Edward John Sartoris

Edward John Sartoris (1813 or 1814 - 23 November 1888) was a British landowner and Liberal politician of French ancestry.[1][2]

Early life

The eldest son of Urban Sartoris of Sceaux, near Paris and his wife Matilda née Tunno, Edward was born in London and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.[3] In 1842 he married the opera singer Adelaide Kemble. The family initially leased Knuston Hall near Irchester, Northamptonshire.[4] In 1863, on the death of his maternal uncle Edward Tunno, he inherited estates at Warnford, Hampshire and Llangennech, Carmarthenshire. The Welsh estate included large coal deposits.[2][5]

Member of parliament

The County of Carmarthenshire was represented in the House of Commons by two members of parliament. For many years prior to 1868 elections had been uncontested, with both MPs being Conservatives. The members were effectively chosen by the powerful Campbell family, Earls Cawdor.[6]

The Second Reform Act of 1867 had greatly increased the franchise, allowing large numbers of working class men to vote for the first time. This, along with difficulties in the Conservative Party over candidate selection, led the Carmarthenshire Liberals to decide to contest the 1868 general election.[6][7] Rather than choosing a member of the landed gentry, the party chose Sartoris as their candidate. As a relative newcomer to the area he benefitted from being seen as an "outsider", not subject to the traditional land owning interests. He was also based in the rapidly industrialising Llanelli district, the only part of the county where there was population growth. With an efficient party machine, largely organised by non-conformist clergymen of the district, Sartoris secured a spectacular victory, his 3,280 votes easily winning the first seat in the constituency.[1] The Conservative Party learnt from their defeat, at the next election in 1874 Earl Cawdor's eldest son, Viscount Emlyn, regained the seat from Sartoris.[1][6]

Later life

Sartoris retired to his Hampshire estate, Warnford Park, in 1874. Later that year his son, Algernon Sartoris, married Nellie Grant, the daughter of the American president Ulysses S. Grant, on 21 May 1874 in the East Room of the White House.[8]

He was a justice of the peace for the county, and an enthusuiastic sportsman and yachtsman. In 1878 his yacht May won the Hamble River Regatta.[9] He died in Hampshire in November 1888 aged 74.[1][10]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Williams, William Retlaw (1895). The parliamentary history of the principality of Wales, from the earliest times to the present day, 1541-1895, comprising lists of the representatives, chronologically arranged under counties, with biographical and genealogical notices of the members, together with particulars of the various contested elections, double returns and petitions. Brecknock: Privately published. p. 50.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Our New Members of Parliament". The Times. 5 December 1868. p. 7.
  3. ↑ "Sartoris, Edward John (SRTS832EJ)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. ↑ "Knuston Hall - History". Northamptonshire County Council. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  5. ↑ "Llangennech Park". Llanelli History. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Matthews, Ioan (June 1999). "Disturbing the Peace of the County". Welsh History Review 19 (3): 453–486. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  7. ↑ "Election Intelligence. Carmarthenshire.". The Times. 11 August 1868. p. 10.
  8. ↑ Charles and Hugh Brogan Mosley, editors, American Presidential Families (London, U.K.: Alan Sutton and Morris Genealogical Books, 1994), page 469.
  9. ↑ "Owners 1860-2008". Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  10. ↑ "Deaths". The Times. 27 November 1888. p. 1.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
David Jones
David Pugh		 Member of Parliament for Carmarthenshire
1868-1874
With: John Jones		 Succeeded by
Viscount Emlyn
John Jones