John McDonald Henderson (1846 – 20 November 1922) was a Scottish chartered accountant,

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and Liberal Member of Parliament.

Education and family

Henderson was a native of the city of Aberdeen. He was educated at Gordon's College and at Marischal College, both in Aberdeen. In 1872, he married Kate Mary, the daughter of Thomas Francis Robins. They had one son and a daughter.''Who was Who'', OUP 2007

Career

Henderson qualified as a chartered accountant. He was a Fellow of the

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is a professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports chartered accountants and students around the world. As of July 2022, it has over 198,000 members ...

.The Times, 21 November 1922 p15 He appeared in court often, regularly being appointed a trustee for bankrupt companies, which perhaps encouraged him to go in for the law as well. He 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 ...

by Gray's Inn in 1897. He also had business interests, being a director of Thomas Bolton and Son Ltd, brass and copper manufacturers, the Lancashire United Tramways Company and other firms.

Politics

Liberal Imperialist

Henderson was a member of the Imperial Liberal Council. The Liberal Imperialists were a centrist faction within the Liberal Party in the late

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

and Edwardian period, favouring a more positive attitude towards the development of the British Empire and

Imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

and opposing the party's commitment to Irish Home Rule. In domestic affairs, they advocated the concept of 'national efficiency', a policy never definitively set out, but the implication in the speeches of its leading lights was that the Liberal Party in government should take action to improve the social conditions, education and welfare of the population and reform aspects of the administration of government to maintain British economic, industrial and military competitiveness.

Member of Parliament

In 1905, the sitting MP for Aberdeenshire West, Dr Robert Farquharson, decided to stand down at the next election, and Henderson was selected in his place. At the

1906 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1906. Asia * 1906 Persian legislative election Europe * 1906 Belgian general election * 1906 Croatian parliamentary election * Denmark ** 1906 Danish Folketing election ** 1906 Danish Landsting ele ...

, Henderson duly held the seat by 5,949 votes to the 2,791 polled by his Unionist opponent, R McNeill, a majority of 3,158. He voted in favour of the 1908 Women's Enfranchisement Bill. Henderson held his seat against a new Tory opponent in January 1910, defeating Mr G Smith by 5,901 votes to 3,194, a majority of 2,707. Henderson's majority again decreased at the

December 1910 general election The December 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 3 to 19 December. It was the last general election to be held over several days and the last to be held before the History of the United Kingdom during the First World War, First Wo ...

. Again facing Smith for the Unionists, Henderson won by 5,415 votes to 3,232, a reduced majority of 2,183 but still comfortably ahead.

Irish Home Rule controversy

During the

, Henderson was unwittingly caught up in a row over Irish Home Rule. He received a letter from Lord Aberdeen who was at the time Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Lord Aberdeen wrote to Henderson saying he felt fears about the consequences of Home Rule were baseless, especially apprehensions concerning religious intolerance and that Henderson could quote this opinion during the election.The Times, 14 December 1910 p7 While '' The Times'' newspaper reported that Lord Aberdeen was not taken very seriously in Ireland, his remarks nevertheless gave offence to Unionists there, as the Lord-Lieutenant was supposed to stay above party politics. The question of his alleged interference in politics then became the issue. False rumours were that Aberdeen was about to resign. The controversy later rumbled into 1911, with the matter being taken up by the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges. Lord Aberdeen tried to smooth the waters by explaining that he had written to Henderson in his capacity as Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, but that backfired. In a fuller explanation later, he had to clarify that in sending his letters to Henderson he had never meant to use the authority of the Lord-Lieutenancy of Aberdeenshire to influence voters in the general election. Sensing that times were moving on, the Committee of Privileges concluded that Lord Aberdeen had not committed any breach of privilege of the House of Commons.

1918-1919

Although he was by now over 70 years old, Henderson apparently had no wish to leave Parliament. His West Aberdeenshire constituency was being abolished by boundary changes for the 1918 general election. However, Henderson sought and won the Liberal nomination for the new seat of Central Aberdeenshire. He fought the election against Alexander Theodore Gordon, who stood as a Coalition Conservative, a supporter of the

Coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

of David Lloyd George who presumably received the Coalition coupon. Henderson lost by 638 votes, polling 5,908 votes to Gordon's 6,546. Even the defeat was not sufficient to force Henderson into retirement, however. Early in 1919, Gordon died, causing a by-election in Aberdeenshire Central. It was agreed that Henderson should be the candidate and stand as a full blooded

Asquithian Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...

Liberal. That posed a difficulty for Lloyd George, who, despite his Liberalism, was being required to endorse another Conservative candidate against a Liberal who had represented the party in Parliament for 16 years. As a result, there was some speculation that Henderson would be asked to stand for the Coalition, which Henderson and his local Liberal Association were willing to accept this. Henderson exchanged letters with Freddie Guest, the Coalition Liberal

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, coming to an agreement to give overall support to the government, but the Aberdeenshire Tories would not adopt Henderson as the Coalition candidate and chose their own man, L F W Davidson. In the end, Henderson decided not to contest the by-election and stood down in favour of his Liberal colleague

Murdoch McKenzie Wood Major Sir Murdoch McKenzie Wood OBE, DL (19 July 1881''Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950'London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1930'' – 11 October 1949) was a Scottish Liberal politician. Background He ...

, who won the by-election with a majority of 186 votes, in a three-cornered contest with the Unionists and Labour.

Appointments

In 1911, Henderson was appointed as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for the County of

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, where he had a home in Felixstowe. He was also JP for the County of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, where he had another home.

Death

Henderson died from pneumonia in Aberdeen at 76. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery in

, near his London home in

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, John McDonald Scottish Liberal Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Members of Gray's Inn Politics of Aberdeenshire Politicians from Aberdeen People from Felixstowe 1846 births 1922 deaths British accountants