811 Sir Arthur Monck aka Middleton

Constituency  : Durham  1874 - 80

Sir  Arthur  was  one  of  two  new  Liberals  to  come  in  at  Durham  when  the  previous  victors  were  disqualified.

Sir  Arthur  was  a  baronet  in  Northumberland. He  was  born  Arthur  Monck. He  was  educated  at  Cambridge.

In  1876  Arthur and  his  brothers  reverted  to  the  previous  family  name  of  Middleton.

Arthur  stepped  down  in  1880  to  let  Thomas  Thompson  reclaim  the  seat.

He  died  in  1933  aged  95.

810 Evelyn Ashley

Constituency  :  Poole  1874-80, Isle  of  Wight  1880-85

The  1874-80  Parliament  was  the  Liberal  party's  first  prolonged  period  in  opposition. It  was  marked  by  Gladstone's  first  retirement  and  the  succession  of  Lord  Hartington  who  pursued  a  mild  course  as  Disraeli  brought  in  his  superficial  social  legislation. This  all  changed  with   the  eruption  of  the  Eastern  Question  which  brought  Gladstone  roaring  back  to  prominence  in  denunciation  of  the  government's  immoral  Turkish  policy. As  you  would  expect  Liberal  by-election  victories  increased  as  the  parliament  wore  on.

Evelyn  took  over  at  Poole  in  May  1874  after  the  disqualification  of  Charles  Waring. He  had  been  the  unsuccessful  Liberal  at  the  general  election.

Evelyn's  maiden  speech  was  on  a  measure  extending  the  Factory  Acts  to  women  in  the  silk  trade. In  1875  he  clashed  with  the  independent  MP  for  Stoke  , Dr  Kenealy  after  referring  to  his  misconduct  as  a  barrister  at  a  political  dinner. That  same  year  he  led  a  delegation  of  Liberal  MPs  trying  to  get  Gladstone  to  speak  on  the  Eastern  Question.

Evelyn  was  an  echo  from  the  party's  past. He  was  Lady  Palmerston's  grandson, formerly  his  step-grandfather's  private  secretary  and  biographer  and  heir  to the  Palmerston  estates  which  he  inherited  in  1888. His  father  was  the  factory  reformer  Lord  Shaftesbury. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge  and  became  a  barrister  although  he  did  not  practise  until  Palmerston's  death. In  1860  he  was  sent  to  Italy  to  report  on  the  situation  there.

In  1880  Evelyn  was  appointed   Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Trade  by  Gladstone  and  then  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  from  1882 to  1885. In  1881  he  publicly  promised  to  vote  for  the  next  women's  suffrage  bill.

Evelyn  was  defeated  in  1885  and  the  following  year  he  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists. He  stood  for  North  Dorset  in  1886, Glasgow  Bridgeton  in  1887,  Ayr  Burghs  in  1888  and  Portsmouth  in  1892  and  1895  but  never  succceeded  in  returning  to  the  Commons. In  1891  he  was  made  a  privy  councillor; the  queen  queried  his  nomination  but  Salisbury  explained  it  as  a  necessary  favour  to  Hartington.

He  died  in  1907  aged  71.

809 Abraham Laverton

Constituency  : Westbury  1874-80

Abraham  took  the  seat  from  the  Tory  and  fellow  magistrate  Charles  Phipps   with  whom  he  had  a  long-running  feud.

Abraham  was  a  weaver's  son  who  became  a  cloth  manufacturer  and  merchant   operating  in  Westbury  from  1849. He  built  houses  for  his  workforce  and  almshouses. He  built  new  schools  and  started the  public  baths. He  designed  a  window  in  the  parish  church  that  is  said  to  contain  much  social  comment  and  mockery  of  eminent  men  such  as  Watt  and  Landseer. He  stood  in  1868  against  John  Phipps  and  lost  by  27  votes. He  petitioned  the  result  and  Phipps  was  unseated  because  his  agent  , a  fellow  manufacturer  had  threatened  to  dismiss  workers  who  voted  for  Abraham.  At  the  by-election  Phipps's  brother  Charles  won  by  11  votes.

Abraham  was  defeated  by  another  member  of  the  Phipps  family  in  1880  and  failed  in  his  bid  to  have  the  result  overturned.

He  died  in  1886  aged  67.

That  concludes  our  look  at  the  MPs first  elected  in  1874. We  now  look  at  the  by-election  victors  of  1874 to  1880.

808 Walter Stanton

Constituency : Stroud  1874, 1880-85

Walter  disposed  of  the  recent  Tory  by-election  winner  at  Stroud.

