1252 Thomas Shaw

Constituency  : Hawick  Burghs  1892-1909

Thomas  took  over  from  Alexander  Brown  at  Hawick.

Thomas  was  educated  at  Dunfermline  High  School  and  Edinburgh  University. He  became  a  Scottish  barrister.

Thomas  was  an  advanced  Liberal  but  not  hostile  to  the  empire.

In  1894  Thomas  was  appointed  Solicitor-General  for  Scotland  and  increased  his  majority  at  the  resultant  by-election.

Thomas  was  instrumental  in  obtaining  a  major  donation  towards  upgrading  the   Scottish  universities  from  Andrew  Carnegie  in  1901  after  writing  an  article  in  1897  for  the  Nineteenth  Century  magazine.

In  1906  Thomas   saw  off  a  challenge  from  Arthur  Conan  Doyle  for  the  Liberal  Unionists.

Thomas  became   Lord  Advocate  in  1905. He  resigned  his  seat  in  1909  to  become  an  Appeal  Court  judge. He  was  created  Baron  Shaw. He  retired  in  1929  and  was  uplifted  to  Baron  Craigmyle.

Thomas's  last  speech  in  the  Lords  was  a  long  one  on  the  merits  of  the  alternative  vote.

He  died  in  1937  aged  87.