33 Facts About Cunninghame Graham

Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer.

Cunninghame Graham was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament ; the first ever socialist member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; a founder, and the first president, of the Scottish Labour Party; a founder of the National Party of Scotland in 1928; and the first president of the Scottish National Party in 1934.

Cunninghame Graham was the eldest son of Major William Bontine of the Renfrew Militia and formerly a Cornet in the Scots Greys with whom he served in Ireland.

Cunninghame Graham spent most of his childhood on the family estate of Finlaystone in Renfrewshire and Ardoch in Dunbartonshire, Scotland, with his younger brothers Charles and Malise.

Cunninghame Graham became known as a great adventurer and gaucho there, and was affectionately known as Don Roberto.

Cunninghame Graham travelled in Morocco disguised as a Turkish sheikh to find the "forbidden" city of Taroudant but was captured by a Caid, prospected for gold in Spain, befriended Buffalo Bill in Texas, and taught fencing in Mexico City, having travelled there by wagon train from San Antonio de Bexar with his young bride sic "Gabrielle Marie de la Balmondiere", a supposed half-French, half-Chilean poet.

Cunninghame Graham returned to the UK and became interested in politics.

Cunninghame Graham was an impressive orator and was especially good at dealing with hecklers.

Cunninghame Graham had stood against the same candidate at the 1885 general election, in which he was defeated by over 1100 votes.

Robert Cunninghame Graham refused to accept the conventions of the British House of Commons.

Cunninghame Graham was the first MP ever to be suspended from the House of Commons for swearing; the word was damn.

Cunninghame Graham complained about attempts in 1886 and 1887 by the police to prevent public meetings and free speech.

Cunninghame Graham attended the protest demonstration in Trafalgar Square on 13 November 1887 that was broken up by the police and became known as Bloody Sunday.

Cunninghame Graham was badly beaten during his arrest and taken to Bow Street Police Station, where his uncle, Col William Hope VC, attempted to post bail.

When Cunninghame Graham was released from Pentonville prison he continued his campaign to improve the rights of working people and to curb their economic exploitation.

Cunninghame Graham was suspended from the House of Commons in December 1888 for protesting about the working conditions of the chain makers of Cradley Heath.

In 1888, Cunninghame Graham attended the SHRA Conference at the Anderton's Hotel in Fleet Street and passed a motion "That in the opinion of this Conference the interests of Scotland demand the establishment of a Scotch national Parliament and an Executive Government having control over exclusively Scotch affairs, with a due regard to the integrity of the Empire".

Cunninghame Graham left the Liberal Party in 1892 to contest the general election in a new constituency as a Labour candidate.

Cunninghame Graham supported workers in their industrial disputes and was involved with Annie Besant and the Matchgirls Strike and the 1889 Dockers' Strike.

Cunninghame Graham was a supporter of the eight-hour day and made several attempts to introduce a Bill on the subject.

Cunninghame Graham made some progress with this in the summer of 1892, but he was unable to persuade the Conservative government, headed by Lord Salisbury, to allocate time for the Bill to be fully debated.

At the 1892 general election Cunninghame Graham stood as the Scottish Labour Party candidate for Glasgow Camlachie.

Cunninghame Graham was defeated, bringing his parliamentary career to an end.

Cunninghame Graham remained active in political circles, though, helping his colleague Keir Hardie establish the Independent Labour Party and enter parliament as the MP for West Ham.

Cunninghame Graham played an active part in the establishment of the National Party of Scotland in 1928 and was elected the Honorary President of the new Scottish National Party in 1934.

Cunninghame Graham was several times the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association candidate for the Lord Rectorship of the University of Glasgow, which he lost by only sixty-six votes in 1928 to Stanley Baldwin, the Conservative Prime Minister at the time.

Cunninghame Graham was a vociferous anti-imperialist at the height of British jingoism as well as a high-profile supporter of the women's suffrage movement and Home Rule for Ireland and India.

Between 1888 and 1892, Cunninghame Graham was a prolific contributor to small-circulation socialist journals, but his literary career took off when he was recruited by Frank Harris to write for the Saturday Review in 1895, and he continued writing for the Saturday until 1926, as well as other journals.

Cunninghame Graham helped his close friend Joseph Conrad, whom he had introduced to his publisher Edward Garnett at Duckworth, with research for his novel Nostromo.

Cunninghame Graham remained sprightly and rode daily even in his eighties.

Cunninghame Graham died from pneumonia on 20 March 1936 at the Plaza Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, following a visit to the birthplace of his friend William Hudson.

Cunninghame Graham lay in state in the Casa del Teatro and received a countrywide tribute led by the President of the Republic before his body was shipped home to be buried beside his wife on 18 April 1936, in the ruined Augustinian Priory on the island of Inchmahome, Lake of Menteith, Stirling.

Cunninghame Graham was a staunch supporter of the artists of his day and a popular subject.