Walter's  uncle  had  been  a  previous  MP  for  the  seat. He  was  educated  at  Westminster  School  and  became  a  civil  engineer  under  the  tutelage  of  Joseph  Locke.  He  later  became  a  woollen  and   carpet   manufacturer.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Stroud  Local  Board  from  1861  to  1874,

Walter's  election   was  voided  on  petition  almost  immediately. His  cousin  Alfred  won  the  by-election  and  kept  his  seat  warm  until  1880.

Stroud  was  reduced  to  one  member  in  1885  and  Henry  Brand  got  the  nomination.  When  he  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists, Walter  fought  the  seat  against  the  Tories  but  he  was  defeated.

He  died  in  1913  aged  85.

807 John Johnson

Constituency  : Exeter  1874-80

John  took  over  from  Edgar  Bowring  at  Exeter.

John  supported  the  retention  of  corporal  punishment  in  the  army.

He  died  in  1896  aged  67.

806 David Jenkins

Constituency : Penryn  and  Falmouth  1874-86

David  clawed  back  one  of  the  Penryn  and  Falmouth  seats  from  the  Tories.

David  was  originally  from  South  Wales. He  was  educated  at  Teignmouth  Grammar  School . He  joined  the  navy  and  was  involved  in  the  Baltic  theatre  of  the  Crimean  War. He  started  a  shipping  firm  in  1861  which  operated  mainly  in  the  Indian  Ocean.  In  1868  he  contested  Harwich.

David  said  Plimsoll  was  exaggerating  the  situation  in  regard  to  unseaworthy  vessels.

David  was  defeated  in  1886.

He  died  in  1891  aged  66. His  nephew  Edward  became  MP  for  Dundee.

805 Sir Colman Rashleigh

Constituency  : East  Cornwall  1874-80

Sir  Colman  emerged  as  the  only  Liberal  victor  in  East  Cornwall. John  Salusbury Trelawney  and  Edward  Willyams  were  the  previous  MPs.

He  died  in  1896  aged  77.

804 Samuel Waddy

Constituency  :  Barnstaple  1874-9, Sheffield  1879-80, Edinburgh  1882-85, Brigg 1886-94

Samuel  took  the  second  seat   at  Barnstaple  from  the  Tories.

Samuel  was  the  son  of  a  Methodist  minister  at  Gateshead. The  family  moved  to  Sheffield  where  his  father  founded  Wesley  College; Samuel  was  the  first  pupil  registered   in  1838. He  became  a  barrister.

Samuel  resigned  his  Barnstaple  seat  to  contest  the  by-election  at  Sheffield  following  the  death  of  John  Roebuck.  He  won  but  was  defeated  by  40  votes  in  the  general  election  just  four  months  later.  He  was  briefly  in  the  running  to  succeed  Robert  Lowe  at  London  University  but  withdrew  his  candidature. He  got  back  in  at  a  by-election  at  Edinburgh  in  1882  but  returned  to  Sheffield  to  contest  Hallam  in  1885. He  was  defeated  but  won at  Brigg  in  1886.

In  1891  the  London  Echo  described  him  as  "a  naturally  old  fashioned  raucous  Radical, a  prematurely  old  man  of  sixty,  wearing  the  white  cloth  of  the  Nonconformist  preacher, venerable  in  his  beard ,  and  using  Parliament  professionally. His  oratory  at  its  best  is  platitudinous, with  windy  suspirations  and  forced  breathing, and  with  sound  and  fury  signifying  nothing".

In  1893  Samuel  spoke  at  a  political  meeting  in  Bedford  along  with  Lord  Kimberley  who  commented,  "His  buffoonery  was  amusing".

Samuel  resigned  his  seat  in  1894  in  order  to  become  Recorder  of  Sheffield. He  later  became  a  judge  of  the  Sheffield  County  Court.

He  died  in  1902  aged  72.

803 Sir Frederick Perkins

Constituency  : Southampton   1874 -80

Frederick  took  one  of  the  Southampton  seats  from  the  Tories.

Frederick  was  the  son  of  a  furniture  merchant. He  was  mayor  of  Southampton  5  times. He  was  knighted  in  1873.

Frederick  was  a  pallbearer  when  Dr  Livingstone's  body  was  received  at  Southampton.
 He  agitated  for  Southampton  to  be  the  home  of  the  Royal  Naval  College.

He  died  in  1902  aged  76.

802 John Clarke

Constituency : Abingdon  1874-85

John  recovered  Abingdon  from  the  Tories.

