Sunday 24 November 2013
327 James Buller
Constituency : Exeter 1830-5, North Devon 1857-65
James was a Whig landowner whose father and grandfather had both been MPs. He was unexpectedly defeated at Exeter in 1835 where his family had considerable influence and subsequently very aware of the importance of effective registration. He agreed to contest North Devon in 1837 after assuring himself of the strength of Whig support but he was defeated which some put down to the local Anglican clergy playing on the fact that he had married a Catholic. The Tories also circulated the local agricultural workers on protection ; a sympathetic clergyman told James that he needed to make a "declaration respecting the support of the existing Corn Law". He was chairman of the Bristol and Exeter Railway Company between 1847 and 1857. He returned to Parliament as a Palmerston supporter in 1857.
He died in 1865 aged 66. His son Redvers was a distinguished general in the Boer War.
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