John Cathcart Wason (17 November 1848 – 19 April 1921), generally known as Cathcart Wason, was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

farmer and politician who served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

in two countries: first in New Zealand and then in Scotland. He established Barrhill, a

model village A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally phys ...

, and after the failure of this colonial venture, he returned to Scotland. An unusually large man (he was over tall), he is noted both as an innovative farmer and for having passed his time in the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

by knitting.

Early life

Born in

Colmonell Colmonell (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cill Cholmain Eala)'' (meaning the church of St. Colman of Lainn Eala - in Lynally, County Offaly, Ireland.) is a small village and civil parish in the Stinchar Valley, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The nearest town is ...

near

Girvan Girvan ( gd, Inbhir Gharbhain, "mouth of the River Girvan") is a burgh and harbour town in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Girvan is situated on the east coast of the Firth of Clyde, with a population of about 6,450. It lies south of Ayr, ...

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June 2 ...

, he was the son of

Rigby Wason (Peter) Rigby Wason (1797 – 24 July 1875) was a Scottish barrister and farmer, and a Whig politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Ipswich in Suffolk from 1831 until his defeat at the 1835 general election. However, the election was ...

and his wife Euphemia McTier. Rigby Wason was a barrister and a successful farmer who converted much of his Corwar estate from moor to arable land; he had also served as a Member of Parliament. He was educated at Laleham and at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

. He came to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

in New Zealand in 1868. Cathcart Wason had four siblings; three older brothers (Rigby, Eugene and James) and one younger sister (Catherine Rigby).

Peter Cathcart Wason Peter Cathcart Wason (22 April 1924 – 17 April 2003) was a cognitive psychologist at University College, London who pioneered the Psychology of Reasoning. He progressed explanations as to why people make certain consistent mistakes in logical r ...

was Eugene's grandchild.

New Zealand

Corwar and Barrhill

Lendon was a run on the south bank of the

Rakaia River The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island. The Rakaia River is one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand. The Rakaia River has a mean flow of and a mean annual seven-day low flow of . In the 1850s, Euro ...

on New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, about 17 km from the town of

Rakaia Rakaia is a town seated close to the southern banks of the Rakaia River on the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island, approximately 57 km south of Christchurch on State Highway 1 and the Main South Line. Immediately north of the ...

. The land was first taken up by

John Hall John Hall may refer to: Academics * John Hall (NYU President) (fl. c. 1890), American academic * John A. Hall (born 1949), sociology professor at McGill University, Montreal * John F. Hall (born 1951), professor of classics at Brigham Young Unive ...

, but had changed ownership several times before Wason bought it, including of freehold land, in February 1869 or April 1870 (sources vary). Wason renamed his property Corwar after his father's lands in Scotland, and set about trying to create a model estate. His planting of pine trees and of oaks, walnuts and poplars extended over and allowed shelter from the prevailing north-west winds to allow sheep farming and the growing of wheat, while water power was used for agricultural machinery. He bought and sold land, and by 1882 Corwar was consolidated as a freehold estate of just over with a large mansion overlooking the river, complete with gate lodge and gate-keeper. On the estate, Wason built a

called Barrhill, approached from the north, east, south and west by avenues lined respectively with

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek ' (''sūkomoros'') meaning "fig-mulberry". Species of trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplata ...

s, birches, poplars and oaks.Some sources are unclear on whether the avenues were actually planted, bu
Let's Go NZ
suggests that they were. At the centre was a market square, with post office, bakery and other facilities and fifteen cottages were built. However, Wason had expected a railway to be built near Barrhill, but when it was built on a more southerly route, the village began to decline. Dwindling population forced the closure of the school in 1938, although the Church of St John the Evangelist is still in use. Most of the buildings were constructed from pine wood grown on the estate, and all that remains now are the three concrete buildings: church, school and schoolhouse, each surrounded by a circle of oak trees. Without the railway, Wason saw his project as doomed, and sold up in 1900. The mansion was burned down soon after and all that remains is the gate lodge, now the home of the Corwar Lodge Museum, displaying artefacts of the colonial era.

New Zealand political career

Wason was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in the 1876 election on 11 January for the electorate (constituency) of

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...