John  was  a  cloth  merchant  and  railway  director, originally  from  Devon. He  was  mayor  of  Abingdon  in  the  1840s . He  was  a  Methodist. He  was  a  philanthropist  who  funded  the  building  of  a  church  and  cottage  hospital.

John  did  not  speak  in  the  Commons.

John  was  described  as  "  a  high-toned  gentleman, handsome  in  person".

He  died  in  1895  aged  73.

801 Thomas Earp

Constituency : Newark 1874-85

Thomas  succeeded  Grosvenor  Hodgkinson  at  Newark.

Thomas  was  a  maltster  from  Derby. He  was  educated  at  the  Diocesan  School  in  Derby.He began work as  a  clerk at a wine merchants  and rapidly rose to manage  the  business. He  later   became  a  partner  in  two  brewing  firms . He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Newark  Agricultural  Show  and  a  local  philanthropist.

Thomas  was  a  strong  supporter  of  Gladstone.  He  supported  female  suffrage.

Thomas  was  defeated  when  the  seat  was  reduced  to  a  single  member  in  1885. He  was  mayor  again  in  1891  and  1892. He  retired  from  the  business  in  1905.

He  died  of  a  bronchial  attack  in  1910  aged  79.

800 William Ingram

Constituency  ;  Boston  1874-80; 1885-86, 1892-5

William's   victory  made  1874  the  first  time   the  Liberals  held  both  Boston  seats  since  the  death  of  his  father  in  a  boating  accident  in 1860.

William  was  the  son  of  Herbert  Ingram  the  founder  of  the  Illustrated  London  News  and   MP  for  Boston. He  was  educated  at  Winchester  and  Cambridge. In  1860  his  father  and  brother  died  on  Lake  Michigan  and  he  eventually  became  manager  of  the  paper. He  became  a  barrister.

In  1880  William  ceased  to  be  MP  when  Boston's  representation  was  suspended. He  won  the  new  one-member  seat  in  1885, then  lost  it  in  1886, won  it  back  in  1892  and  was  defeated  again  in  1895.

William  was  created  a  baronet  in  1893.

He  died  in  1924  aged  77.

799 Thomas Hill

Constituency  :  Worcester  1874-85

Thomas  recovered  the  second  seat  at  Worcester, lost  in  1868  when  he  was  the  candidate.

Thomas  was  educated  at  University  College,London.  He  was  a  Congregationalist  Sunday  school  teacher. He  was  mayor  of  Worcester  in  1859.

Thomas  was  defeated  in  1885  when  the  seat  was  reduced  to  just  one  member  and  failed  to  get  back  in  1886.

Thomas  was  a  noted  philanthropist , founding  almshouses  in  the  city. In  1892  he  made  a  major  contribution  to  the  expansion  of  the  British  Schools  in  Worcester.

He  died  in  1896  aged  80.

798 Alexander McDonald

Constituency : Stafford  1874-81

Alexander  was  the  other  Lib-Lab  politician  entering  the  Commons  in  1874  although  he  did  not  last  as  long  as  Thomas  Burt.

Alexander  was  born  in  Lanarkshire. His  father  was  an  agricultural  worker  but  had  been  in  the  navy  and  would  later  work  in  the  mines. Alexander  was  self-taught  attending  sessions  at  Glasgow  University  funded  from  his  work  as  a  miner. Alexander  first  went  down  the  mines  with  his  father  aged  8  in  1930. He  was  a  leader  of  the  1842  Lanarkshire  mining  strike.  In  1849  he  became  a  mines  manager  but  left  two  years  later  to  open  his  own  school. In  1855  he  decided  to become  fully  involved  in  union  work  and  formed  a  Scottish  coal  and  ironstone  mining  association. Despite  a   bitter  defeat  the  following  year  the  union  grew  and  Alexander  helped  secure  the  Mines  Act  of  1860  establishing  the  position  of  checkweighman  to  ensure  fair  payment  of  wages. In  1863  the  Miner's  National  Association  was  formed  and  he  was  elected  president.  A  year  later  a  group  of  dissidents  organised  the  Practical  Miner's  Association  in  protest  at  Alexander's  moderation  and  supposed  links  with  the  owners.  In  1868  he  was  invited  by  the  advanced  faction  to contest  Kilmarnock  Burghs  against  the  moderate  incumbent  Edward  Pleydell-Bouverie  but  withdrew  in  favour  of  another  contender  who  failed  to  wrest  the  seat  away  from  Pleydell-Bouverie.   In  1871  he  was  elected  to  the  parliamentary  committee  of  the  TUC  and  chaired  it  in  1872-3. He  was  active  in  lobbying  for  the  Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act  of  1871  and  the  Mines  Regulation  Act  of  1872. Alexander  was  also  a  journalist  and  wrote  for  the  Glasgow  Sentinel,   in   which  he  eventually ended  up  having  a  controlling  interest.

