1165 Angus Sutherland

Constituency : Sutherland  1886-94

The  1886  General  Election  changed  the  political  scene  for  the  next  20  years. Gladstone  had  overestimated  the  appeal  of  Home  Rule  and  called  the  election  too  early. Salisbury  managed to  construct  an  electoral  pact  with  Hartington  which  saw  most  of  the  Liberal Unionists  get  home, some  of  them  unopposed. There  were  also  a  few new  Liberal  Unionists,  including  two  in  Ireland,  making  77  in  total. Gladstone's  Liberals  held  up  well  in  Wales and  Northern  England  ( apart  from  Hartington's  Lancashire )  but  were  shredded  from  the Midlands  down. The  Conservatives  were  20  seats  short  of  an  overall  majority  but  were  kept  in  power  by  the  Liberal  Unionists. Salisbury  offered  Hartington  the  chance  to  be  Prime  Minister  but  he  turned  it  down  and  continued  to  sit  with  Gladstone  and  the  other  Liberals,  clearly  hoping  that  Gladstone  would  retire  and  the  party  re-unify.

Angus  took  over  from  Cromartie  Leveson-Gower  at  Sutherland.He  had  challenged  the  latter  in  1885  as  a  Crofters  Party  candidate  but  failed  to  unseat  him. Leveson-Gower  chose  not  to  stand  in  1886  and  Angus  had  an  easy  victory  over  a  Liberal  Unionist  candidate.

Angus  was  the  son  of  an  evicted  crofter. He  was  educated  at  the  parish  school  and  Glasgow  University. He  became  a  teacher. In  1882  he  founded  the  Highland  Land  League  to  press  the  crofters'  cause.

Angus's  maiden  speech  was  on  the  inadequacy  of  the  Crofters  Act.

Angus  resigned  his  seat  in  1894  to  become Chairman  of  the  Fishery  Board.

He  died  in  1922  aged  73. His  nephew  William  was  also  a  Liberal  MP.