William Henry Holland
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William Henry Holland, 1st Baron Rotherham (15 December 1849 – 26 December 1927) was a British industrialist and Liberal politician. He was the second son of William Holland, a cotton spinner of
Higher Broughton Broughton is a suburb and district of Salford, City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, on the east bank of the River Irwell, it is northwest of Manchester and south of Prestwich. Historically in Lancashire, Broughton was a township ...
, near Manchester. In 1872 he became a partner in the family business Messrs William Holland and Sons. He became prominent in the industry, becoming chairman or president of the Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers Association, the
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, the Machinery Users' Association and the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. He became involved in liberal politics, and for ten years was an alderman on
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. In the 1892 general election he stood as Member of Parliament for Salford North, winning the seat from the Conservatives by a narrow majority. In the 1895 general election the situation was reversed, when he lost the seat by six votes to the Conservative candidate,
Frederick Platt-Higgins Frederick Platt-Higgins (1840 – 6 November 1910) was a British businessman and Conservative MP for Salford North. Early life Born as Frederick Higgins, he was the son of James Higgins of Salford, Lancashire and Elizabeth Meban of Dumfries ...
. Holland returned to the Commons in 1899, when he won a by-election at Rotherham caused by the resignation of Arthur Acland. He was
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in the
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, receiving the accolade from King Edward VII at
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on 24 October that year, and made a Baronet, of
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in the
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in 1907. He was a member of a number of parliamentary and other governmental committees including the
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, the Advisory Committee on Commercial Intelligence and the Committee on Joint Stock Companies. From 1908 - 1910 was acting Chairman of Ways and Means. He was also a commissioner for the
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held in Paris in 1900, Milan in 1906 and Brussels in 1910. He retained the Rotherham seat at successive general elections, up to and including that held in January 1910. However, he chose to step down from parliament in February 1910 to allow J A Pease, who had lost his seat at Saffron Walden, to be returned to parliament at a by-election. In July 1910 Holland was raised to the
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as Baron Rotherham of Broughton, in the
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. He also received the freedom of the Borough of Rotherham. He had disposed of William Holland and Sons in 1898, and with the moneys received had made a number of unwise investments in
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mines and railways and
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ese bonds. In 1917 Lord Rotherham became insolvent, and was forced to make a settlement with his creditors. William Holland married Mary Lund in 1874, and they had one son; Stuart Lund Holland, born in 1876. His wife converted to
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in 1905, and he followed suit in 1922. Lord Rotherham died at his residence in Rottingdean,
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in December 1927, aged 78.


References

*''Obituary: Lord Rotherham'', The Times, 28 December 1927, p. 11


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rotherham, 1st Baron Holland, William 1849 births 1927 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Knights Bachelor Holland, William Holland, William Holland, William Holland, William Holland, William Holland, William UK MPs who were granted peerages Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Salford North Barons created by George V