Edward Marjoribanks 2nd Baron Tweedmouth 1849 – 1909

Edward Marjoribanks 2nd Baron Tweedmouth KT, PC 1849 – 1909 was a British Liberal Party politician, a sponsor (Anon, American Homoeopathist, Volume 21, (Chatterton-Peck., 1895). Page 39) and an advocate of homeopathy (Anon, The Hahnemannian Monthly, Volume 32, (LaBarre Printing Company, 1897). Page 52).

Tweedmouth was the son in law of John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough (who was a patient of James John Garth Wilkinson, and John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough employed homeopath George Lennox Moore to treat the animals on his estates at Blenheim Palace),

Tweedmouth was a colleague of Herbert Henry Asquith, Henry Campbell Bannerman, William Ewert Gladstone,

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Marjoribanks,_2nd_Baron_Tweedmouth Tweedmouth was the son of Dudley Marjoribanks 1st Baron Tweedmouth, and Isabella, daughter of Sir James Hogg 1st Baronet. Ishbel Hamilton Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair was his sister. He is descended from Joseph Marjoribanks, a wine and fish merchant in Edinburgh who died in 1635 and is thought to have been the grandson of Thomas Marjoribanks of Ratho, head of the lowland clan Marjoribanks.

Tweedmouth was returned to Parliament for Berwickshire in 1880, a seat he held until 1894. He served under William Ewert Gladstone as Comptroller of the Household in between February and July 1886, and was sworn of the Privy Council the same year. When the Liberals returned to power under William Ewert Gladstone, in 1892, he was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (chief whip).

He succeeded his father in the barony in March 1894, only a few days before Gladstone resigned and Archibald Philip Primrose 5th Earl of Rosebery became Prime Minister. Rosebery appointed Tweedmouth Lord Privy Seal, with a seat in the cabinet, and in May 1894 he also became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He retained these posts until the government fell in 1895.

After ten years in opposition, the Liberals again came to power in December 1905 under Henry Campbell Bannerman,, who appointed Tweedmouth First Lord of the Admiralty, with a seat in the cabinet.

In early 1908 he was criticized for corresponding with German emperor William II on the British naval programme. The matter was referred to the House of Commons. Chancellor of the Exchequer Herbert Henry Asquith, eventually stated that the correspondence was “a purely personal and private communication, conceived in an entirely friendly spirit” and no action was taken.

However, when Herbert Henry Asquith, succeeded Henry Campbell Bannerman, as Prime Minister in April 1908 Tweedmouth was removed as head of the Admiralty and became Lord President of the Council.

He suffered a nervous breakdown in June 1908, a condition which was said to partly explain his indiscretion in communicating with the German Emperor on naval matters. Although his health later recovered, he resigned in October 1908.

He was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1908. Lord Tweedmouth married Lady Fanny Octavia Louise, daughter of John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough and aunt of Winston Churchill, in 1873. She died from cancer in August 1904, aged 51. Lord Tweedmouth survived her by five years and died in September 1909, aged 60. He was succeeded in the barony by his son, Dudley.