Samuel Smith (Liberal politician)

Samuel Smith

"Sammy"
Smith as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, August 1904

Samuel Smith (1836 – 29 December 1906) was a British politician. He served as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) from 1882 to 1885 and from 1886 to 1906.

Life

Born near Borgue, Galloway, he was educated at Borgue parish school and Kirkcudbright Academy before attending Edinburgh University. He was apprenticed to a Liverpool cotton-broker in 1853. By 1864 he was head of the Liverpool branch of James Finlay & Co., a large cotton business of Glasgow and Bombay.^[1]

Smith was first elected to Parliament on 11 December 1882 in a by-election in Liverpool, following the Conservative MP Viscount Sandon's succession to the Peerage as Earl of Harrowby on 19 November 1882. The three-seat Liverpool constituency was split for the 1885 general election and Smith stood in the new Liverpool Abercromby seat. However, he lost to the Conservative candidate William Lawrence by 807 votes. He returned to Parliament in a by-election in Flintshire on 3 March 1886. This by-election followed the elevation to the Peerage of Lord Richard Grosvenor. Smith remained the seat's MP until he retired at the 1906 general election. He died later that year aged 70.

Edge Hill University has a hall of residence called Smith in honour of his contribution to the institution. He co-founded the university in 1885. ^[2]

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1974)

1. Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement.
2. "Edge Hill Halls of Residence".

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Samuel Smith