1477 Sir William Rattigan

Constituency  :  North  East  Lanarkshire  1901-04  ( Liberal  Unionist )

The  1900-06  Parliament  was  a  tumultuous  one  which  shook  the  political  world  to  its  foundations. The  dominant  political  personality  was  Joseph  Chamberlain. After  seeing  the  Boer  War  to  a  successful  conclusion  he  was  brought  back  to  earth  by  the  Education  Act  1902  which   enraged  the  Nonconformists  and  exposed  the  fundamental  weakness  of  the  Liberal  Unionists'  position. To  regain  the  political  initiative  he  announced  his  conversion  to  a  form  of  protection  known  as  Imperial  Preference in  1903. This  shook  the  Unionist  coalition  to  its  foundations  and  led  to  a  wave  of  defections  not  only  from  the  Liberal  Unionists  but  also  Free  Trade  Conservatives. The  PM,. Arthur  Balfour who  had  succeeded  his  uncle  Salisbury  in  1901  took  the  Emperor  Heraclius  route  and  adopted  a  middle  position  that  satisfied  no  one  and  made  him  look  weak  and  indecisive. His  last  gamble  in  1905  was  to  resign  and  put  the  Liberals  in,  hoping  to  expose  the  divisions  between  imperialists  and  radicals. This  meant  Campbell-Bannerman  could  choose  the  date  of  the  next  election.

Sir  William  took  North  East  Lanarkshire  from  the  Liberals  after  the  death  of  John  Colville . This  was  due  to  the  intervention  of  a  Scottish  Workers  candidate  Robert  Smillie  who  was  backed  by  the  United  Irish  League  mistrustful  of  the  imperialist  leanings  of  the  Liberal  candidate  Cecil  Harmsworth. Some  radical  Liberal  MPs  also  gave  their  backing  to  Smillie.

William  was  born  in  Delhi  to  an  Irish private. He  was  educated  in India  and  King's  College, London  and  became  a  barrister. He  mainly  practised  in  India. He  became  a  judge  in  the  Punjab  Chief  Court  and  wrote  some  legal  texts.  He  was  knighted  in  1895.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Civil  and  Military  Gazette  and  gave  Rudyard  Kipling  his  first  job  as  a  journalist.  He  was  a  skilled  linguist.He  stood  in  the  constituency  in  1900. He  was  a  Protestant.

William's  only  parliamentary  contributions  were  during  a  debate  on  the  army  estimates  in  1902  when  he  spoke  against  William  Caine's  proposal  to  reduce  the  army  in  India. He  was  ruled  out  of  order  by  the  Deputy  Speaker.

In  1904  William  told  the  whips  his  health  was  failing  and  he  was  going  to  Scotland  to  recuperate. On  the  way,  his  car  overturned  in  Bedfordshire  and  he  was  killed  instantly. He  was  63. He  was  the  grandfather  of  playwright  Terence  Rattigan.