Alexander's  policy  programme  did  not  have  anything  to  alarm  middle  class  radicals. He  was  a  firm  believer  in  constitutional  rather  than  direct  action, dismaying  firebrands  in  his  union.  He  said  in  1873  "  I  look  upon  strikes  as  the  barbaric  relic  of  a  period  of  unfortunate  relations  between  labour  and  capital ".  He  saw  getting  legislation  passed  as  the  best  way  of  improving  miners'  conditions, He  had  good  relationships  with  Disraeli  and  Lord  Elcho  one  of  Scotland's  biggest  coal-owners.  He  fell  out  with  his  fellow  Liberal  Henry  Vivian  in  1875  when  he  named  him  in  his  list  of  "poltroons  who  attacked  women  and  children"  during  the  coal  strike  of  1875. However  he  remained  president  of  the  national  union  until  his  death.

Alexander  became  one  of  the  main  union  spokesmen  in  the  House. He  sat  on  a  Royal  Commission  on  trade  unions  and  was  one  of  the  authors  of  a  minority  report  calling  for  tougher  labour  legislation. He  supported  temperance  but  defended  working men  against  some  of  the  accusations  made  about  habitual  drunkenness. He  supported  Home  Rule

Alexander  died  in  1881  after  suffering  from  jaundice and  bronchial  infection. He  was  60.

797 Charles Cotes

Constituency : Shrewsbury  1874-85

The  Liberals  reversed  their  recent  defeats  at  Shrewsbury  with  the  former  MP  Henry  Robertson  recovering  his  seat  and  Charles  reversing  the  by-election  defeat.

The  Cotes  family  had  estates  in  Shropshire.

Charles  was  appointed  a  whip  by  Gladstone  in  1880  and  held  the  post  until  1885.

He  died  in  1898  aged  52.

796 Alexander McArthur

Constituency : Leicester  1874-92

Alexander  took  over  from  John  Harris  at  Leicester.

Alexander  was  the  son  of  a  Wesleyan  minister  in  Ireland. He  started  out  as  a  merchant's  apprentice  and  then  emigrated  to  Australia  in  1842. He  was  involved  in  the  manufacture  of  soft  goods  and  the  shipping  of  gold.  He  had  warehouses  in  all  the  big  Australian  cities, was  a  member  of  the  Sydney  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  was  involved  in  banking, insurance  and  mining. In  1859  he  was  elected  to  the  New  South  Wales  Legislative  Assembly. In  1861  he  was  appointed  to  the  NSW  Legislative  Council   but  deemed  to  have  resigned  his  seat  in  1865  after  returning  to  London  in  1863  to  take  over  the  office  there. He  was  the  brother  of  the  MP  for  Lambeth, William  McArthur.

Alexander  was  an  "advanced"  Liberal  who  supported  the  equalisation  of  the  county  and  borough  franchises, land  reform  and  temperance.  In  Parliament  he  supported  the  annexation  of  Fiji , Sabbath  observance  ( opposing  his  colleague  Peter  Taylor's  motion  to  open  museums  and  libraries  on  a  Sunday )  and  Home  Rule.

He  stepped  down  in  1892.

He  died  in  1909  aged  95. His  son  William  became  an  MP.

795 John Corbett

Constituency : Droitwich   ( renamed  Mid  or  Droitwich  Division  of  Worcestershire  in  1885 ) 1874-92 ( from  1886  Liberal Unionist )

John  managed  to  unseat  the  Tory  Sir  John  Pakington  who  had  held  the  seat  since  1837.

John  was  the  son  of  a  successful  canal  transporter  but  he  realised  the  business  was  archaic  in  the  railway  age  and  sold  his  share  in  1850  investing  in  a  salt  mine  instead. He  built  this  up  to  the  largest  in  Europe  and  became  very  wealthy. He  was  a  benevolent  employer  paying  notably  high  wages  and  abolishing  female  labour  in  1859. He  helped  develop  the  town  as  a  health  resort .He  was  a  director  of  the  Midland  Railway. He  first  contested  Droitwich  in  1868.

John  was  a  supporter  of  female  suffrage. He  described  himself  as  an  "independent  Liberal".

