1489 Joseph Dobbie

Constituency :  Ayr  Burghs  1904-06

Joseph  took  Ayr  Burghs  from  the  Tories  by  44  votes.

Joseph  was  educated  at  Ayr  Academy  and  Edinburgh  University. He  was  a  solicitor.

In  1904  Joseph  expressed  his  support  for  the  short-lived  Scottish  National  League  which  campaigned  for  a  Scottish  Parliament.

Many  of  Joseph's  parliamentary  interventions  were  on  Scottish  education.

Joseph  was  defeated  by  261 votes  in  1906.

In  1908  Joseph  was  appointed  to  a  Departmental  Committee  on  Housing.

Joseph  chaired  the  Royal  Scots  Recruiting  Committee  from  1914  to  1916.

In  1918  Joseph  tried  to  hold  Edinburgh  Central  for  the  Liberals  as  a  Lloyd  George  supporter after  the  retirement  of  Charles  Price  but  was  defeated  by  Labour's  William  Graham  by  364 votes.

Joseph  was  knighted  in  1920. He  sat  on  the  Edinburgh  Military  Tribunal.He  founded  the  Scottish  Vernacular  Association.

He  died  in  1943  aged  80.