Donald Crawford KC FRSE (5 May 1837–1 January 1919) was a Scottish advocate who became a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

MP. He sat for the constituency of Lanarkshire North-East from 1885 to 1895.

Life

He was born on 3 May 1837, the son of Alexander Crawford of Edinburgh and his wife, Sibella Maclean. He was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, is now part of the Senior School. The Junior School is located on Arboretum Ro ...

from 1847 to 1854, and attended

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 ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

Universities. At Oxford, he studied at

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

from 1856 and was awarded a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1860; his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

was granted in 1864. He became a Fellow of Lincoln College in 1861, retaining his Fellowship until 1882.Joseph Foster, 1891: ''Alumni Oxonienses 1715–1886'', vol. 1, p. 314
online at Wikisource
Crawford was made an advocate in 1862 and, from 1880 to 1885, served as Secretary to the

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate ( gd, Morair Tagraidh, sco, Laird Advocat), is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved p ...

of Scotland. In 1873, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were

Robert William Thomson Robert William Thomson PRSSA FRSE (29 June 1822–8 March 1873), from Stonehaven, Scotland, was the inventor of the fountain pen and original inventor of the pneumatic tyre. Life He was born on 29 June 1822 in Stonehaven in the northeas ...

Thomas Croxen Archer Thomas Croxen Archer FRSE FSA FRSSA (1817 – 19 February 1885) was a British botanist, and from 1860 was Director of the Industrial Museum of Scotland, renamed the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art in 1864, a post he held until his death in ...

, Francis Deas and

John Hutton Balfour John Hutton Balfour (15 September 1808 – 11 February 1884) was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to the University of Edinburgh and also becoming the 7th Regius Kee ...

. In 1884, the Liberal

President of the Local Government Board The President of the Local Government Board was a ministerial post, frequently a Cabinet position, in the United Kingdom, established in 1871. The Local Government Board itself was established in 1871 and took over supervisory functions from the ...

, Sir Charles Dilke, appointed Crawford to the

Boundary Commission for Scotland The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: * Boundary Commission fo ...

, which was responsible for redrafting constituency boundaries in the wake of the

Third Reform Act In the United Kingdom under the premiership of William Gladstone, the Representation of the People Act 1884 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, also known informally as the Third Reform Act) and the Redistribution Act of the following year were laws which ...

. At the time, Crawford was the political secretary to Sir John Balfour, then the

. In addition, Crawford was a distant relative of Dilke. The

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

Sir Stafford Northcote Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh (27 October 1818 – 12 January 1887), known as Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt from 1851 to 1885, was a British Conservative politician. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1874 and 1 ...

, objected to Crawford's appointment on those grounds, noting that Crawford was "a keen Liberal with a thorough knowledge of Scotland." Crawford entered parliament the next year as a member for North East Lanarkshire, which was a new constituency, created by the Boundary Commission's division of North Lanarkshire into two new constituencies, the other being North West Lanarkshire. He served as

Sheriff of Aberdeen The Sheriff of Aberdeen was a royal official who was responsible for enforcing justice in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Prior to 1748 most sheriffdoms were held on a hereditary basis. From that date, following the Jacobite uprising of 1745, they were ...

from 1895 to 1911. In 1903, he was made a King's Counsel (KC). In 1909,

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

awarded him an honorary doctorate (LLD). Crawford is buried beneath a large flat stone in the central section of the graveyard at

St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh The Parish Church of St Cuthbert is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in central Edinburgh. Probably founded in the 7th century, the church once covered an extensive parish around the Old Town of Edinburgh, burgh of Edinburgh. The church' ...

Family

Crawford was firstly married to Virginia Mary Smith (1862–1948), but the union was brief and unhappy. In 1886, Crawford achieved much social and public notoriety when he sued for divorce, and named Dilke as the

co-respondent In English law, a co-respondent is, in general, a respondent to a petition, or other legal proceeding, along with another or others, or a person called upon to answer in some other way. 7.4.19 Divorce More particularly, since the Matrimonial Ca ...

. After a much-publicised trial, Crawford obtained a ''

decree nisi A decree nisi or rule nisi () is a court order that will come into force at a future date unless a particular condition is met. Unless the condition is met, the ruling becomes a decree absolute (rule absolute), and is binding. Typically, the condi ...

'' and the marriage was dissolved in 1886. As for Dilke, the scandal wrecked a promising political career. Virginia Crawford later converted to Roman Catholicism and joined the Catholic Women's League. In old age (1914), Crawford married the Hon. Lilian Mary Susan Moncrieff.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Donald 1837 births 1919 deaths People educated at Edinburgh Academy Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Scottish Liberal Party MPs UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 Scottish sheriffs Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford