Sir William Wedderburn, 4th Baronet, JP DL (25 March 1838 – 25 January 1918) was a British civil servant and politician who was a

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 ...

member of Parliament (MP). Wedderburn was one of the founding members of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

. He was also the

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of Congress in 1889 and 1910, Allahabad session

Early life

William Wedderburn was born in

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, the fourth and youngest son of Sir John Wedderburn, 2nd Baronet and Henrietta Louise Milburn. His grandfather, Sir David, had had the title of the Wedderburn baronetcy restored to the family, following the

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after the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took ...

and the subsequent regain of fortune via the slave sugar plantations of Jamaica. William was educated at Hofwyl Workshop, then Loretto School and finally at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

. He joined the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

as his father and an older brother had done. His older brother John had been killed in the

1857 uprising The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the for ...

and William joined the service in 1860 after ranking third (of 160 applicants) in the entrance exam of 1859. His elder brother David, a widely travelled MP, was the 3rd baronet.

Career

He entered the Indian Civil Service in Bombay in 1860, served as District Judge and Judicial Commissioner in Sind; acted as secretary to Bombay Government, Judicial and Political Departments; and from 1885 acted as Judge of the High Court,

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. He retired when acting Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay in 1887. During his work he noted the troubles of peasantry arising from moneylending and he suggested that co-operative agricultural banks be established to provide credits at reasonable rates. The proposal was supported in India but was blocked by the India Office. Wedderburn supported reforms suggested by Lord Ripon to develop

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and equality to Indian judges. He was seen as supporting the aspirations of Indians and was denied a judge position in the Bombay high court. This led him to retire early in 1887. Along with

Allan Octavian Hume Allan Octavian Hume, CB ICS (4 June 1829 – 31 July 1912) was a British civil servant, political reformer, ornithologist and botanist who worked in British India. He was the founder of the Indian National Congress. A notable ornithologist, Hum ...

he was a founder of the

and served as its president in 1889 and 1910. He worked along with influential Congress leaders in Bombay and in 1890 he chaired the

British committee of the Indian National Congress The British Committee of the Indian National congress was established in Britain by the Indian National Congress in 1889. Its purpose was to raise awareness of Indian issues to the public in Britain, to whom the Government of India was responsible ...

, helped publish the journal ''India'' and attempted to support the movement through parliamentary action in Britain. He developed a close working relationship with G. K. Gokhale of the Congress. He was an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate in North Ayrshire in 1892 and served as

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Member of Parliament for Banffshire from 1893 to 1900. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure in 1895 and chairman of Indian Parliamentary Committee. He was considered a great friend of the Indian Progressive Movement and presided at the Indian National Congress, 1889, later chairman, British Committee of the Indian National Congress. In 1910 he returned to India as Congress president and tried to solve the rift between Hindus and Muslims and attempted to reconcile the differences between those who wished to work constitutionally and those who wanted to use more militant actions. He wrote a biographical memoir of A. O. Hume who died in 1912.

Marriage and children

He succeeded his brother, Sir David, to the baronetcy on 18 September 1882. He married Mary Blanche Hoskyns, daughter of Henry William Hoskyns, on 12 September 1878. A daughter, Dorothy, was born in Poona in 1879 and in 1884 they had a second daughter in London, Margaret Griselda. He died at his home in Meredith, Gloucestershire on 25 January 1918. According to the local history society of the nearby village of Tibberton, the farmland of Meredith had been inherited by his mother, and his father commissioned James Medland, a locally prominent architect, to build the house in 1859.

Publications

* ''Papers and Schemes on Arbitration Courts, Agricultural Banks, Village Panchayets and subjects relating to the condition of the Indian people'' *
Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; father of the Indian National Congress, 1829 to 1912
' (1912)

References

External links

*
Speeches and writings (1918)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wedderburn, William 1838 births 1918 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Deputy Lieutenants of Gloucestershire Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Scottish Liberal Party MPs Presidents of the Indian National Congress UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh Wedderburn family