, and was appointed as a government whip the following year. On 14 April 1879, he resigned his seat in Parliament, as well as his membership on the Ashburton County Council. Wason stood for election in the newly formed Wakanui electorate in the 1881 general election. The 9 December election was contested by Wason,

Joseph Ivess Joseph Ivess (8 February 1844 – 4 September 1919) was a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He had an association with a large number of newspapers. Early life and Australia Joseph Ivess was born in Askeaton, County Limerick ...

and

Charles Purnell Charles William Purnell (1843 – 7 December 1926) was a New Zealand soldier, journalist, lawyer, and publisher of political and scientific texts. Early life and career Purnell was born in Lambeth, London, England, where he received his educa ...

. Wason won by a small margin, and Ivess petitioned against the election on numerous grounds. The election petitions court started hearing the case in February 1882. Members were sworn into the

8th New Zealand Parliament The 8th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. Elections for this term were held in 4 Māori electorates and 91 general electorates on 8 and 9 December 1881, respectively. A total of 95 MPs were elected, i.e. multi-mem ...

on 18 May 1882 for its first session; Wason was not present. On the following day, the results of the various election petitions were read out, and the 1881 Wakanui election was declared void. Wason lost his seat in Parliament without having ever taken it. The resulting 16 June

1882 by-election Year 188 (CLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Fuscianus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 941 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomi ...

was won by Ivess. In the , Wason was narrowly defeated by

William Walker William Walker may refer to: Arts * William Walker (engraver) (1791–1867), mezzotint engraver of portrait of Robert Burns * William Sidney Walker (1795–1846), English Shakespearean critic * William Walker (composer) (1809–1875), American Ba ...

in the electorate. Wason did not stand again until the 1893 general election, when he ran unsuccessfully in the Ashburton electorate. He was elected as MP for Selwyn in the 1896 election on 21 December. That parliamentary term finished on 15 November 1899 and that is when Wason retired from politics in New Zealand. Politics ran in the Wason family. His father Rigby was an MP for

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

(1831–37) before Cathcart was born, and his brother Eugene represented two UK constituencies (

and Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire) at various times between

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 – ...

and

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

Travel

Wason travelled overseas on several occasions, marrying Alice Seymour Bell, in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, on 18 June 1873. In 1886 was he elected a fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and in 1887 he followed his father and brother and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, but did not practise.

Return to Scotland

Wason sold his New Zealand estate in 1900 and returned to Scotland, where he was elected as

Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...

MP for Orkney and Shetland in the 1900 general election, and bought a house in London and a property in Ayrshire not far from the original Corwar. He resigned his seat on 7 October 1902 and successfully stood for re-election in the

1902 by-election Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

as an Independent Liberal. He was re-elected as a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

in the subsequent general elections in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

, January 1910,

December 1910 The following events occurred in December 1910: December 1, 1910 (Thursday) * Porfirio Diaz was inaugurated for his eighth term as President of Mexico."Record of Current Events", ''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (January 1911), pp ...

and

. He continued to sit as MP for Orkney and Shetland until his death. His brother Eugene was chairman of the Scottish Liberal MPs from 1908 to 1918. Cathcart Wason lived at Grosvenor Road when in London. He was a member of the

Viking Club The Viking Club was a club for philologists and historians specializing in Germanic and Scandinavian studies. It was founded by E.V. Gordon and J. R. R. Tolkien when the two were professors at Leeds University in the 1920s. At meetings of the cl ...

. He died in London on 19 April 1921 aged 72, survived by his wife. He is believed to have had no children.

Publications

* *; later re-published in revised form as "The Beast".

Notes

References

* * * * *

External links

Canterbury-West Coast: Barrhill-Corwar Lodge Preservation Society
contact details * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wason, Cathcart 1848 births 1921 deaths People educated at Rugby School People from South Ayrshire Anglo-Scots Liberal Unionist Party MPs for Scottish constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Orkney and Shetland Scottish farmers Scottish emigrants to New Zealand Scottish Liberal Party MPs Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society People from Mid Canterbury New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1884 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1893 New Zealand general election UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 19th-century New Zealand politicians