John  was  unopposed  in  1885  due  he  thought  to  the  influence  of  Sir  Edmund  Lechmere  who  was  "in  a  great  measure  on  our  side".

John  went  over  to  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  1886  and  retained  his  seat  with  a  large  majority  .  He  stepped  down  in  1892  due  to  failing  health.

John's  wife  was  Irish  but  brought  up  in  France. She  missed  the  lifestyle  so  in  1875  John  had  a  French  chateau  built  just  outside  Droitwich  at  exorbitant  cost. Despite  this  they  eventually  separated.

In  1888  John  sold  the  business  and  spent  much  of  the  proceeds  on  philanthropy.

He  died  in  1901  aged  83.

794 Charles Harrison

Constituency  : Bewdley  1874-80

Charles  replaced  the  retiring  Augustus  Anson  at  Bewdley. He  was  a  merchant  who  purchased  a  carpet  manufacturing  business  and  made  it  his  own. He  had  a  narrow  victory  over  the  Tories.

Charles  did  not  speak  in  the  Commons.

Charles  held  the  seat  in  the  1880  election  but  was  unseated  on  petition.

He  died  in  1888  aged  58  after  a  long  illness.

793 Sir Matthew Wilson

Constituency : Clitheroe  1841-2, 1847-53, Northern  West  Riding  1874-85, Skipton  1885-6

Sir  Matthew  captured  the  second  seat  at  Northern  West  Riding.

Matthew  was  a  solicitor's  son  educated  at  Harrow  and  Oxford.  The  family  were  based  at  Eshton  Hall  near  Malham. He  became  magistrate  in 1824  when  he  was  22  and  served  for  66  years, the  longest  recorded  run  in  Skipton's  history. He  was  first  elected  for  Clitheroe  in  1841  when  he  was  disqualified  on  petition. He  regained  the  seat  in  1847  but  his  victory  in  1852  was  again  voided  on  petition. He  was  created  a  baronet  shortly  before  his  election  in  1874.

Matthew  was  defeated  in  1886.He  was  still  alive  when  a  statue  was  erected  to  him  in  Skipton  in  1888.

He  died  in  1891  aged  88.

792 Frederick Robinson aka Earl de Grey

Constituency : Ripon  1874-80

Frederick  succceded  Henry  Storks  at  Ripon.

Frederick  was  the  grandson  of  the  former  Prime  Minister  Lord  Goderich, created  Earl  of  Ripon  in  1833  and  a  close  ally  of  Peel  thereafter. He  was  educated  at  Eton. When  his  grandfather  died  in  1859  he  became  Viscount  Goderich. His  father  served  in  Gladstone's  first  ministry  and  was  upgraded  to  a  marquess  in  1871  upon  which  Frederick    was  styled  Earl  de Grey. That  same  year  his  father  despatched  him  to  the  US  as  part  of  the  delegation  to  settle  the  Alabama  claims.

Frederick stood  down  in  1880.

Frederick  was   a  close  friend  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  became  Queen  Alexandra's  Treasurer  in  1901. He  became  Marquess  of  Ripon  in  1909. He was  a  keen  shooter  said  to  hold  the  lifetime  record  for  birds  shot.

Frederick  collapsed  and  died  after  a  morning's  shooting  in  1923  aged  71. He  is  alleged  to  have  been  the  grandfather  of  the  novelist  Barbara  Taylor  Bradford  whose  grandmother  Edith  was  in  service  on  his  estate.

791 Charles Wilson

Constituency  : Hull  1874-85, Hull  West  1885-1906

Charles  recovered  the  1873  by-election  loss  of  one  of  the  Hull  seats.

Charles  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  prominent  shipping  magnate  Thomas  Wilson.  He  was  educated  at  Kingston  College  and  went  into  the  firm  eventually  becoming  joint  manager  with  his  brother. They  extended  the  business  from  operating  in  Scandinavian  waters  to  Southern  Europe, America  and  India. He was   involved  in  some  bitter industrial  disputes.  He  was  a  director  of  the  North  Eastern  Railway  but  later  criticised  it  for  trying  to  take  away  the  port  of  Hull's  trade.  He v  built  the  Seamen's  Mission  in  Hull  in  1866.

Charles  was a  strong  pacifist.  He  opposed  to  the  Boer  War  but  despite  this  allowed  the  government  to  use  his  finest  ship  the  Ariosto. He  was  in  favour  of  temperance.

In  1878  Charles  bought  the  Warter  Priory  estate  and  turned  it  into  one  of  the  top  pheasant  shooting  venues.  He  also  had  an  estate  near  Balmoral  and  a  chalet  in  Nice.

