Sir Ernest Jardine, 1st Baronet (1859 – 26 April 1947) was a

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, England, industrialist and businessman. He was a

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 ...

and later a

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

Member of Parliament for East Somerset from 1910 to 1918.

Business interests

Jardine took over father's lace machinery business, John Jardine. He had four factories in Nottingham and others in Draycott and Newark, employing some 2,500-3,000 workers in 1907.
- Another of his factories in

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England, some southwest of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells, Somerset, Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, provides the reason for his adoption as a parliamentary candidate in that county. His company exported lace-making machinery to the United States, France and Germany. In 1924, he became the owner of the Barlock Tyewriter Company, set up in Basford. The company later became the Byron Typewriter Company and was taken over by the British Oliver Typewriter Company, under licence from the US

Oliver Typewriter Company The Oliver Typewriter Company was an American typewriter manufacturer headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The Oliver Typewriter was one of the first "visible print" typewriters, meaning text was visible to the typist as it was entered. Oliver ...

, in 1948. He was chairman of the Trent Navigation Company until his death.

Glastonbury Abbey

In 1907, Jardine was associated with the purchase of

Glastonbury Abbey Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction. The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It wa ...

on behalf of the Ecclesiastical authorities. The Abbey was offered for sale by auction amid considerable disquiet that it could be purchased by "an American plutocrat". Jardine's bid of £30,000 was successful. Jardine announced that he had no intention of living there, but that he would sell the Abbey to the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

for what he had paid.

Politics

In the

January 1910 general election The January 1910 UK general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. Called amid a constitutional crisis after the Conservative-dominated House of Lords rejected the People's Budget, the Liberal government, seeking a mandate, los ...

, Jardine contested the East Somerset constituency as a

. He defeated the sitting MP, the Liberal

John William Howard Thompson John William Howard Thompson (1861-17 October 1959) was a British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician, solicitor and soldier. Background He was educated at Carshalton and Whitgift School, Croydon. He married Antoinette Ebden Keene of C ...

, by 4,997 votes to 3,970. At the following general election, in December 1910, he again defeated Thompson, by 4,748 votes to 3,875. The Liberal Unionist and Conservative parties merged in 1912. The constituency was abolished at the 1918 general election which Jardine did not contest. 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 ...

in 1919 and was

High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Nottinghamshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centu ...

in 1928–9.

Personal life

Jardine was educated at Tudor House School in Nottingham and at the Lycée Impérial in

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; ; Picard: ''Saint-Onmé'') is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Sa ...

, France. He married Ada ''née'' Fletcher She died in 1925. They had one son, John, and a daughter, Iris. Jardine died on 26 April 1947, aged 87. His estate was valued at £502,340 gross (£480,076 net).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jardine, Ernest 1859 births 1947 deaths

401 __NOTOC__ Year 401 ( CDI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vincentius and Fravitus (or, less frequently, year 1154 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Liberal Unionist Party MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1910–1918 Politicians from Nottingham High sheriffs of Nottinghamshire