Sir Henry Seton-Karr (5 February 1853 – 29 May 1914) was an English explorer, hunter and author and a

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 i ...

politician who sat 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. ...

from 1885 to 1906. Seton-Karr, born in India in 1853, was the son of George Berkeley Seton-Karr, of the Indian Civil Service (resident Commissioner at

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

during the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

); and his wife Eleanor, the daughter of Henry Usborne of Branches Park, Suffolk. He was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and Corpus Christi College,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

gaining an MA in law in 1876. He was called to the bar at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1879. Seton-Karr owned a cattle ranch (Pick Ranch) in Wyoming, USA and was a director of Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Co. He was an explorer, big game hunter and writer. Seton-Karr was elected as the

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 ...

(MP) for St Helens in the 1885 general election and held the seat until his defeat at the 1906 general election. He did not stand again in St Helens, but at the January 1910 general election he stood unsuccessfully in

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

. He became a Deputy Lieutenant of

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

in 1896. and was made a

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG) in October 1902. He was also Chairman of the

Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway The Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway, was formed in 1889, but no services ran until 1895 and then only freight. Passenger services did not start until 1900. It incorporated the St Helens and Wigan Junction Railway. It was taken ...

at the time of its opening in 1900 and Chairman of the Lancashire and Cheshire Workingmen's Federation in the late 1890s. On 11 November 1880 Seton-Karr married Edith Eliza Pilkington (1860-1886), daughter of William Roby Pilkington and Elizabeth Lee Watson of Roby Hall, Liverpool. They had three children: George Bernard (born 12 September 1881), Malcolm Henry (born 21 October 1882) and Edith Muriel (born 1884). Both George and Edith Muriel died in their teens. After the death of his wife in 1884, he remarried in 1886 to Jane Jarvie Thorburn (1862-1953). They had two children: Helen Mary (born 6 October 1888) and Kenneth William (born 21 March 1897). At Grange Park Golf Club, St Helens an annual competition is still played in the name of Seton-Karr. This is the most prestigious competition in the clubs calendar. Seton-Karr died in Canada's greatest peacetime maritime disaster when the ''

Empress of Ireland RMS ''Empress of Ireland'' was a British-built ocean liner that sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada following a collision in thick fog with the Norwegian Collier (ship), collier in the early hours of 29 May 1914. Althoug ...

'' sank in the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

when he was returning to England from a hunting trip in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

.Find a Grave
/ref> He was interred at the

Mount Hermon Cemetery Mount Hermon Cemetery is a garden (or rural) cemetery and National Historic Site of Canada. It is located in the Sillery district (french: quartier) of the Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge borough (french: arrondissement) of Quebec City, Quebec, ...

, Sillery.

Publications

''Shores and Alps of Alaska''
(1887)
''Ten Years' Wild Sports in Foreign Lands; Or, Travels in the Eighties''
(1889) *A Handy Guide-Book to the Japanese Islands *
Bear-hunting in the White Mountains; or, Alaska and British Columbia revisted
' (1891)
"How I Shot My Lions"
in ''Everybody's Magazine'' (January 1900)
''My Sporting Holidays''
(1904) * Chapter in ''Early American Big Game Hunting'' (1905)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seton-Karr, Sir Henry 1853 births 1914 deaths People educated at Harrow School Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Knights Bachelor UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 Deaths due to shipwreck Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Deputy Lieutenants of Roxburghshire Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn Accidental deaths in Quebec Burials at Mount Hermon Cemetery