James Galloway Weir (6 July 1839 – 18 May 1911)
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 ...
businessman and
Liberal Party politician.
Biography
Born in Scotland, he was the son of a builder, James Ross Weir. He was a pupil at
Dollar Academy before moving with his family to London as a young man. He worked as a travelling salesman for a haberdashery company before he went into business on his own account in 1863 importing
sewing machine
A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the inv ...
s.
He retired from business in about 1879/80 to pursue politics full-time.
Weir's brother,
John Weir became the secretary of the
Fife and Kinross Miners' Association
The Fife and Kinross Miners' Association was a coal miners' trade union based in Fife and Kinross-shire in Scotland.
History
The union was founded in 1869 or 1870, and proved immediately successful by achieving the eight-hour day for miners in th ...
.
He unsuccessfully contested the
Falkirk Burghs constituency in 1885, when he got a derisory vote. He was elected for
Ross and Cromarty
Ross and Cromarty ( gd, Ros agus Cromba), sometimes referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latt ...
as one of five
Crofters' Party
The Crofters' Party was the parliamentary arm of the Highland Land League
The first Highland Land League ( gd, Dionnasg an Fhearainn) emerged as a distinct political force in Scotland during the 1880s, with its power base in the country's Highl ...
MPs in 1892, transferring his allegiance to the mainstream
Liberal Party in 1895.
holding the seat until his death.
He was also elected to the
London County Council
London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...
in 1892 to represent
Islington East
Islington East was a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United ...
as a member of the majority Liberal-backed
Progressive Party.
[''The London County Council Election'', The Times, 7 March 1892, p. 10]
He died at his home in
Frognal,
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
in 1911 aged 71, and was buried at Marylebone Cemetery.
References
External links
*
1839 births
1911 deaths
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Scottish Liberal Party MPs
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
UK MPs 1900–1906
UK MPs 1906–1910
UK MPs 1910
UK MPs 1910–1918
Progressive Party (London) politicians
Members of London County Council
People educated at Dollar Academy
{{Scotland-Liberal-UK-MP-stub