Robert
Bontine,
the son of Major William Bontine of the Scots Greys, was born on 24th
May 1852. His mother was the daughter of Admiral Charles Elphinstone
Fleming. Robert spent most of his childhood on the family estate in
Perthshire. After being educated at Harrow Robert moved to Argentina
where his family owned a cattle ranch.
After the death of his father in 1883 he changed his name to Robert
Cunninghame Graham. He
returned to England and became interested in politics. He attended
socialist meetings where he heard and met William
Morris, George Bernard Shaw, H.
M. Hyndman, Keir Hardie and John
Burns. Graham was converted to socialism and he began to speak
at public meetings. He was an impressive orator and was especially
good at dealing with hecklers.
Although a socialist, in the 1886 General Election
he stood as a Liberal at North-West Lanarkshire.
His election programme was extremely radical and called for the abolition
of the House of Lords, universal suffrage,
the nationalisation of the land, mines and other industries, free
school meals, disestablishment of the Church
of England, Scottish Home Rule and the eight-hour-day. Supported
by liberals and socialists, Graham defeated the Conservative
Party candidate by 322 votes.
Robert Cunninghame Graham
refused to accept the conventions of the House
of Commons. On 12th September 1887 he was suspended from Parliament
for making what was called a "disrespectful reference" to
the House of Lords.
Graham's main concerns in the House of Commons
was the plight of the unemployed and the preservation of civil liberties.
He complained about attempts in 1886 and 1887 by the police to prevent
public meetings and free speech. He attended the protest demonstration
in Trafalgar Square on 13th November 1887 that was broken up by the
police. During what became known as Bloody
Sunday, Graham was badly beaten and arrested. Both Cunninghame
Graham and John Burns were found guilty
for their involvement in the demonstration and sentenced to six weeks'
imprisonment.
When Graham was released from Pentonville Prison he continued his
campaign to improve the rights of working people and to curb their
economic exploitation. He was suspended from the House
of Commons in December, 1888 for protesting about the working
conditions of chain makers. Graham was a supporter of the eight hour
day and made several attempts to introduce a bill on the subject.
He made some progress with this in the summer of 1892 but he was unable
to persuade the Conservative Government,
headed by the Marquess of Salisbury,
to allocate time for the bill to be fully debated.
Along with his great friend, James Keir Hardie,
Graham was a strong supporter of Scottish Independence. In 1886 the
two men formed the Scottish
Home Rule Association and while in the House
of Commons made several attempts to persuade fellow MPs of the
desirability of a Scottish Parliament. On one occasion Graham humorously
argued that he wanted a "national parliament with the pleasure
of knowing that the taxes were wasted in Edinburgh instead of London".
While in the House of Commons Graham became
increasingly more radical. He supported workers in their industrial
disputes and was actively involved with Annie
Besant and the Matchgirls Strike and
the 1889 Dockers' Strike. In July 1889
he attended the Marxist Congress of the Second International in Paris
with James Keir Hardie, William
Morris, Eleanor Marx and Edward
Aveling. The following year he made a speech in Calais that was
considered by the authorities to be so revolutionary that he was arrested
and expelled from France.
In the 1892 General Election Graham stood
as the Scottish Labour Party candidate for Glasgow Camlachie. He was
defeated and this brought his parliamentary career to an end.
Despite being out of the House of Commons
Graham continued to be active in politics. He retained a strong belief
in Scottish Home Rule. In 1928 he was elected President of the National
Party of Scotland and
was several times the Scottish Nationalist candidate for the Lord
Rectorship of Glasgow University.
During his life Graham had a large number of
books and articles published. Subject matter included history, biography,
politics, travel and seventeen collections of short stories. Robert
Cunninghame Graham died on 20th March, 1936.
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
