Constituency : Perthshire Western 1895-1907
The 1895 election was a disaster for the Liberals who were reduced to just 177 seats. Apart from taking a seat in Ireland they lost seats in every region and were routed in London and the South East. The Liberal Unionists recovered to 71 seats but it was also a defeat for them as the Conservatives had won an outright majority. Their room for manoeuvre had gone and Devonshire and Chamberlain had no choice but to accept Salisbury's offer to join the government. Though it took nearly 20 years to achieve a formal merger with the Conservatives, from this point on you can't really regard them as an independent party.
Robert bucked the trend by taking West Perthshire from the Tories.
Robert was the son of an Irish minister. He was educated at Queen's University, Dublin . He was a barrister. Ironically, Robert had contested the last three general elections without success, at Wandsworth in 1885, Edinburgh West in 1886 and Renfrewshire West in 1892.
Robert's maiden speech was in opposition to the 1896 Education Bill which he saw as destroying the School Board system.
In 1907 Robert resigned his seat to become a London judge. He was known as the "Merciful Judge" for his views on rehabilitation and he was influential in the setting up of borstals and juvenile courts. He was knighted in 1916 .He retired in 1931.
He died in 1939 aged 88.
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