William Alexander Mackinnon (Dunwich MP)

William Alexander Mackinnon DL JP FRS (2 August 1789 – 30 April 1870) was a British politician and a colonisation commissioner for South Australia.

William Alexander Mackinnon DL JP FRS
Member of Parliament for Rye
In office 1853–1865
Preceded by	William Alexander Mackinnon
Succeeded by	Lauchlan Mackinnon
Member of Parliament for Lymington
In office 1835–1852 Serving with John Stewart, Hon. George Keppel, Edward John Hutchins
Preceded by	Sir Harry Burrard-Neale John Stewart
Succeeded by	Edward John Hutchins Sir John Rivett-Carnac
In office 1831–1832 Serving with George Burrard
Preceded by	George Burrard William Egerton
Succeeded by	Sir Harry Burrard-Neale John Stewart
Member of Parliament for Dunwich
In office 1819–1820 Serving with Michael Barne
Preceded by	Michael Barne The Lord Huntingfield
Succeeded by	Michael Barne George Henry Cherry
Personal details
Born	2 August 1789 Broadstairs, Kent
Died	30 April 1870 (aged 80)
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Emma Mary Palmer ​ ​ (died 1835)​
Relations	Douglas Cochrane, 12th Earl of Dundonald (grandson) Thomas Cochrane, 1st Baron Cochrane of Cults (grandson)
Children	6, including William Jr., Lauchlan
Alma mater	St John's College, Cambridge

Early life

He was born in Broadstairs, Kent in 1789 and educated at St John's College, Cambridge.[1][2] He was the eldest son of William Mackinnon of Antigua and Harriet (née Frye) Mackinnon, a daughter of Francis Frye of Antigua.[3] This made him brother of Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Mackinnon and brother-in-law of John Molesworth.

He was a beneficiary of slavery in the British West Indies.[4] He succeeded in 1809 as the 33rd Chief of the Clan Mackinnon.[5]

Career

A Whig, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunwich from 1819 to 1820, for Lymington from 1831 to 1832 and from 1835 to 1852, and for Rye from 1853 to 1865.[6] He was a signatory of the third (of four) annual report of the Colonisation Commissioners of South Australia.[7]

At the 1852 general election he was defeated in Lymington,[8] but his son William had been elected in Rye. However, a petition was lodged against the younger Mackinnon's election, and in May 1853 it was declared void. The elder Mackinnon successfully contested the resulting by-election on 23 May 1853.[9][10] On his retirement in 1865 the seat was taken by his son, Lauchlan Bellingham. Again, treating was alleged.[11]

He was a J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant of Middlesex.[5] Some of his parliamentary work concerned animal welfare and in 1858 he chaired the AGM of the RSPCA,[12] having been appointed vice chair in 1837.[13]

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1827, submitting a paper on the absorption of atmospheric moisture by the state of chalk and limestone. [1] He was also invested as a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He was chairman of the Furness Iron and Steel Co at its inauguration in 1866. His three sons were also shareholders. He was a director of the Elan Valley Railway[14] He wrote three books, "Thoughts on the currency question", "Public Opinion" and "The history of civilisation"[15]

Personal life

Portrait of Emma his daughter, Emma, Duchess of Gramont, by Jules Laure

Mackinnon was married to Emma Mary Palmer, daughter of Joseph Palmer, of Palmerstown, County Mayo and Rush House, county Dublin. Before her death in November 1835, they had three sons and three daughters, including:[3]

• Emma Mary Mackinnon (1811–1891), who married Antoine Alfred Agénor, 20th Duke of Gramont, who was Foreign minister for the French Second Empire, and who instigated contact with Wilhelm I leading to the Ems Telegram. Emma was the mother of Agénor de Gramont, 11th Duke of Gramont
• William Alexander Mackinnon (1813–1903), who was also an M.P.[16]
• Lauchlan Bellingham Mackinnon (1814–1877), who was a Royal Navy captain and wrote three books.[17]
• Louisa Harriet Mackinnon (c. 1820–1902), who married Thomas Cochrane, 11th Earl of Dundonald.[18]
• Daniel Lionel Mackinnon (1824–1854) was killed at Inkerman in 1854.[19][20]

