Robert Cunninghame Graham | |
|---|---|
 Cunninghame Graham, c. 1890. | |
| 1st President of the Scottish National Party | |
| In office 7 April 1934 – 20 March 1936 | |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Roland Muirhead |
| President of the Scottish Labour Party | |
| In office 25 August 1888 – 1895 | |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Party Disestablished |
| MP for North West Lanarkshire | |
| In office 1886–1892 | |
| Preceded by | John Baird |
| Succeeded by | Graeme Alexander Lockhart Whitelaw |
| Majority | 332 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 May 1852 London, England |
| Died | 20 March 1936 (aged 83) Plaza Hotel, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Resting place | Inchmahome Priory |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Political party | Scottish National Party |
| Other political affiliations | National Party of Scotland Scottish Labour Party Liberal Party |
| Alma mater | Harrow School |
| Laid to rest at Lake of Menteith. On the island of Inchmahome | |
Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham[1] (24 May 1852 – 20 March 1936) was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer. He was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP); 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[2] of the Renfrew Militia and formerly a Cornet in the Scots Greys with whom he served in Ireland. His mother was the Hon. Anne Elizabeth Elphinstone-Fleeming, daughter of Admiral Charles Elphinstone-Fleeming of Cumbernauld[3] and a Spanish noblewoman, Doña Catalina Paulina Alessandro de Jiménez, who reputedly, along with her second husband, Admiral James Katon, heavily influenced Cunninghame Graham's upbringing. Thus the first language Cunninghame Graham learned was his mother's maternal tongue, Spanish.
- ^ There is no hyphen between the two surnames (as is the Scottish fashion) which were first joined together by Don Roberto's great-great-grandfather, Robert Graham of Gartmore, in 1796 when he inherited the Cunninghame estate of Finlaystone in Renfrewshire from his cousin John, 15th and last Earl of Glencairn.
- ^ The entail of Nicol Bontine of Ardoch disponing the estate to his cousin Robert Graham of Gartmore stated that the holder of Gartmore could not also hold Ardoch at the same time and required the holder of Ardoch to assume the name Bontine. This led to the eldest son assuming the name Bontine during his father's lifetime and reverting to Cunninghame Graham with the Bontine as an additional forename upon succeeding to Gartmore. Major Bontine, due to his illness, never reverted to Cunninghame Graham. The practice has become almost impossible in modern times though the current head of the Cunninghame Graham family, William Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham of Gartmore assumed the Bontine into the middle of his name upon the death of his father in 1996.
- ^ She was thus a niece of both John, 12th Lord Elphinstone and Hon Mountstuart Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay and author of an early History of India. Her brother John Elphinstone-Fleeming, became the 14th Lord Elphinstone in 1860.