Sir Alexander Nairne Stewart Sandeman, 1st Baronet (12 October 1876 – 23 April 1940) was a

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician in the

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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. He was elected at the 1923 general election as

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 Middleton and Prestwich, and held the seat until his death in 1940, aged 63.

Early life and career

He was born in

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

in 1876, the son of Col. Frank Stewart Sandeman of Stanley, Perthshire, and Laura Condie; he was educated

Trinity College, Glenalmond Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. T ...

and married Evelyn F. J. Bell. His eldest sister,

Laura Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a bay on ...

, became a doctor and also stood as a Conservative Party candidate. Lawyer

Condie Sandeman James Condie Stewart Sandeman (1866–11 November 1933) was a Scottish advocate. Biography He was the son of Colonel Frank Stewart Sandeman of Stanley, Perthshire, by his wife Laura, daughter of James Condie Writer to the Signet, WS, of Perth; Dr ...

was his elder brother. After completing his education Sandeman worked for four years at the North British Mercantile Insurance Company in

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

."Obituaries." ''Times'' ondon, England24 April 1940: 9. ''The Times Digital Archive''. Web. 23 Apr. 2019. Gale Document Number: CS153433752 From there he went on to work for Frank Steward Sandeman and Sons Ltd, a company specialising in the spinning of

jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...

and

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

. It was an association he had for the remainder of his business career. He is recorded in 1928 as a director of British Talking Pictures Limited as well as Dawnay Day and Co. Ltd. In the 1929 King's Birthday Honours, he was made a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, of Kenlygreen,

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

, Fife.

Political career

Sandeman surprised many when he took the seat of Middleton and Prestwich at the 1923 General Election. He defeated the incumbent, Sir W. R. D. Adkins K.C., who had held the seat since 1918. Sandeman described his approach to the election as one of being a "red hot

Protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

". He was opposed to the Government of India Act and as a member of the

India Defence League The India Defence League was a British pressure group founded in June 1933 dedicated to keeping India within the British Empire. It grew from the parliamentary India Defence Committee and was founded with the support of 10 Privy Councillors, 28 pee ...

is recorded as having supported an

amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. They ...

calling for the rejection of the act.

Road Accident

In March 1935 he was knocked down by a car in

Old Palace Yard Old Palace Yard is a paved open space in the City of Westminster in Central London, England. It lies between the Palace of Westminster to its north and east and Westminster Abbey to its west. It is known as the site of executions, including those ...

at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

. Sandeman was badly injured in the accident, receiving a frontal fracture of the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

(which caused

brain damage Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...

), a severe

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

, a broken

elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the media ...

and damage to his

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular join ...

. In a subsequent legal action Sandeman was awarded £2,350 in compensation. The compensation was awarded in an action against the owners of the car, J. Collett Limited. The company admitted liability but the court proceedings recorded the events of the evening. As Sandeman was leaving Parliament at 19.10 on 25 March he was knocked down. Giving evidence Sandeman said that on leaving Parliament he stepped into the road and waited for vehicles to pass. As the defendant's vehicle approach he states he said, "My goodness, that man is not leaving me very much room". Initially, Sandeman thought he had been only lightly injured and attended an engagement that evening. However, the more serious wounds became apparent later."King's Bench Division." ''Times'', 27 Nov. 1935, p. 4. ''The Times Digital Archive'', Retrieved 23 April 2019. Gale Document Number: GALE, CS67579259 Sandeman spent two weeks in a dark room and was unable to get up from bed for three and a half. He offered to resign his seat after sustaining these injuries but his constituents declined the offer.

Personal life

In 1902 he married Evelyn Frances Jarvis, who was the daughter of Thomas Bell and Sandeman added the name Stewart to the family by royal license 1929. Sandeman had a brother, Frederick D. Stewart Sandeman, whom he served as

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...

at Frederick's

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

to Alexandra Hamilton Fraser in 1932. Nairne went on to give away his

niece In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of an ...

, Anne Helen Stewart Sandeman at her wedding following the death of her father. He acted in the same capacity for his other niece, Bethea Stewart Sandeman, at her wedding in 1936. He played

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

and participated in the Calcutta Cup tournament played over the New Course at

St. Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourt ...

in 1935.(FROM OUR GOLF CORRESPONDENT). "Golf." ''Times'', 10 Sept. 1930, p. 6. ''The Times Digital Archive'', Retrieved 23 April 2019. His

golf handicap A golf handicap is a numerical measure of a golfer's potential that is used to enable players of varying abilities to compete against one another. Better players are those with the lowest handicaps. Historically, rules relating to handicaps have v ...

was noted at the time of his accident in 1935 as being eight. Sandeman fell ill at 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. ...

and died on route to

Westminster Hospital Westminster Hospital was a hospital in London, England, founded in 1719. In 1834 a medical school attached to the hospital was formally founded. In 1939 a newly built hospital and medical school opened in Horseferry Road, Westminster. In 1994 the ...

. He left a

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word ...

but no children and his baronetcy ended with him.

Notes

References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart Sandeman, Nairne 1876 births 1940 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 People educated at Glenalmond College Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom