James Dickson (19 April 1859 – 8 August 1941) was an Irish

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician in the era of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

. He was

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 the borough of Dungannon from 1880 to 1885. Aged just 21 when elected, he was one of the youngest people elected to the House of Commons since the

Great Reform Act of 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

Early life

Dickson was born in Dungannon on 19 April 1859 and educated at the Royal School there. His sister was Emily Winifred Dickson, the first woman to be elected to a college of surgeons in either Great Britain or Ireland.

Parliamentary career

Dickson was elected to the

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at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on 25 June 1880. At the general election earlier in 1880 Dungannon had been held with a majority of 2 by the sitting Liberal MP, James Dickson's father Thomas Alexander Dickson, but the result had been declared void on petition because of bribery by the candidate's agent. A fresh election was called. James Dickson won the by-election with 132 votes to the 128 of his opponent, Colonel Stuart Knox, a

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 in ...

, who had also contested the general election. James Dickson thus doubled his father's majority. Aged 21 years and 67 days, he became one of the youngest people elected to the House of Commons since the Great Reform Act of 1832. His father re-entered Parliament in his own right at the next election.Dickson is cited as the youngest since 1832 by a number of sources, but he was about three months older than William Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam, elected at Malton in 1832 aged just under 21. See . For a source listing Dickson as the youngest (until 2015), see He held the seat until the Dungannon constituency was abolished at the 1885 general election.

Later career

After leaving politics, Dickson continued his career by joining the family textile business, retiring after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. For many years he was the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Royal School, Chairman of the Technical School Committee, and Chairman of the Tuberculosis Sanatorium Committee. In 1918 he was appointed a DL for

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

Personal life

In 1884 Dickson married Annabella Graham Tillie, the youngest daughter of William Tillie of Londonderry. The couple had four children of whom one, William Tillie Dickson, was killed in the First World War.

Death

James Dickson died at Weeke, Winchester, on 8 August 1941, aged 82.

References

External links

* *
James Dickson: The second youngest MP since the Great Reform Act
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, James 1859 births 1941 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Tyrone constituencies (1801–1922) Irish Liberal Party MPs UK MPs 1880–1885 People from Dungannon