841 Lewis Fry

Constituency : Bristol 1878-85 , Bristol North 1885-92 , 1895-1900 ( from  1886  Liberal Unionist )

Lewis  took  over  at  Bristol  after  the  resignation  of  Kirkman  Hodgson.

Lewis  was  a  scion  of  the  famous  chocolate  manufacturing  family  but  earned  his  living  as  a  solicitor  in  Bristol.  He  also  served  on  the  town  council  from  1866  to  1884.

Lewis  was  very  interested  in  education ; he  was  the  first  chair  of  the  Bristol  School  Board  and   of  the  Council  of  the  University  of  Bristol.  He  supported  a  number  of  public  institutions  in  the  city.

Lewis  went  over  to  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  1886. He  was  ejected  by  a  Gladstonian  in  1892 but  won  the  seat  back  in  1895.

Lewis  was  chairman  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee  on  Town  Holdings  from  1886  to  1892.

In  1888  Lewis  went  to  America  where  he  called  on  Walt  Whitman  who  was  favourably  impressed.

Lewis  was  a  keen  amateur  painter. The  picture  above  is  a  self-portrait.

He  died  in  1921 aged  89. An  annual  lecture  at  the  university  is  still  held  in  his  honour.