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William Wedderburn Baronet | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament forBanffshire | |
| In office 1893–1900 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Robert Duff |
| Succeeded by | Alexander William Black |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 March 1838 |
| Died | 25 January 1918(1918-01-25) (aged 79) Meredith, England, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Party |
| Other political affiliations | Co-founder of theIndian National Congress |
| Relations | Wedderburn family |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Profession | Civil servant,politician |
Sir William Wedderburn, 4th Baronet,JPDL (25 March 1838 – 25 January 1918) was a British civil servant and politician who was aLiberal Party member of Parliament (MP). Wedderburn was one of the founding members of theIndian National Congress.[1][2] He was also thepresident of Congress in 1889 and 1910, for the Allahabad session.[3][4]
William Wedderburn was born inEdinburgh, the fourth and youngest son of Sir John Wedderburn, 2nd Baronet and Henrietta Louise Milburn. His grandfather,Sir David, had had the title of theWedderburn baronetcy restored to the family, following theattainder after theJacobite rising of 1745 and the subsequent regain of fortune via theslave sugar plantations of Jamaica.
William was educated at Hofwyl Workshop, thenLoretto School and finally atEdinburgh University.[5] He joined theIndian Civil Service as his father and an older brother had done. His older brother John had been killed in the1857 uprising and William joined the service in 1860 after ranking third (of 160 applicants) in the entrance exam of 1859.[6][7]His elder brother David, a widely travelled MP, was the 3rd baronet.
He entered theIndian Civil Service inBombay in 1860, served as District Judge and Judicial Commissioner in Sind; acted as secretary to Bombay Government, Judicial and Political Departments; and from 1885 acted as Judge of the High Court,Bombay. He retired when acting Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay in 1887. During his work he noted the troubles of peasantry arising from moneylending and he suggested that co-operative agricultural banks be established to provide credits at reasonable rates. The proposal was supported in India but was blocked by the India Office. Wedderburn supported reforms suggested byLord Ripon to developlocal self-government and equality to Indian judges. He was seen as supporting the aspirations of Indians and was denied a judge position in theBombay High Court. This led him to retire early in 1887. Along withAllan Octavian Hume he was a founder of theIndian National Congress and served as its president in 1889 and 1910.[5] He worked along with influential Congress leaders in Bombay and in 1890 he chaired theBritish committee of the Indian National Congress, helped publish the journalIndia and attempted to support the movement through parliamentary action in Britain. He developed a close working relationship withG. K. Gokhale of the Congress.[6] He was an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate inNorth Ayrshire in 1892 and served asLiberal Member of Parliament forBanffshire from 1893 to 1900.[5]
He was a member of theRoyal Commission on Indian Expenditure in 1895 and chairman of Indian Parliamentary Committee. He was considered "a great friend of the Indian Progressive Movement".[5] In 1910 he returned to India as Congress president and tried to solvethe rift between Hindus and Muslims and attempted to reconcile the differences between those who wished to work constitutionally and those who wanted to use more militant actions. He wrote a biographical memoir of A. O. Hume who died in 1912.[6]
He succeeded his brother, Sir David, to the baronetcy on 18 September 1882. He married Mary Blanche Hoskyns, daughter of Henry William Hoskyns, on 12 September 1878. A daughter, Dorothy, was born in Poona in 1879 and in 1884 they had a second daughter in London, Margaret Griselda.[5] He died at his home in Meredith, Gloucestershire on 25 January 1918.[6] According to thelocal history society of the nearby village ofTibberton, the farmland of Meredith had been inherited by his mother, and his father commissionedJames Medland, a locally prominent architect, to build the house in 1859.[8]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBanffshire 1893–1900 | Succeeded by |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Baronet (of Balindean, Perthshire) 1882–1918 | Succeeded by |
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