In  1880  Charles  received  some  instructions  from  his  local  party. His  response  was  "There  is  no  inducement  for  me  to  be  in  Parliament  unless  I  have  the  sympathy  and  confidence  of  my  supporters; and  I  beg  you  will  convey  to  the  Liberal  Association  my  sense  of   undesirable  relations  which  would  exist  between  us  if  my  conduct  is  to  be  criticized  and  my  course  of  action  dictated  in  such  a  fashion".

Charles  retired  in  favour  of  his  son  of  the  same  name  in  1906.

He  was  elevated  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Nunburnholme  but  died  the  following  year  aged  74  two  weeks  after  suffering  a  heart  attack.

790 John Crossley

Constituency : Halifax 1874-7

John  took  over  from  Edward Akroyd  at  Halifax.

John  was  a  member  of  the  famous  carpet manufacturing  dynasty  and  elder  brother  of  Francis, MP  for  the  seat  from  1852-7.  He  was  Mayor  of  Halifax  on  four  occasions  and  instrumental  in  building  the  Town  Hall. He  was  chairman  of  the  Halifax  Commercial  Banking  Company  from  1871  to  1877. He  also  had  an  interest  in  an  iron  mining  operation  in  Somerset  from  1867  to  1871.

John's  two   speeches  in  Parliament   opposed  the  extension  of  the  Factory  Acts.

John  and  his  brothers  set  up  an  orphanage  at  Halifax. The  first  orphan  described  John  as  "tall, straight  and  very  dignified".

John  resigned  his  seat  at  the  beginning  of  1877.

He  died  in  1879  aged  67.

789 Frederick Pennington

Constituency  : Stockport  1874-85

Frederick  took  over  from  John  Smith  as  a  Liberal  member  for  Stockport.

Frederick  was  the  son  of  a  Wigan  cotton  spinner  and  merchant. He  was  educated  at  a  private  school  in  Southport  and  in  Paris. He  was  involved  in  the  Anti-Corn  Law  League  and  helped  finance  it.  He  was  involved  in  East  India  for  many  years  but  largely  retired  from  business  in  1865. He  also  had  an  interest  in  a  Canadian  rail  company  and  a  station  in  British  Columbia  is  named  after  him. Frederick  was  an  advanced  Liberal  and  stood  for  West  Surrey   ( where  he  lived  ) in  1868.

Frederick  was  married  to  Margaret  Sharpe, a  leading  campaigner  for  female  emancipation. He  generously  funded  the  campaign  against  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts.

The  Conservatives  took  both  Stockport  seats  in  1885.

He  died  in  1914  aged  95.

788 Charles Hopwood

Constituency : Stockport  1874-85,  Middleton 1892-5

Charles  took  back  the  second  seat  at  Stockport  from  the  Tories.

Charles  was  a   barrister  educated  at  King's  College, London. His  mother  was  born  in  Dublin.

Charles  supported  Home  Rule. He  criticised  the  House  of  Lords  as  a  court  of  appeal. He  was  a  frequent  speaker  in  the House  on  legal  matters. He  was  a  penal  reformer  and  a  founder  of  the  Romilly  Society. He  was  concerned  about  miscarriages  of  justice  and  argued  for  a  ourt  of  Criminal  Appeal  writing  frequent  letters  to  the  press  on  the  topic. He  was  also  an  opponent  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  Act  and  a  supporter  of  female  suffrage.

In  1885  Charles  opposed  the  Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act  raising  the  age  of  consent  to  16  saying  "repressive  legislation  of  this  kind  is  not  calculated  to  improve  public  morals". He  also  opposed  the  outlawing  of  brothels : "these  poor  girls  would  be  hunted  and  chased  about  by  the  police ... They  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  their  landlords  and  landladies , who  would  naturally  charge  increased  rents , to  reimburse  themselves  for  the  risks  run".

Charles  also  tried  persistently  to  introduce  a  bill  giving  married  women  more  control  over  the  family  purse.    

Charles became  the  Recorder  of  Liverpool  in  1886.

Charles  won  the Middleton  seat  by  just  116  votes  in  1892 but  the  Tory  regained  the  seat  in  1895.

He  died  in  1904  aged  75.

787 Robert Ferguson

Constituency  : Carlisle  1874-86

Robert  took  over  from  Edmund  Potter  at  Carlisle.

