James Cowan (1816 – 24 November 1895) was a

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 ...

politician in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. He was the son of

Alexander Cowan Alexander Cowan (17 June 1775 – 13 February 1859) was a Scottish papermaker and philanthropist. He was a cousin and friend of Thomas Chalmers, the prominent Scottish minister. Through his business he was a friend and associate of the publishe ...

, papermaker and philanthropist. He was one of eleven children including

Charles Cowan Charles Cowan (7 June 1801 – 1889) was a Scottish politician and paper-maker. Life He was born in Charlotte Street in Edinburgh on 7 June 1801, the son of Alexander Cowan, papermaker and philanthropist, and Elizabeth Hall, daughter of George ...

MP, and Sir John Cowan Bart. He was

Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is the convener of the City of Edinburgh local authority, who is elected by the city council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city, ex officio the ...

from 1872 to 1874. He was elected at the 1874 general election 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 o ...

for

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, and held the seat until he resigned from the House of Commons in 1882 by the procedural device of taking the office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham. He is buried with his family on the west side of the original cemetery in

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hil ...

in Edinburgh.

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* 1816 births 1895 deaths Scottish Liberal Party MPs UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 Lord Provosts of Edinburgh Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies {{Scotland-Liberal-UK-MP-stub