Sir Stephen Furness, 1st Baronet

Sir Stephen Wilson Furness, 1st Baronet (26 May 1872 – 6 September 1914)[1] was a British shipping magnate and a Liberal Party politician.

A member of a prominent ship-owning family from West Hartlepool, Furness was educated at Ashville College, Harrogate. He was a member of West Hartlepool Town Council in 1897 and of Durham County Council in 1898. He was a Justice of the Peace, and a member of the Hartlepool Port and Harbour Commission.[2]

He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for The Hartlepools at a by-election in June 1910, after the re-election in January 1910 of his uncle Sir Sir Christopher was voided as a result of an electoral petition.[3] When his uncle Christopher died in 1912, he succeeded him as Furness, Withy and Company, and also became chairman of over a dozen other companies and director of more.[2] He was made a baronet on 18 June 1913, of Tunstall Grange, Durham,[4] and held his seat in the House of Commons until his death in 1914, aged 44,[1] in an accident while on holiday.[2]

Personal life

In 1899 he married Eleanor Forster, with whom he had three sons and one daughter. They lived at Tunstall Grange, in West Hartlepool.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 1)
  2. ^ a b c d "Stephen Wilson Furness 1872-1914 biography". PortCities Hartlepool. Hartlepool Maritime Resource. http://portcities.hartlepool.gov.uk/server.php?show=ConNarrative.90. Retrieved 31 January 2010. 
  3. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 119. ISBN 0-900178-27-2. 
  4. ^ Leigh Rayment's baronetage pages: F

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Christopher Furness		 Member of Parliament for The Hartlepools
1910 – 1914		 Succeeded by
Sir Walter Runciman, Bt
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
of Tunstall Grange
1910-1914		 Succeeded by
Christopher Furness