Robert  was  the  son  of  a  cotton  manufacturer. He  became  a  partner  in  the  family  firm  and  was  Mayor  of  Carlisle  in  1855  and  1858. His  father  was  a  former  mayor  and  MP  for  the  seat.

Robert  opposed  female  suffrage  because  he  believed  few  women  actually  wanted  the  vote  - "the  main  objection  is  the  inevitable  lowering  of  political  spirit  by  the  introduction  of  an  indifferent, if  not  a  reluctant, contingent".

Robert  was  a  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries. In  1864  he  published  The  Teutonic  Name  System  a  work  on  surnames  which  led  a  fellow  historian  Mark  Lower  to  observe  that  "Like  the  rest  of  us  who  explore  the  mazes  of  nominal  etymology  this  author  sometimes  falls  into  a  bog  or  quagmire, visible  to  all  eyes  but  his  own".  He  was  a  friend  of   the  poet  Longfellow. 

He  died  in  1898  aged  81.

786 John Cross

Constituency : Bolton  1874-85

John  took  one  of  the  Bolton  seats  from  the  Tories.

John  was  a  partner  in  the  family  firm  of  cotton  spinners. He  was  privately  educated.

John  spoke  against  the  Indian  import  duties  on  cotton.

In  1883  John  was  appointed  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  India.

John  suffered  from  depression  brought  on  by  diabetes. He  committed  suicide  by  hanging  in  1887  aged  54.

785 William Briggs

Constituency  : Blackburn  1874-85

William  took  one  of  the  Blackburn  seats  from  the  Tories.

William  was  a  local  man  but  educated  at  Rugby  and  Oxford. He  had  a  cotton  spinning  and  manufacturing  business  in  the  town. In  1872  he adopted  an  abandoned  greyhound  who  went  on  to  win  the  Waterloo  Cup  for  him.

In  1879  William  moved  that  the  Indian  import  duty  on  cotton  goods  be  abolished.

William  was  defeated  in  1885  and  did  not  stand  in  1886. He  re-emerged  as  an  unsuccessful  Unionist  candidate  at  Clitheroe  in  1892.

He  died  in  1903  aged  56.

784 Sir Henry Havelock-Allan

Constituency : Sunderland  1874-81, South  East  Durham  1885-92, 1895-7  ( from  1886  Liberal Unionist )  

Henry  replaced  the  ailing  John  Candlish  at  Snderland.

Henry  was  one  of  the  more  colourful  new  members. He  was  the  son  of  a  Major  General , born  in  India.  In  1848  he  suffered  severe  sunstroke   which  affected  him  for  the  rest  of  his  life. He  followed  his  father  into  the  army  and  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  10th  Regiment  of  Foot  during  the  Indian  Mutiny. At  Cawnpore  he  won  the  Victoria  Cross  by  leading  a  suicidal  but  successful  advance  to  take  an  enemy  gun. A  few  weeks  later  he  was  badly  wounded  during  the  siege  of  Lucknow. He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1858.  He  was  promoted  to  Major  in  1864  after  service  in  New  Zealand. He  became  a  colonel  in  1868. He  acted  as  a  war  correspondent  in  the  Franco-Prussian  War. He contested  a  by-election  at  Stroud  early  in  1974.

After  being  elected  Henry  acted  as  a  war   correspondent  in  the  Russo-Turkish  War  of  1877. He  became  a  major-general  the  following  year.  He  was  a  frequent  speaker  in  the  House  on  military  matters  and  eventually  became  chairman  of  the  parliamentary  naval  and  military  service  committee

In  1881 he  resigned  his  seat  to  take  charge  of  an  infantry  brigade  at  Aldershot  but  at  the  end  of  year  he  was  retired  on  health  grounds  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  The  following   year  he  told  his  wife  he  was  going  to  the  Riviera  but  in  fact  made  his  way  to  Ismailia  in  Egypt  to  take  part  in  the  Anglo-Egyptian  conflict. The  British  commander  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  wrote  to  his  wife  "Havelock  is  still  here  as  mad  as  ever... I  am  extremely  sorry  for  him , and  feel  for  him  very  much, but  still  feel  that  he  can  never  be  employed  again : he  is  not  sane  enough  to  argue  with ".

Henry  re-entered  Parliament  in  1885  though  the  Earl  of  Durham  thought  that  he  was  insane. He  sided  with  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  1886  and  held  his  seat  until  defeated  in  1892  when  the  Liberal  Unionists  suffered  heavy  losses  in  the  region. Henry  was  taking  every  comment  from  his  colleagues  in  Parliament  as  an  insult. In  1890  he  threatened  to  leave  and  told  the  party  that  he  could  "decide  the  fate  of  Liberal  Unionism  in  Durham  and  Northumberland".

