Sir Donald Horne Macfarlane (July 1830 – 2 June 1904) was a Scottish merchant who entered politics and became a
Member of Parliament (MP), firstly as a
Home Rule League
The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...
MP in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
and then as
Liberal and
Crofters Party MP in Scotland.
Macfarlane was born in Scotland, the youngest son of
Allan Macfarlane, J.P., of
Caithness
Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Scotland.
There are two towns, being Wick, Caithness, Wick, which was the county town, and Thurso. The count ...
and his wife Margaret Horne. He became an East Indies merchant as a tea trader and indigo plantation owner. While in India he was a passionate amateur photographer. He experimented freely and produced semi-abstract images.
At the
1880 general election Macfarlane was elected as a Home Rule
Member of Parliament for
County Carlow
County Carlow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county located in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region of Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Carlow is the List of Irish counties by area, second smallest and t ...
.
The Carlow constituency lost one of its two seats under the
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1885"). It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that r ...
, and at the
1885 general election Macfarlane stood instead for the
Crofters Party in
Argyllshire
Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area now forms part of ...
. He won the seat, but lost it in
1886
Events January
* January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885.
* January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...
. He was re-elected (by a narrow margin) at the
1892 general elections as a Liberal/Crofters candidate, holding it until a further defeat in
1895
Events January
* January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (off French Guiana) on what is much later admitted to be a false charge of tr ...
.
He was knighted in the
1894 New Year Honours.
Macfarlane married Mary Isabella Bagshawe in 1857 in India; she was the daughter of
Henry Bagshawe. She predeceased him in 1887. They had one son, George Macfarlane. The following year he married Fanny Worswick Robson (1842–1943).
References
External links
*
1830 births
1904 deaths
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Carlow constituencies (1801–1922)
Home Rule League MPs
Scottish Liberal Party MPs
UK MPs 1880–1885
UK MPs 1885–1886
UK MPs 1892–1895
Members of London County Council
Progressive Party (London) politicians
Crofters Party MPs
{{Scotland-Liberal-UK-MP-stub