Sir Charles William Cayzer, 1st Baronet (15 July 1843 – 28 September 1916) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

businessman and Conservative Party politician.

Biography

Born in

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through ...

, a maritime district of London, Cayzer was the son of Charles Cayzer, a schoolmaster, and his wife Mary Elizabeth ''née'' Nicklin. At the age of fifteen Cayzer took a position as clerk on a commercial shipping route to Japan. In 1861 he took up employment as a shipping agent in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

and by 1868 was working for the

British-India Steam Navigation Company British India Steam Navigation Company ("BI") was formed in 1856 as the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company. History The ''Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company'' had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading part ...

as master of stores. He left India in 1873, to work for the British-India Line's London agents. In 1876 he approached British-India's owner William McKinnon, seeking to form a business partnership. McKinnon refused, and Cayzer founded his own shipping business C.W. Cayzer & Company in

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 populat ...

in 1877. The company traded between India and the United Kingdom, and in the following year he formed a partnership with Captain William Irvine and the firm became Cayzer, Irvine & Company. Later in the same year the Glasgow shipbuilder Alexander Stephen took a stake in the business which moved headquarters to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and was relaunched as the

Clan Line The Clan Line was a passenger and cargo shipping company that operated in one incarnation or another from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. History Foundation and early years The company that would become the Clan Lin ...

. In 1880 the wealthy industrialist

Thomas Coats Thomas Coats (1809–1883) was a Scottish thread manufacturer. Life Coats was born at Paisley 18 October 1809. He was the fourth of a family of ten sons. His father, James Coats, was one of the founders of the Coats Group of Paisley. In ...

became involved and the enlarged Clan Line Association of Steamers was formed. Cayzer amassed a large fortune from his shipping interests, and purchased a number of estates in Scotland, totalling approximately 12,000 acres in area. These included

Gartmore Gartmore (Scottish Gaelic ''An Gart Mòr'') is a village in the Stirling council area, Scotland. It is a village with a view of the Wallace Monument in Stirling, almost 25 miles away. Formerly in Perthshire, it is one mile from the A81 Glasgo ...

near

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in Perthshire, Ralston near Paisley, Renfrewshire and

Newtyle Newtyle is a village in the west of Angus, Scotland. It lies north of Dundee in the southwest of Strathmore, between Hatton Hill and Newtyle ( Heather Hill) in the Sidlaws. The village sits on gently sloping ground with a northwest aspect. T ...

in Forfarshire. He was also known for his philanthropy, including donating Ralston House to the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

for use as a home for paralysed servicemen. He was a Freemason and an Officer of the United Grand Lodge of England and went on to found Wilbraham Masonic Lodge No. 1713, in the Province of West Lancashire in 1877. The Lodge went from strength to strength as did all of Freemasonry in England. Wilbraham Lodge's last meeting was in May 2008 and was formally erased due to falling numbers in December 2008. In 1890 he purchased Clevedon House,

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as a summer home. He was elected provost of the burgh of Cove and Kilcreggan in 1891. On 23 March 1898 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the

-based

1st Lanarkshire Artillery Volunteers The 1st Lanarkshire Artillery Volunteers were formed in 1859 as a response to a French invasion threat. Its units fought at Gallipoli and in Palestine during World War I, and in Normandy and North West Europe during World War II. It continued ...

, and retained the position with its successor the 3rd Lowland Brigade, Royal Field Artillery in the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

.''Army List''. He was elected at the 1892 general election as the

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 o ...

(MP) for Barrow in Furness, and held the seat until his defeat at the 1906 general election. He contested the January 1910 general election in the

Monmouth Boroughs Monmouth Boroughs (also known as the Monmouth District of Boroughs) was a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency consisting of several towns in Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (Uni ...

, but did not win the seat.

Personal life

He was knighted in 1897, and 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 14t ...

in 1904, of Gartmore, Perthshire. Cayzer married Agnes Elizabeth Trickey (1850-1919) of

Clifton, Bristol Clifton is both a suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The eastern part of the suburb lies within the ward of Clifton D ...

, in 1868. The couple met in Bombay when she was travelling on her father's ship and had six sons and three daughters. His third son,

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

or "Gus" was to succeed him as chairman of Clan Line and was created a baronet in 1921, while his fifth son,

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert ...

or "Bertie" was also chairman of Clan Line and a Conservative member of parliament. He was created a baronet in 1924 and was raised to the peerage as

Baron Rotherwick Baron Rotherwick, of Tylney in the County of Southampton, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The title was created on 8 June 1939 for the shipping magnate and Conservative Member of Parliament, Sir Herbert Cayzer, 1st Bar ...

in 1939. Two of his daughters married men who became Admiral of the Fleet in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

: Florence, his second daughter married

John Jellicoe Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, (5 December 1859 – 20 November 1935) was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutlan ...

in 1902, while his third daughter, Constance married Charles Madden in 1905. Cayzer died at Gartmore in September 1916 following a short illness. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, Charles William Cayzer born in 1869. He is the three times great grandfather of

Labour and Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candida ...

politician Stella Creasy on her maternal side.

References

External links

*
Biography on Cayzer Family Archive website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cayzer, Charles 1843 births 1916 deaths Cayzer family Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British businesspeople in shipping Knights Bachelor People from Limehouse 19th-century British businesspeople