1389 Frederick Horniman

Constituency : Penryn  and  Falmouth  1895-1906

Frederick  took  Penryn  and  Falmouth  from  the  Tories  by  49  votes.

Frederick  was  the  son  of  John  Horniman  who  founded  the  great  tea  company. He  was  a  Quaker  who  was  educated  in  one  of  their  schools. He  was  a member  of  London  County  Council. He  founded  the  Horniman  Museum  which  he  later donated  to  the  public.

Lord  Kimberley  dined  with  him  in  1897  and  was  then  very  rude  about  him  in  his  diary : "Horniman  is  a  ridiculous  looking  little  man  with  a  bald  head  and  a  bottle  nose..(he) can't  put  two  words  together  on  his  legs  or  we  might  have  been there  till  breakfast  time."

Frederick  made  little  contribution  to  Parliament. In  1900  his  majority  reduced  to  just  20.

Frederick  was  a noted  art  collector  and  patron. He  travelled  to  India,  Japan, China,  the  U.S.  and  Egypt  to  furnish  his  collections. He  helped  fund  Howard  Carter's  excavation  of  the  Deir-el-Bahri  temple.

Frederick  stood  down  in  1906  and  died  just  weeks  later  aged  70. His  son  Emslie  was  later  an  MP.  His  daughter  Annie  was  involved  in  founding  the  Abbey  Theatre  in  Dublin.