Robert Laidlaw

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Sir Robert Laidlaw FRGS (born January 15, 1856 in Bonchester Bridge , Roxburghshire , † November 3, 1915 in London ) was a Scottish businessman and politician.

Life

Laidlaw was born in 1856 as the second child of William Laidlaw and his wife Agnes in Bonchester Bridge (now in the Council Area Scottish Borders ). Laidlaw first worked in Hawick , Scotland , before moving to textile wholesaling in London. In 1875 he toured South Africa and in 1877 colonial India , where he settled in Calcutta for 20 years . Laidlaw donated funds for the establishment of the Calcutta Boys' School . A corresponding girls' school was set up nine years later.

In 1882 Laidlaw was a co-founder of the trading company Whiteaway, Laidlaw and Co. , which grew in the following decades and finally had 20 branches in India and East Asia. In the early years of the company he married an employed widow with whom he fathered five children, one of whom, the only son, died shortly after birth. On their return to London, the family settled in what is now the London borough of Chiselhurst . She acquired a villa designed by Ernest Newton , which she named Bonchester .

1909 Laidlaw was a Knight Bachelor in the knighthood collected and as a British representative in the Opium Commission sent. In the same year Laidlaw sold his property and bought a villa in Hayes , in what is now the London Borough of Bromley . Five years later, he bequeathed the building to the British Red Cross to use as a hospital. Laidlaw died in London in 1915. From his estate he donated the financial means for the establishment of today's Laidlaw Memorial School in Ketti, India . He was President of the World's Sunday School Association and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Political career

For the first time Laidlaw appeared in the general election in 1906 to elections at the national level. He ran for the Liberal Party for the constituency of East Renfrewshire , whose mandate held by the Conservative Hugh Shaw-Stewart since 1886. With a lead of only 95 votes, Laidlaw prevailed against Shaw-Stewart and subsequently moved into the British House of Commons for the first time . In the following general election in January 1910 Laidlaw was able to win only 47.6% of the vote against the conservative John Gilmour and left the House of Commons. A total of 96 contributions from Laidlaw are recorded in Parliament.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Biographical information
  2. ^ The Constitutional Yearbook 1910, p. 221.
  3. ^ Results of the general election in 1910
  4. ↑ Robert Laidlaw in Hansard (English)
personal data
SURNAME Laidlaw, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish businessman and politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonchester Bridge , Roxburghshire
DATE OF DEATH November 3, 1915
Place of death London