Thursday, 23 October 2014

654 John Lancaster



Constituency : Wigan 1868-74

John  took  the  second  seat  at  Wigan  from  the  Tories.

John  was  a  coal  owner  and  iron  master.  He  was  briefly  involved  in  the  American  Civil  War  when  his  yacht  Deerhound  rescued  the  captain  and  some  crew  from  the  sinking  Alabama  in  1864  and  took  them  to  England  rather  than  surrender  them  to  the  Union  captain. He  stood  unsuccessfully  in  1865.

John  stepped  down  in  1874  to  devote  more  time  to  his  business  which  was  just  as  well  as  he  was  almost  bankrupt  by  the  time  of  his  death.

He  died  in  1884  aged  69.

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