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).

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* 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