1155 Lewis McIver

Constituency : Torquay  1885-6, Edinburgh  West  1895-1909 ( Liberal  Unionist )

Lewis  took  the  new  seat  of  Torquay. He  was  the  son  of  the  secretary  of  the  Presidency  Bank  of  Madras. He  was  educated  at  Kensington  Grammar  School  and  Bonn  University. He  was  in  the  Indian  Civil  Service  for  a while. He  became  a  barrister.

Lewis  spoke  out  against  the  annexation  of  Burma - "in  the  Burmese  mind  no  social  scheme  is  conceivable  without  a  King".

Lewis  voted  against  the  Home  Rule  Bill  on  the  issue  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  UK  Parliament  in  1886  but  was  conciliatory  towards  Gladstone  and  his  local  Liberal  association  re-adopted  him  for  the election. The Tories  did  not  trust  him  and  Salisbury  declined  to  intervene  for  him. The  Tory  candidate  called  him  a  "vacillating  adventurer"  and  defeated  him.

Lewis  stood  as a  fully  fledged  Liberal  Unionist  in   Edinburgh  South  in  1892. He  returned  to  the  Commons  for  Edinburgh  West  three  years  later. He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1896.

Lewis  resigned  his  seat  in  1909  and  became  a  city  financier.

He  died  in  1920  aged  74.