  live  as  a  country  squire  in  Nottinghamshire  breeding  cattle  and  restoring  the  local  church. He  was  a  barrister  but  did  not  practice  much. He  stood  for  North  Nottinghamshire  at  a  by-election  in  1872  and  Nottingham  in  1874.

Robert  died  in  1881  without  having  spoken  in  Parliament. He  was  48.

934 Sir William Ffolkes

Constituency : King's  Lynn  1880-85

Sir  William  took  one  of  the  King's  Lynn  seats from  the  Tories.

William  was  a  baronet , the  grandson  of  a  former  MP  for  Norfolk. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge. He  stood  for  King's  Lynn  in  1874.  He  was  vice  chairman  of  the  Lynn  and  Fakenham  Railway  Company.

When  the  seat  was  reduced  to  one  member  in  1885 William  lost  by  170  votes.

William  later  became  chairman  of  Norfolk  County  Council.

He  died  in  1912  aged  64.

933 Jesse Collings

Constituency : Ipswich  1880-86 , Birmingham  Bordesley  1886-1912  ( Liberal  Unionist ) , 1912-8  ( Conservative )

Jesse  took  one  of  the  Ipswich  seats  from  the  Tories.

Jesse  was  the  son  of  a  small  scale  builder  in  Devon. He  was  educated  locally  and  started  work  as  a  shop  assistant  and  worked  his  way  up  to  becoming  a  partner  in  an  ironmongery  firm  in  Birmingham  where  he  came  under  the  influence  of  the  radical  Unitarian  preacher  George  Dawson. He  also  became  a  great  friend  of  Joseph  Chamberlain  and  is  chiefly  remembered  as  his  loyal  lieutenant. He  took  over  the  local  education  committee  and  was  mayor  of  Birmingham  from  1878  to  1879. He  later  managed  the  libraries  and  art  gallery.
In  the  1860s  he  visited  America  to  study  their  school  system  and  subsequently  published  a  pamphlet  on  their  free  , non-denominational  system  which  inspired  the  foundation  in  1869  of  the  National  Education  League of  which  he  became  Secretary.  Jesse's  other  main  concern  was  land  reform. He  supported  a  strike  against  low  pay  by  agricutural  workers  in  the  1870s.He  was  a  friend  of  the agricultural  trade  unionist  Joseph  Arch  and  linked  his  union  to  the  N.E.L. He  advocated  giving  Allotments  and  smallholdings  to  poor  workers  in  rural  areas, a  policy  summed  up  in  the  slogan "Three Acres  and  a  Cow". Chamberlain  incorporated  this  in  his  Radical  Programme  extending  the  idea  to  urban  workers.

Jesse  and  Chamberlain  resided  together  in  London. Jesse  piloted  the  Allotments  Extension  Act  through  Parliament  in  1882. The  following  year  he set  up  the  Allotments  Extension  Association.

In  1886  Jesse's  amendment  to  the  Queen's  Speech  extending  smallholdings  brought  down  the  Salisbury  government  and  ushered  in  Gladstone's  third  ministry. Radicals  saw  it  as  a  sign  that  Gladstone  accepted  at  least  part  of  their  programme . Hartington  led  18  Liberals  to  vote  against  it  and  another  70  abstained.Gladstone  made  him  Parliamentary  Secretary to  the  Local  Government  Board . However  he  followed  Chamberlain  in  opposing  Home  Rule.  He  had  supported  Chamberlain's  plans  for  local  government  reform  in  Ireland.

Churchill  had  intervened  to  stop  the  Conservatives  opposing  him  in  Ipswich   but  Jesse  was  unseated  on  petition  in  1886.  He  was  immediately  re-seated  in  Birmingham  where  Henry  Broadhurst  had  been  chased  out.  Arch  remained  with  Gladstone  and  had  Jesse  kicked  out  of  the  AEA. Jesse  responded  by  setting  up  his  own  Rural  Labourer's  League. In  1887  he  secured  another  Allotments  Act  increasing  the  obligations  on  local  authorities  to  provide  them.

Jesse  served  as  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Office  from  1895 to  1902.

Jesse  backed  Chamberlain  again  on  tariff  reform  believing  that  tariffs  on   imported  food  would  benefit  the  rural  economy. On  one  occasion  he  visited  Devonshire  House  to  try  and  talk  the  duke   around  and  was  physically  escorted  out  of  the  building  by  him.

Jesse  though  still  outside  the  party  had  some  influence  on  the  Liberals'  Small  Holdings  and  Allotments  Act  in  1908.

