Stephen Williamson (28 June 1827 – 16 June 1903) was a founder of the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

shipping company Balfour Williamson & Co. and 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 ...

Liberal Party politician.

Biography

He was born in

Cellardyke Cellardyke is a village in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The village is to the immediate east of Anstruther (the two effectively being conjoined) and is to the south of Kilrenny. History Cellardyke was formerly known as Nether Kilrenny ( S ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

in 1827, the son of Archibald Williamson, a shipowner. In 1848 he went to Liverpool, and there founded, with

Alexander Balfour Alexander Balfour (2 September 1824 – 16 April 1886) was a Scottish merchant and founder of the Liverpool shipping company Balfour Williamson. Biography Balfour was born in Leven, Fife, the son of Henry Balfour, a foundry owner. He was e ...

, the firm of Balfour Williamson, trading with South America with offices in

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. He married Anne Guthrie, the daughter of Dr Thomas Guthrie. In 1880 he was elected to the House of Commons 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

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 ...

, a seat he held until 1885, and then represented Kilmarnock Burghs between 1886 and 1895. Williamson had homes in Copley in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

and Glenogil in

Forfarshire Angus ( sco, Angus; gd, Aonghas) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include agri ...

. He died at Copley in June 1903 aged 65. His son Archibald Williamson was also a politician and was created

Baron Forres Baron Forres, of Glenogil in the County of Forfar, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in the 1922 Birthday Honours for the businessman and Liberal politician Sir Archibald Williamson, 1st Baronet. He had already be ...

in 1922.

Notes

References

Methil Heritage website
*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, *

External links

* 1827 births 1903 deaths People from Anstruther Scottish Liberal Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fife constituencies UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 Scottish company founders Scottish businesspeople in shipping 19th-century Scottish businesspeople {{Scotland-Liberal-UK-MP-stub