Sir Stephen Furness | |
---|---|
Born | 26 May 1872 |
Died | 6 September 1914 | (aged 40)
Nationality | British |
Citizenship | United Kingdom |
Spouse(s) | Eleanor Forster, 1899 |
Children | 3 |
Sir Stephen Wilson Furness, 1st Baronet (26 May 1872 – 6 September 1914)[1] was a British shipping magnate and a Liberal Party politician.
A member of a prominent ship-owning family from West Hartlepool, Furness was educated at Ashville College, Harrogate. He was a member of West Hartlepool Town Council in 1897 and of Durham County Council in 1898. He was a Justice of the Peace, and a member of the Hartlepool Port and Harbour Commission.[2]
He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for The Hartlepools at a by-election in June 1910, after the re-election in January 1910 of his uncle Sir Christopher was voided as a result of an electoral petition.[3] When his uncle Christopher died in 1912, he succeeded him as Furness, Withy and Company, and also became chairman of over a dozen other companies and director of more.[2] He was made a baronet on 18 June 1913, of Tunstall Grange, in the borough of West Hartlepool, in the County of Durham,[4][5] and held his seat in the House of Commons until his death in 1914, aged 42,[1] in an accident while on holiday.[2]