As his wife predeceased her father, Mackinnon inherited Joseph Palmer's estates on his death.[21] The inheritance included the estates of Greenscoe and Greenhaume near Dalton in Furness.[22]

Mackinnon and the RSPCA

Mackinnon's religious and ‘gentlemanly’ morals drove his enthusiasm for animal welfare. During the late eighteenth century, a new type of humanitarianism was developed through evangelical piety and romanticised ideology, which advertised the plight of animals. In Britain, animals had generally been regarded ‘as man’s property, to be treated as he pleased’, however, according to Arthur W. Moss, during the nineteenth century, various organisations progressed in daring ‘to take as their objectives the prevention of cruelty to animals’.[23]

Founded in London as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals by Reverend Arthur Broome and Richard Martin in 1824, the charity was granted Royal status by Queen Victoria in 1840 and became the RSPCA as it is known today. From 1824, the RSPCA began concentrating on cruelty in London's meat markets, but its ambitions were not restricted to Britain's borders. Humanitarians such as William Alexander Mackinnon were eager to reduce Britain's national association with cruel sports as well as tackling cruelty overseas. Brian Harrison notes that during the 1836 annual meeting of the Society, Mackinnon took pride in the fact that ‘to Englishmen alone is the credit due, of having been the first to take up the cause of the suffering dumb creation’.[24]

Mackinnon's role in the RSPCA was invaluable. The Society could not promote legislation of Acts of Parliament to protect animals and birds, so instead relied on the prerogative of individual MPs and governments. Mackinnon was able to present a Parliamentary Bill ‘for consolidating and amending the laws relating to the cruel and improper treatment of animals’. This initial Bill was initially unsuccessful, however, it paved the way for a partnership with Joseph Pease, MP for South Durham, who, like Mackinnon, was a member of the Society of Friends, and on the RSPCA Committee.[25] The two worked in conjuncture, creating another Bill – the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 – which was passed. This was a momentous step forward as it illegalised the use of public and private spheres for running, baiting or fighting bulls, bears, badgers, dogs and other animals, whether wild or domestic.[26]

Notes

1. "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
2. "Mackinnon, William Alexander (MKNN799WA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3. "MACKINNON, William Alexander (1784-1870), of Portswood House, nr. Southampton, Hants". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
4. Coventry, C.J. (2019). "Links in the Chain: British slavery, Victoria and South Australia". Before/Now. 1 (1): 35. doi:10.17613/d8ht-p058.
5. "The Peerage". Retrieved 2 August 2011.
6. Liverpool Mercury 6 September 1864
7. "William Alexander Mackinnon Profile & Legacies Summary". Legacies of British Slave-ownership. University College London. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
8. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 196. ISBN 0-900178 26-4.
9. Craig, op cit., page 260
10. "No. 6285". The London Gazette. 27 May 1853. p. 417.
11. Glasgow Herald 12 Apr 1866
12. Morning Post 27 May 1858
13. Stamford Mercury – Friday 5 May 1837
14. Morning Post 29 May 1868
15. Obituary in The Examiner 7 May 1870
16. "Clan Mackinnon". Retrieved 2 August 2011.
17. "Atlantic and transatlantic: sketches afloat and ashore *EBOOK* by Mackinnon, Lauchlan Bellingham: - E-Books Delivery Service". www.abebooks.co.uk.
18. "Dundonald, Earl of (S, 1669)". cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
19. "William Alexander Mackinnon, Esq., M.P. For Rye. A sketch". 1863.
20. V.D.), John Macinnes (Lieut Col (1899). The Brave Sons of Skye. Eyre and Spottiswoode. p. 207. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
21. Obituary, Bury and Norwich Post - Tuesday 3 May 1870
22. Cumbria Records office, Barrow Box BDKF7
23. Brian Harrison, Peaceable Kingdom: Stability and Change in Modern Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 85.
24. William Mackinnon, 1836 quoted in Harrison, p. 102.
25. 2 & 3 Victoria, c. 47.
26. Arthur W. Moss, Valiant Crusade: The History of the R.S.P.C.A (London: Cassell, 1961), p. 49.

References

• Goodwin, Gordon (1893). "Mackinnon, William Alexander" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Alexander Mackinnon

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs