673 William Fowler

Constituency : Cambridge  1868-74, 1880-85

William  was  the  other  Liberal  victor  at  Cambridge.

William  was  a  barrister  from  Wiltshire. He  was  educated  at  University  College, London.  Like  Torrens  he  was  interested  in  land  reform  and  wrote  a  number  of  papers  on  the  question. He  was  a  member  of  the  Cobden  Club. He  had  business  interests  and  was  a  director  in  several  companies.

William's  first  speech  in  1869  was  in  support  of  abolishing  the  religious  tests  at  the  universities. In  1870  he  made  a  very  long  speech  against  the  Contagious  Diseases  Act.

William  was  defeated  in  1874  but  won  his  seat  back  in  1880.

William  wrote  in  1901  of  Gladstone  ; "He broke  faith  with  his  old  friends  to  whom  in  September  1885  he  sent  a  message  utterly  opposed  to  the  plans  which  he  developed, even  before  the  election  of  that  year.He  was  not  straight  and  he  had  his  reward.And  he  destroyed  the  Liberal  party."

He  died  in  1905  aged  77.