Constituency : Sutherland 1874-86
We now come to the 1874 election where the Conservatives won their first parliamentary majority since 1941. Gladstone famously attributed his defeat to the drinkers' vote but more significant was the withdrawal of Whig support , scared off by the general tenor of Gladstonian Liberalism, in many constituencies which let many Tories get in unopposed. Wikipedia currently says the Liberals got 242 seats; I make it 249. The difference is in Ireland where it now becomes unclear whether some individual MPs' primary loyalty lay with Butt's Home Rule League or were sympathetic to the cause but still loyal to the Liberals. Of course this means a smaller selection of new faces to discuss although there were some changes of personnel in the seats retained as the workers enfranchised in 1867 started flexing their political muscles. Apart from Ireland where many of the "losses" involved an incumbent MP switching rosettes the heaviest losses were in the South of England.
Cromartie replaced Lord Ronald Gower in the seat.
Cromartie was the son and heir of the Duke of Sutherland ( MP for the seat in 1859 ). He was educated at Eton. He joined the Second Life Guards as a cornet. He was a lieutenant by the time of his retirement in 1875.
Cromartie stepped down in 1886. By the time he succeeded his father in 1892 he was a Conservative. He was involved in a legal dispute with his stepmother over his inheritance; she later went to jail for destroying documents though she did receive a settlement eventually. He was Mayor of Longton in Staffordshire in 1895-6.
In his later years as duke Cromartie became concerned that large landholdings in the UK were becoming unprofitable. He sold some of his estates to fund land purchase in Canada.
Cromartie was a keen huntsman and Master of Foxhounds for the North Staffordshire Hunt. He was also an early automobile enthusiast.
He died in 1913 aged 61.
No comments:
Post a Comment