Walter Stowe Bright McLaren (17 April 1853 – 29 June 1912) was a British Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician who was Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for the Crewe division of Cheshire

Crewe (UK Parliament constituency)

Crewe was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 for a total of 11 years between 1886 and 1912.

He was the youngest child of the Liberal MP Duncan McLaren

Duncan McLaren

Duncan McLaren was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Edinburgh.Born in Renton, Scotland, Duncan McLaren was the youngest of ten children of John McLaren and Catherine McLellan. Apart from two years of schooling, was self taught. After school, he was apprenticed to a merchant in Dunbar...

 (1800–1886) and his third wife Priscilla Bright, a sister of the Radical

Radicals (UK)

The Radicals were a parliamentary political grouping in the United Kingdom in the early to mid 19th century, who drew on earlier ideas of radicalism and helped to transform the Whigs into the Liberal Party.-Background:...

 MP John Bright

John Bright

John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...

. Two of his bothers, Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway

Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway

Charles Benjamin Bright McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway, PC, QC, JP , known as Sir Charles McLaren, 1st Baronet between 1902 and 1911, was a Scottish jurist and Liberal Party politician. He was a landowner and industrialist.-Education:Born in Edinburgh, McLaren was the son of the politician Duncan...

 and John also became Liberal Members of Parliament. Walter Mclaren was married in April 1883 to Eva Muller, who died on 16 August 1921.

McLaren first stood for election to the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 at the 1885 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1885

-Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...

, when he stood as an "independent liberal" candidate for the Inverness district of Burghs

Inverness Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)

Inverness Burghs was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918...

, in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. He had been nominated by the Free Church Constitutional Party, and polled strongly against the official Liberal Party candidate, taking 47.5% of the votes.

At the 1886 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1886

-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the UK general election, 1886*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...

 he was elected in Crewe, where the sitting Liberal MP George Latham

George William Latham

George William Latham was an English landowner and barrister and a Liberal politician.Latham was born in London, the son of John Latham of Bradwall Hall, Sandbach, and his wife, Elizabeth Anne Dampier, daughter of Sir Henry Dampier, a judge of the King's Bench. He was educated at Brasenose...

 had not sought re-election. McLaren was re-elected in 1892

United Kingdom general election, 1892

The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...

, but lost his seat at the 1895 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1895

The United Kingdom general election of 1895 was held from 13 July - 7 August 1895. It was won by the Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury who formed an alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party and had a large majority over the Liberals, led by Lord Rosebery...

.He did not stand in 1900

United Kingdom general election, 1900

-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1900*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...

, when the seat was regained for the Liberals by James Tomkinson

James Tomkinson

James Tomkinson PC was an English landowner and Liberal Party politician.Born in 1840, Tomkinson lived at Willington Hall, Chester, and was High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1887...

, but when Tomkinson died shortly after being re-elected at the January 1910 election, McLaren was the successful Liberal candidate in the resulting by-election. He held the seat until his own death in 1912.

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