Constituency : Bury 1857-9 ,1865-85
We now turn to the north west of England. The Liberals returned the same number of MPs with 4 gains ( including Gladstone's triumph in South Lancashire after defeat at Oxford ) and 4 losses although the Tories won both seats of the new South East Lancashire constituency , The defeated MPs were James Pilkington ( Blackburn ) , Wilfrid Lawson ( Carlisle ), Joseph Ewart ( Liverpool ) and Charles Grenfell ( Preston ) .
Robert returned to representing Bury after stepping down for Frederick Peel in 1859 because Tory electioneering was getting too personal.
Robert was the son of a Unitarian textiles merchant. His elder brother Mark had been one of the first MPs for Manchester after 1832. He was educated at Rugby and Manchester College.
Robert described himself as a moderate. He spoke in favour of the Reform Bill of 1866 saying his own position would be enhanced by representing a larger number and in favour of the Ballot Act of 1872. In 1875 he paid for Philips Hall in Bury as the local Liberal headquarters. Despite this he had little time for Gladstone and described "the whole squad of Gladstonian politicians " as " disgusting humbugs or time serving snobs". He refused a baronetcy in 1874 as his father had refused one from Lord Melbourne.
Robert's daughter Caroline married Sir George Trevelyan and her sister Margaret married another Liberal MP Edwin Price. He had estates in Warwickshire and enjoyed being a benign landlord.
He died in 1890 aged 75.
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