1022 James Finlayson

Constituency :  East  Renfrewshire  1885-6

James  won  the  new  seat  of  East  Renfrewshire.

James  only  speech  was  on  the  Glasgow  Bridges  &c  Bill  where  he  objected  to  Glasgow  Town  Council   trying  to  put  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  central  bridges  on  the  rates  where  suburban  burghs  like  his  would  end  up  paying  for  them.

James   didn't  stand  in  1886.

James  died  in  1903  aged  80.

1021 Eugene Wason

Constituency  :  South  Ayrshire  1885-6, 1892-5, Clackmannanshire  and  Kinross-shire  1899-1918  

Eugene  dislodged  the  Tories  in  South  Ayrshire  which  they  put  down  to  the  large  mining  vote  in  the  constituency.

Eugene  was  the  son  of  a  previous  MP  for  Ipswich. He  was  a  giant  of  a  man  described  by  one  of  the  Speakers  as  "the  largest  and  tallest  man  in  the  House," He  had  a  large  appetite   though  he  was  fond  of  football, rowing  and  fishing. He  was  educated  at  Rugby  and  Oxford  and  became  a  barrister  though  he  switched  to  becoming  a  solicitor  in  1876  though  he  eventually  returned  to  the  Bar. From  1878  he  was  Assistant  Examiner  to  the  Incorporated  Law  Society  in  Common  Law.

Eugene  was  a  supporter  of   Home  Rule  for  Scotland  and  headed  a  delegation  to  Asquith  asking  for  a  Bill  on  the  subject  in  1912.  He  was  generally  a  Radical.  He  was  in  favour  of  women's  suffrage.

In  1886  Eugene  lost  out  to  a  Liberal  Unionist  by 5 votes. He  regained  it  by  197  votes  in  1892  and  lost  it  again  by  550  votes  in  1895.

Eugene  returned  at  a  by-election  in  1899  when  John  Balfour  resigned  to  become  a  judge. He  won  Clackmannanshire  by  516  votes. He  held  the  seat  with  increasing  ease  until  being  returned  unopposed  in  December  1910.  He  then  became  Chairman  of  the  Scottish  Liberal  members until  1918.

In  the  summer  of  1914  Eugene  was  one  of  a  number  of  holidaymakers  caught  out  by  the  outbreak  of  war  while  taking  the  waters  at  Marienbad  in  Austria-Hungary  and  detained  as  an  enemy  alien. He  was  allowed  to  travel  to  Switzerland  a  few  weeks  later. In  1915  Eugene  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  Committee  on  Food  Production  in  Scotland

Eugene   stood  down  in  1918  when  the  seat  went  to  Labour.

In  the  elections  of  1923  and  1924  when  no  Liberal  candidate  could  be  found  for  South  Ayrshire   Eugene  supported  the  Conservative.

He  died  in  1927  aged  81.

1020 Hugh Elliott

Constituency : North  Ayrshire  1885-92  ( from  1886  Liberal  Unionist )

Hugh  took  North  Ayrshire  from  the  Tories.

Hugh  was  an  old-fashioned  Whig  candidate, the  son  of  Earl  Minto  and  connected  to  the  Russells. He  was  educated  at  Cambridge. He  worked  as  a  clerk  to  the  Commons  and  then  as  private  secretary  to  William  Adam  between  1873  and  1874.

Hugh  defected  to  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  1886  and  switched  to  the  Glasgow  Rollox  constituency for  the  1892  election  but  was  defeated.

He  died  in  1932  aged  84.

1019 Donald Macfarlane

Constituency : County  Carlow  1880-5 ( Home  Rule  League  ),  Argyllshire   1885-6 , 1892-5

Donald  was  one  of  three  Liberals  contesting  Argyllshire  after  the  retirement  of  Sir  Colin  Campbell. He  defeated  the  official  Liberal  and  allied  himself  with  the  Crofters  Party.

Donald  was  the  son  of  a  Scottish  magistrate. He  became  an  East  India  merchant  with  interests  in  tea  and  indigo. He  was  an  early  amateur  photographer.  He  was  a   recent  convert  to   Catholicism  and  first  elected  to  Parliament  under  Home  Rule  colours  although  he  was  fairly  moderate  as  far  as  Irish  home  rule  was  concerned.  He  came  to  Scotland   to  support  Roderick  McDonald  in  the  Ross-shire  by-election  of  1884. When  Carlow  lost  one  of  its  members  he  moved  across  to  Scotland.

Donald  proposed  an  amendment  to  the  Queen's  Speech  in  1886  highlighting  the  condition  of  the  population  in  the  highlands  and  islands.

In  1886  Donald  was  the  only  Liberal  candidate  but  was  defeated  by  the  Conservative  in  a  campaign  dominated  by  anti-Catholicism  with  Donald  attacked  by  Presbyterian  clergy  and  in  Gaelic  poems . He  narrowly  won  the  seat  back  in  1892  but  lost  it  again  in  1895.

Donald  was  knighted  in  1894.

He  died  in  1904  aged  73.

1018 Robert Menzies

Constituency : East  Perthshire  1885-9

Robert  was  the  first  MP  for the  new  seat  of  East  Perthshire, easily  defeating  his  Conservative  opponent.

Robert  was  the  son  of  an  Edinburgh  distiller. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Oxford  and  became  a  barrister.

Robert  spoke  in  favour  of  Home  Rule  and  against  coercion.

He  died  in  1889  aged  just  33.

1017 John Shiress-Will

Constituency : Montrose  Burghs  1885-96

John  took  over  at  Montrose  after  the  retirement  of  William  Baxter. He  defeated  both  a  Conservative  and  an  Independent  Liberal  challenger.

John  was  a  merchants's  son  educated  at  Brechin  Grammar  School  and  King's  College  London. He  became  a  barrister.

John  was  a  strong  supporter  of  Gladstone . He  protested  at  the  military  expedition  against  the  crofters.

John  resigned  his  seat  in  1896  to  allow  John  Morley  back  into  Parliament  after  his  defeat  in  Newcastle.

John  wrote  the  doubtless  scintillating  The  Law  Relating  to  Electric  Lighting.

He  died  in  1910  aged  70.

1016 William Hunter

Constituency : Aberdeen  North  1885-96

William  easily  won  the  new  seat  of  Aberdeen  North.

William  was  the  son  of  a  granite  merchant  from  Aberdeen. He  was  educated  at  Aberdeen  grammar  school  and  university. He  became  a  barrister  but  was  more of  a  law  professor. In  1869  he  was  appointed  professor  of  Roman  law  at  University  College, London  and  professor  of  jurisprudence  from  1878  to  1882. He  published  Roman  Law  in  the  Order  of  a  Code.

William  was  a  radical.  He  suppported  Scottish  home  rule  and  introduced  a  private  members  bill  for  it. He  supported  Charles  Bradlaugh  and  was  the  first  to  advocate  old  age  pensions. He  was  returned  unopposed  in  1886. In  1890  he  carried  a  proposal  for  free  elementary  education  in  Scotland.

In  1892 William  had  a  challenger  from  the  ILP  but  many  local  trades  unionists    remained
loyal  to  William  even  though  he  was  not  prepared  to  back  an  eight  hour  day. The  trades  council  decided  not  to  back  the  ILP  man  who  was  soundly  beaten.

William  bemoaned  the  emasculation  of  the  Crofter's  Bill  in  1886. He  put  down  a  motion  to charge  the  costs  of  the  military  annexation  of  Burma  to  the  India  budget.

In  1896  William  resigned  his  seat  on  health  grounds.Her  died  two  years  later  aged  54.