1181 James Craig

Constituency : Newcastle  1886-92

James  replaced  James  Cowen  at  Newcastle  after the latter's  high-minded  resignation  in  disgust at  party  politics.

James  was  an  export  broker  and  shipowner.He  was  a  successful  fund  raiser  for  the  party. He  was  adopted  because  his  fellow  MP  John  Morley  had  no  spare  cash  to  chip  into  local  party  funds.

In  1887  James  opposed  the  Merchant  Shipping  Act  ( 1854 ) Amendment   which  required  foreign  ships  to  use  English  pilots.

James  was  defeated  in  1892. In  1895  he beat  Arthur  Henderson  for  the  nomination .The  executive  of  the  local  Liberal  Association  had  selected  Henderson  but  a  meeting  of  the  whole  Association  went  for  James  instead. Both  he  and   Morley  were  defeated.

He  died  in  1902  aged  68. His  son  Herbert  was later  MP  for  Tynemouth.