Sir William Cameron Gull, 2nd Baronet, (6 January 1860 – 15 December 1922), known as Sir Cameron Gull, was a

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 Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...

politician in England, who served for five years as a member of parliament (MP).

Early life

Gull was born on 6 January 1860, the third child of the leading 19th century physician Sir William Withey Gull and his wife Susan Gull. His elder siblings were Caroline Cameron Gull (born 1851) and Cameron Gull (born 1858, died in infancy). At the time of his birth, his father had a home-based practice at 8

Finsbury Square Finsbury Square is a square in Finsbury in central London which includes a six-rink grass bowling green. It was developed in 1777 on the site of a previous area of green space to the north of the City of London known as Finsbury Fields, in the pa ...

, London. A year later, the family moved to a new home at 74, Brook Street, in London's

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

district. William was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and later studied law at Christ Church,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, winning the

Vinerian Scholarship The Vinerian Scholarship is a scholarship given to the University of Oxford student who "gives the best performance in the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law". Currently, £2,500 is given to the winner of the scholarship, with an a ...

in 1883. When his father died in 1890, Gull and his family lived at Gloucester Street, off

Portman Square Portman Square is a garden square in Marylebone, central London, surrounded by elegant townhouses. It was specifically for private housing let on long leases having a ground rent by the Portman Estate, which owns the private communal garden ...

. William Gull was named as one of the executors of his father's will. He inherited the sum of £40,000 and all his father's real estate, which included the house in Mayfair and a house in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He also inherited his father's title, becoming 2nd Baronet.

Barrister and Member of Parliament

Gull was a barrister of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

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 ...

in 1886.'GULL, Sir (William) Cameron', in ''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

'' (London: A. & C. Black)
online edition
(subscription required) by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2007, accessed 29 December 2011 In 1890, he was a co-author of a treatise of the

Partnership Act 1890 The Partnership Act 1890 (c. 39) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which governs the rights and duties of people or corporate entities conducting business in partnership. A partnership is defined in the act as 'the relation which ...

, along with his father-in-law

Nathaniel Lindley, Baron Lindley Nathaniel Lindley, Baron Lindley, (29 November 1828 – 9 December 1921) was an English judge. Early life He was the second son of the botanist Dr. John Lindley, born at Acton Green, London. From his mother's side, he was descended from Sir Edw ...

, then one of the Lord Justices of Appeal, and his brother-in-law Walter Barry Lindley, also a barrister at Lincoln's Inn. The Partnership Act 1890 established the legal rules that defined the nature of a legal partnership, the powers and obligations of partners and limitations of liability. Between 1891 and 1894 he was a member of the

London School Board The School Board for London, commonly known as the London School Board (LSB), was an institution of local government and the first directly elected body covering the whole of London. The Elementary Education Act 1870 was the first to provide for ...

. In

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...

he stood unsuccessfully for parliament as a

in the Moray and Nairn constituency in Scotland. At the general election of July 1895, Gull was elected as the Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for the Barnstaple division of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. In the ensuing Parliament the Liberal Unionist party was to support the ruling

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

administration led by

Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...

. During his term in parliament, Gull supported the 1896 reform of Poor Law barrack schools. He also took an interest in rail transport, rural affairs and in foreign affairs such as the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

in China and the conduct of the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

At the 1900 general election, held between 25 September and 24 October, Gull lost his Barnstaple seat to his

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

opponent Ernest Joseph Soares. He was

High Sheriff of Berkshire The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff is therefore much older ...

for 1908. He was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in the 1918 Birthday Honours At the time of his death he was an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of Berkshire County Council.

Family

In 1886, Gull married the Hon. Annie Clayton Lindley, daughter of

, and Sarah Katherine Teale. They lived together at Frilsham House at

Frilsham Frilsham is a village and civil parish from Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. Geography Frilsham is near the Berkshire Downs, with the M4 to the north. The nucleated village is on a hill, with the parish church of St Widefride ...

in Berkshire. They had two sons and four daughters. The elder son, Francis William Lindley Gull, was born on 1 November 1889 and educated at Eton, leaving the school in 1908. He served with the rank of Major in the Rifle Brigade, was wounded in France in the summer of 1916 and was eventually killed in action on 25 August 1918. The second son was Richard Cameron Gull. He became the 3rd Baronet upon his father's death in 1922. The four daughters were Mary Edith Gull (born 1887); Amy Beatrice Gull (1888–1971); Jessie Katherine Gull (1892–1894); and Dorothea Susan Gull (born 1897). Two years after his wife's death in 1908, Gull married secondly Evelyn Louisa, a daughter of Sir Thomas Snagge, and with her had a son and a daughter.

Other work

He was on the governing body of

Abingdon School Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...

from 1910–1919.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gull, Cameron 1860 births 1922 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1895–1900 Liberal Unionist Party MPs for English constituencies People educated at Eton College Members of Lincoln's Inn Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford High Sheriffs of Berkshire People from West Berkshire District Members of the London School Board Members of Berkshire County Council Officers of the Order of the British Empire Governors of Abingdon School Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Barnstaple English barristers