James Falconer

James Falconer (9 June 1856 – 21 April 1931) was a Scottish solicitor and Liberal Party politician.

Falconer was born in Carmyllie, Forfarshire, the son of Donald Falconer. He was educated at Arbroath High School and Edinburgh University where he obtained his MA degree. He married Ada Kennedy.

Falconer went in for the law and qualified as a solicitor. He became a member of the private society of Scottish solicitors, the Writers to the Signet, in 1884 and he specialised in the law of contracts. He rose to be the principal partner in the firm of Gordon, Falconer & Fairweather of Edinburgh. Falconer was also the tenant of large farm in Forfarshire and manager of a second.

Falconer was active in Liberal politics in Scotland, holding various positions in the Scottish party organisation. He was Chairman of the Scottish Reform Club and secretary of the Scottish Liberal Association in which post he was responsible for promoting and publicising the party and its politics.

In 1909, a by-election was caused in Forfarshire by the elevation to the peerage as Baron Pentland of the sitting Liberal MP John Sinclair. At a meeting of Forfarshire Liberal Association in Arbroath, Falconer was unanimously selected as the candidate to succeed Sinclair. The by-election was held on 27 February 1909 and Falconer held the seat with a majority of 2,452 votes over his Unionist opponent R L Blackburn KC. He then retained his seat until the 1918 general election when he was defeated by the Unionist, Captain W T Shaw. Interestingly in this election neither Falconer nor Shaw received the government coupon but Shaw’s name had apparently been incorrectly included in the final official list of Coalition candidates which may have been enough to gain him the extra votes he needed to defeat Falconer by a majority of 518.

...
Wikipedia