In  his  later  years  he  became  a  writer. His  works  include  Land  Reform  ( 1906 ), The  Colonization of  Rural  Britain ( 1914  )  and  The  Great  War : Its  Lessons  and  Warnings  ( 1915 ) .  The  latter  envisaged  settling  wounded  soldiers  on  the  land  based  on  the  tragi-comic  idea  that  digging  trenches  would  have  given  them  a  taste  for  the  open  air  life.    

Jesse  stood down  in  1918. He  died  in  1920  aged  89.

932 Charles Roundell

Constituency : Grantham  1880-5, Skipton  1892-5

Charles   was  the  other  Liberal  elected  at  Grantham.

Charles  was  the  son  of  a  Yorkshire  minister. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Oxford. He  made  his  name  as  a  cricketer  at  both  places. He  became  a  barrister  in  1857. He  was  part  of  the  Jamaica  Royal  Commission  in  1865. He  became  private  secretary  to  Earl  Spencer  in  Ireland  in  1868. He  stood  for  Clitheroe  in  1868. He  was  a  member  of  the  Friendly  Societies  Commission  in  1871.

Charles  made  a  long  speech  in  favour  of  the  Irish  Land  Bill  in  1880.

Charles  was  a  friend  of  the  artist  Edward  Lear.

He  died  in  1906  aged  78.

931 John Mellor

Constituency : Grantham  1880-6,  Sowerby  1892-1904

John   was  one  of  two  victorious  Liberals  at   Grantham   where  the  Tories  had  held  one  of  the  seats.

John  was  a  judge's  son  from  Devonshire. He  was  educated  at  Cambridge. He  married  the  daughter  of  Charles  Paget  former  MP  for  Nottingham. He  became  a  barrister  in  1860  and  in  1878  was  involved  in  the  Whistler  v  Ruskin libel  trial.

Gladstone  made  John  Judge  Advocate  General  in  1886.

John  was  Deputy  Speaker  to  Arthur  Peel  from  1893  to  1895. He  also  sat  on  a  number  of  minor  Royal  Commissions.

John  retired  from  the  Commons  in  1904. He  died  in  1911  aged  76.

930 William Willis

Constituency : Colchester  1880-85

William was  the  other  Liberal  victor  in  Colchester. He  won  by  a  single  vote.

William  was  the  son  of  a  manufacturer  from  Luton. He  was  educated  at  Huddersfield  College  and  the  University  of  London. He  became  a  barrister  in  1861. He  was  a  Baptist  with  a  Puritan  bent  collecting  books  on  Cromwell, Bunyan, Milton  and  Newton. He  could  get  very  aerated  at  Baptist  Union  assemblies  over  purely  historical  issues.

William  was  noted  for  quoting  seventeenth  century  precedents  when  he  put  down  motions. He  would  also  shake  his  fist  when  passing  Lambeth  Palace.

William  later  became  a  county  court  judge.

He  died  in  1911 aged  76.

929 Richard Causton

Constituency : Colchester  1880-85,  Southwark  West  1888-1910

Richard  was  one  of  two  Liberal  victors  in  Colchester.

Richard  was  the  son  of  a  London  stationer  and  alderman. He  became  a  partner  in  the  family  firm. He  first  contested  Colchester  in  1874.

Richard  was  defeated  in  1885  by  166  votes  and   in 1886.  He  returned  to  Parliament  in  a  by-election  at  Southwark  West  in  1888.

Richard  became  a  whip  in  Gladstone's  last  administration  and  remained  a  Liberal  whip  until  1905. That  year  Campbell-Bannerman  made  him  Paymaster- General.

Richard  gave  a  hand  press  to  the  explorer  Ernest  Shackleton  to  help  him  produce  the  first  book  to  be  printed  in  Antarctica , Aurora  Australis .

Richard  lost  his  seat  in  the  January  1910  election  and  was  made  Baron  Southwark. In  1913  he  was  President  of  the  London  Chamber  of  Commerce.

In  later  years  Richard  was  chairman  of  the  Royal  School  for  the  Blind  at  Leatherhead.

He  died  in  1929  aged  85.

928 Hugh Shield

Constituency : Cambridge  1880-85

Hugh  was  one  of   the  two  Liberal  victors  in  Cambridge  alongside  the  returning  William  Fowler.

Hugh  was  educated  at  Cambridge. He  became  a  barrister  in  1860.

Most  of  Hugh's  parliamentary  contributions  were  about  arcane  matters  of  parliamentary  procedure.

In  1884  Hugh  visited  the  Pope.

He  died  in  1903  aged  72.