Eugene Wason
Eugene Wason (26 January 1846 – 19 April 1927) was a Scottish lawyer and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons in three periods between 1885 and 1918.
Family
Eugene Wason came from a Liberal family. His father, brother and son-in-law, were all Liberal
Stature and character
Wason, like his brother Cathcart, was well over 6 feet tall.[4] He was described by one of the contemporary Speakers of the House of Commons as 'the largest and tallest man in the House.'[5] Sir Percy Harris who was Liberal MP for Bethnal Green South West and whose father was a close friend of Wason's has recorded that Eugene and Cathcart were giants, Eugene being thick set and heavy while Cathcart was willowy and thin. Harris related that the story always told about Eugene was that if he stepped on a weighing machine the hands would go on until they could no farther as he topped the maximum 20 stone mark on the dial. Not surprisingly, according to Harris, Eugene was fond of his food and wine,[6]) although he was also a keen sportsman listing his recreations in Who's Who in his younger days as football, shooting, rowing, and fishing although in later life these pursuits turned into reading, bridge, backgammon, and the card game picquet.[3]
Education
Wason was educated first privately in France at
Career
Wason's chosen professions were the law and politics. He was
Politics
MP for South Ayrshire
Wason was first elected to Parliament at the 1885 general election for the constituency of Ayrshire South. This was his local seat as his home was at Blair, Dailly, a village in the county. He held the seat only until the 1886 election when he lost to a Liberal Unionist but regained it at the 1892 general election and then served as its MP until 1895 when he again forfeited the seat to a Liberal Unionist, Sir William Arrol.[8]
MP for Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire
Wason returned to Parliament in December 1899. The sitting Liberal MP for
After his by-election victory, Wason retained his Clackmannan and Kinross seat at the 1900 general election in a straight fight with the Conservatives by a majority of 351. In the Liberal landslide election of 1906 he increased his majority over the Conservatives to 1,379 and in January 1910 he maintained his advantage by a majority of 1,268. In December 1910 he was returned unopposed.[10] By 1918 Wason was 72 years old and decided to retire from Parliament at the next election.[11] He therefore stood down from Parliament at the 1918 election.[12]
Scottish MP
Wason became a veteran MP, serving nearly 25 years in all. He was Chairman of the Scottish Liberal members for ten years from 1908 to 1918
Radical MP?
In the obituary of Wason written for
Other political and public offices
In July 1902, Wason was appointed to be a member of the important Select committee on National Expenditure. Other members appointed at that time included Winston Churchill, Bonar Law and Austen Chamberlain.[23]
In 1907, Wason was created a
In June 1915 he was appointed by the then Secretary for Scotland
Travel
Wason enjoyed foreign travel throughout his life and twice went round the world; in 1886–87 by India, China, Japan, San Francisco, and America, and in 1896–97 by Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, Vancouver, and Canada.
Burns Night, 1918
Wason attended a
Death
Wason died at his London home in Sussex Gardens, Hyde Park on 20 April 1927 aged 81 years.[4]
References
- ^ The Times, 6 December 1910
- ^ The Times, 3 March 1954
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Who was Who, OUP 2007
- ^ a b c d The Times, 20 April 1927
- ^ James William Lowther Ullswater, A Speaker's Commentaries; Edward Arnold, 1925 p97
- ^ Percy Harris, Forty Years in and Out of Parliament; Andrew Melrose, 1949
- ^ a b The Times, 21 December 1899
- ^ The Times, 29 July 1895
- ^ The Times, 30 December 1899
- ^ The Times House of Commons 1911; Politico’s Publishing 2004 p109
- ^ The Times, 24 April 1918
- ^ The Times, 21 November 1918
- ^ The Times, 19 July 1910
- ^ The Times, 19 November 1910
- ^ The Times, 2 September 1910
- ^ The Times, 7 May 1912
- ^ John Edward Kendle, Ireland and the Federal Solution: The Debate Over the United Kingdom Constitution, 1870–1921; McGill-Queen's University Press, 1989 p149
- ^ Homer Morris, Parliamentary Franchise Reform in England from 1885 to 1918; Columbia University, 1921 p81
- ^ York Membery, The Liberals' Last Hurrah; History Today, December 2008, Volume 58, Issue 12, pp8-9
- ^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918–1949; Political Reference Publications, 1969 p617
- ^ The Times, 1 December 1923
- ^ The Times, 29 October 1924
- ^ The Times, 7 July 1902
- ^ The Times, 28 June 1907
- ^ The Times, 24 June 1915
- ^ "The Scottish National War Memorial". Archived from the original on 21 December 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
- ^ The Times, 14 April 1917
- ^ The Times, 6 September 1914
- ^ The Times, 26 January 1918