Sir William Hannay Raeburn, 1st Baronet (11 August 1850 – 12 February 1934)
was 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 ...
shipping businessman and
Unionist Party politician who served as a
member of parliament (MP) between 1918 and 1923.
Raeburn was a shipping magnate who founded in 1873 a shipping company called ''Raeburn & Dunn'', with Captain Dunn. John Verel replaced Dunn in 1880 and the company was subsequently renamed Raeburn & Verel. By 1900 the company operated around 12 steamers, travelling to ports from Europe to America and the Far East. In 1902 Raeburn and Verel formed the Monarch Steamship Company Ltd. Raeburn was an important figure in the shipping industry in the West of Scotland and contributed to some of the shipping legislation which passed, including the
Merchant Shipping Act
Merchant Shipping Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used in Malaysia and the United Kingdom for legislation relating to merchant shipping.
Merchant shipping acts and regulations also exist as well in other countries, and they are so ...
and the
Workmen's Compensation Act 1906.
He came to live in
Helensburgh towards the end of the 19th century, and his obituary in the Helensburgh & Gareloch Times describes how he was involved in various aspects of the shipping industry and how "in 1916 he was appointed President of the
Chamber of Shipping
The UK Chamber of Shipping is the trade association and voice of the UK shipping industry, representing around 200 member companies. They work with Government, parliament, international organisations and others to champion and protect the industry ...
by the shipowners of the United Kingdom". On his retirement from that post he was awarded with a
knighthood.
At the
1918 general election, Raeburn was nominated as the
Unionist Party candidate for the
Dunbartonshire. He received the "
coalition coupon" and as a "Coalition Unionist" he overwhelmingly defeated the sitting
Liberal Party MP
Arthur Acland Allen (who won a meagre 13% of the votes).
Raeburn was re-elected in
1922 general election with a majority of only 0.8 percent over his sole opponent, the
Labour Party candidate
William Martin. He did not contest the
1923 general election, when Martin won the seat, and did not stand for
Parliament again.
On 29 June 1923, he was made a
baronet, of
Helensburgh.
References
External links
*
1850 births
1934 deaths
19th-century Scottish businesspeople
20th-century Scottish businesspeople
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Scottish businesspeople in shipping
UK MPs 1918–1922
UK MPs 1922–1923
Unionist Party (Scotland) MPs
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