 He  reversed  the  result  in  1895. He  also  resumed  his  military  career  as  colonel  of  the  Royal  Irish  Regiment  in  India.

Henry  was  killed  by  an  Afridi  sniper  at  the  Khyber  Pass  in  1897. The  man  was  aiming  at  his  horse  to  capture  him  for  ransom  but  the  bullet  severed  the  artery  in  his  leg  and  he  bled  to  death. He  was  67.

783 Thomas Burt

Constituency : Morpeth  1874-1918

Thomas  took  over  from  the  former  Whig  Home  Secretary,  Sir  George  Grey.

Thomas is  the  first  MP  here  who  served  through  the First  World  War. He's  also  the  first  one  to  be  tagged  as  "Lib-Lab"  as  the  democratising  effects  of  the  1868  Reform  Act  started  to  affect  Liberal  selection  procedures.

Thomas  was  a  Methodist   miner's  son from  Northumberland  and  became  a  miner  himself.  The  family  were  evicted  from  one  cottage  for  his  father's  union  activities . Thomas  had  some  basic  education  but  was  largely  self-taught  from  books  he  acquired. In  1865  he  became  Executive  Secretary of  the  Northumberland  Miners  Mutual  Confident  Association. He  came  to  prominence  at  a  march  through  Newcastle  demanding  universal  suffrage in  1873. He  stood  as  a  working  class  Radical  with  Liberal  support  calling  for  universal  suffrage, payment  of  MPs  and  equal  electoral  districts. He  won  by  a  landslide  and  was  unopposed  in  1880.

Thomas's  maiden  speech   in  1874  was  supporting  George  Trevelyan's  plans  for  equalising  the  county  and  borough  franchises. He  supported  Henry  George's  land  reform  ideas, Home  Rule, disestablishment  of  the  church, temperance  and  international  peace  movements.

After  his  election  Thomas  still  gave  priority  to  union  business  and  wouldn't  miss  an  important  union  meeting. He  was  active  in  furthering  international  ties  among  unions. He  preferred  conciliation  over  confrontation  and  would  only  use  the  strike  as  a  weapon  of  last  resort.

Thomas  was  a  friend  of  Charles  Bradlaugh  and  strongly  defended  his  right  to  sit  in  the Commons.

In  1886  Thomas  complimented  Cross's  Coal  Mines  Bill  but  objected  to  taking  the  issue  "in  a  piecemeal  and  fragmentary  manner".

Thomas  was  president  at  the  Trade  Union  Congress  in  Newcastle  in  1891.

Thomas  valued  his  independence  of  the  two  main  parties  but  in  1892  accepted  Gladstone's  offer  of  Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Trade  which  post  he  held  until  1895  which  meant  declining  an  invitation  to  join  the  ILP  in  1893. He  led  plans  for  celebrating  Gladstone's 79th  birthday.

Thomas  strongly  denounced  the  Boer  War  and  as  a  consequence  saw  his  majority  reduced  to  410  in  1900.

In  1909  Thomas  was  disowned  by  his  union  when  he  refused  the  order  to  shake  off  his  Liberal  allegiance  and  represent  the  Labour  Representation  Committee. He  believed  that working  men  should  not  choose  their  representatives  purely  on  class  grounds  but  look  for  men  who  would  take  broad, comprehensive  and  patriotic  views  of  the  great  questions".

From  1910  Thomas  was  Father  of  the  House . By  1918  he  was  in  poor  health  and  decided  to  retire. A  Labour  man  won  the  seat. By  1919  Thomas  was  bed-ridden. He  died  in  1922 aged  84.

782 Thomas Richardson

Constituency : Hartlepool  1874-5, 1880-90 ( from  1886  Liberal  Unionist )

Thomas  took  Hartlepool  from  the  Tories  after  failing  in  his  first  attempt  in  1868.

Thomas  was  a  Hartlepool  shipowner's  son  who  began  work   in  his  father's  iron  foundry  as  an  apprentice. He  and  his  brother  took  over  the  family  business  when  their  father  died  in  1850. They  mainly  built  marine  engines.

Thomas  gave  rather  lukewarm  support  to  Plimsoll   on  load  lines  after  his  son  got  involved  in  the  campaign.

Thomas  felt  obliged  to  resign  his  seat  in  1875  for  financial  reasons  but  reclaimed  it  in  1880. In  1886  he  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists  and  retained  his  seat.

He  died  in  1890  aged  69.