1119 William Quilter

Constituency : Sudbury  1885-1906 ( from  1886  Liberal  Unionist )

William  took  the  new  seat  of  Sudbury. The  campaign  was  marred  by  rioting  caused  by  inadequate  polling  faclities  which  William  did  his  best  to  quell.

William  was  the  son  of  an  accountant  who'd  been  involved  in  setting  up  the  Institute  of  Accountants. William  was  privately  educated  and  became  a  stockbroker. He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  National  Telephone  Company.

William  introduced  a  bill  for  securing  the  purity  of  beer  in  1886. He  switched  to  the  Liberal  Unionists  and  was  returned  unopposed  in  1886, 1895  and  1900. In  1906  he  was  narrowly  defeated. His  son  reclaimed  the  seat  as  a  Conservative  in   January  1910.

William  introduced  a  powered  chain  ferry  between  Bawdsey  and  Felixstowe  that  ran  until  1931. In  1897  he  was  created  a  baronet.

William  was  an  art  collector  , particularly  of  watercolours  and  a  keen  yachtsman. He  built  up  a  number  of  independent  breweries  in  Suffolk.

He  died  in  1911 aged  70.