Daniel Turner Holmes (23 February 1863 – 7 April 1955) was a

Scottish Liberal Party The Scottish Liberal Party, the section of the Liberal Party in Scotland, was the dominant political party of Victorian Scotland, and although its importance declined with the rise of the Labour and Unionist parties during the 20th century, it ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1911 to 1918 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

. Holmes was educated at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

and the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. He was an assistant examiner at the University of London, taught at

Greenock Academy The Greenock Academy was a mixed non-denominational school in the west end of Greenock, Scotland. It was founded in 1855 and was originally independent, later a grammar school with a primary department, and finally a Comprehensive school only fo ...

and

Paisley Grammar School Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of James VI of Scotland, King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. T ...

, and wrote and lectured on literature before becoming an MP.'Mr D. T. Holmes', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 25 April 1955, p. 15 Holmes was elected to parliament at the 1911 by-election in Govan, caused by the appointment of the Liberal incumbent William Hunter as a Judge of the Court of Session. Holmes was elected by a margin of 936, a majority more than 1000 votes less than that of his predecessor. A key issue in the contest was the

National Insurance Act The National Insurance Act 1911 ( 1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 55) created National Insurance, originally a system of health insurance for industrial workers in Great Britain based on contributions from employers, the government, and the workers themselves. ...

which Holmes supported. He made his maiden speech in the

on 1 April 1912 in a debate on the Temperance (Scotland) Bill. He married Margaret Eadie (died 1953) in 1896. Their older daughter,

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

, married William Wedgewood Benn in 1920, and the parliamentary connection continued in the following generation with

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...

. His great-grandson is former cabinet minister

Hilary Benn Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (born 26 November 1953) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South, formerly ...

. Their youngest daughter, Hermione, married John Laurence Lister of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, in 1936.

Works

*''Literary tours in the Highlands and islands of Scotland'', 1909 *''A Scot in France and Switzerland'', 1910

References

External links

* * * 1863 births 1955 deaths Scottish Liberal Party MPs Scottish expatriates in France Scottish expatriates in Switzerland Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies Alumni of the University of London UK MPs 1910–1918 University of Geneva alumni People from Irvine, North Ayrshire University of Paris alumni {{Scotland-Liberal-UK-MP-stub