1145 Sir William Crossman

Constituency : Portsmouth  1885-92 ( from  1886  Liberal  Unionist )

Sir  William  was  one  of  two  victors  at  Portsmouth  who  ensured  the  city  had  two  Liberals  for  the  first  time  since  1868 and  any  Liberal  since  1874.

William  was  the  son  of  a  brewer  from  Berwick-upon-Tweed. William  became  a  lieutenant  in  the  Royal  Engineers  in  1848  and  was  sent  to  Australia  in  1851. He  returned  to  England  in  1857  and  became  an  inspector  of  fortifications  at  the  War  Office. Over  the  next  25  years  he  was  posted  to  Canada, China, Japan , Constantinople, the  West  Indies, South  Africa  and  New  Zealand  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  colonel. He  was  made  a  major-general  on  retirement  in  1886.

William's  parliamentary  contributions  were  usually  on  military  matters.

William  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists  and  thanked  the  Tories  for  not  opposing  him  in  1886. He  recruited  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle  to  the  Liberal  Unionists.

William  stood  down  in  1892.

He  died  in  1901  aged  70.