Alexander Hastie MP (1805–1864) was a 19th-century Scottish Whig politician who served as

Lord Provost of Glasgow The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Glasgow is the convener of the Glasgow City Council. Elected by the city councillors, the Lord Provost serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city. The office is equiv ...

from 1846 to 1848. He was MP for from 1847 to 1848 and from 1852 to 1857. He was one of the few people to simultaneously have been Lord Provost and MP for the same city. He was noted as an anti-slavery activist.

Life

He was born on 24 April 1805, the son of Robert Hastie (1774-1827). The family moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

around 1815. His father was President of the Glasgow Philosophical Society. From 1822 to 1827 he lived and worked in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He worked for the family firm of R. Hastie & Co, based first at Somerville Place and later at 13 John Street in Glasgow. The company traded with America and the East Indies. In 1837 he joined Glasgow town council as a councillor. At the time of his being Lord Provost in 1846 he lived at 212 Bath Street in the Glasgow city centre. In 1863 he purchased Luscar House, near Dunfermline in Fife. He had an attack of epileptic

seizure An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with l ...

at home in Bath Street in January 1864. He died on 13 August 1864 at Luscar House.

Family

In 1852 he married Ann Napier daughter of Robert Napier of West Sherndon. They had two daughters, Isabella Napier Hastie and Jane Alexia Hastie, an explorer and organiser of a scientific expedition. In 1873 Isabella ("Ella") (1854-1919) married Thomas Charles Perceval Lefroy and became Isabella Napier Lefroy. She was an author under the name of E. N. Leigh Fry.The Selected Letters of

Katharine Tynan Katharine Tynan (23 January 1859 – 2 April 1931)Clarke, Frances (2013)"Hinkson (née Tynan), Katharine Tynan" in ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). was an Irish writer, known mainly for her novels and p ...

References

1805 births 1864 deaths Lord Provosts of Glasgow Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs 1852–1857 Whig (British political party) MPs for Scottish constituencies 19th-century Scottish businesspeople {{Scotland-bio-stub