Arthur Bignold

Sir Arthur Bignold (8 July 1839 – 23 March 1915)[1] was a Liberal Unionist Party politician in Scotland who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wick Burghs from 1900 to 1910.

Bignold was third son of Sir Samuel Bignold, Secretary of the Norwich Union.[2] He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1873 he was a founding member of The Kennel Club.[3]

He won his seat in the House of Commons at the 1900 general election,[4] when he defeated the sitting Liberal Party MP Thomas Hedderwick. Bignold was re-elected in 1906, but lost his seat at the January 1910 general election. He stood again in December 1910, but lost again.[4]

He was granted the freedom of the Royal burgh of Dingwall in December 1902,[5] and knighted on 5 July 1904.[6] He was proprietor of Lochrosque and Strathbran Estates in Ross Shire, near to Achnasheen and Achanalt and served as President of the Ross and Sutherland Benevolent Society as well as a magistrate of Ross and Cromarty and Chief of the Gaelic Society.[7] A bagpipe march Arthur Bignold of Lochrosque is named after him.[8]

In September 1914 Winston Churchill, when he was First Lord of the Admiralty was travelling past Bignold's home, Lochrosque Castle, to inspect the fleet at Loch Ewe. Churchill noticed a light on the roof used for lamping deer and assumed that it was being used to communicate with German spies. Churchill and his Police protection officer invaded the Castle and dismantled the light to the annoyance of Bignold.[9]

References
  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 3)
  2. Sir Robert Bignold (1948). Five Generations of the Bignold Family, 1761-1947. London: B. T. Batsford.
  3. Venn, John (15 September 2011). "BIGNOLD, ARTHUR". Alumni Cantabrigienses. Vol. 2: From 1752 to 1900, Part 1: ABBEY to CHALLIS. p. 261. ISBN 9781108036115.
  4. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 521. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  5. "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36965. London. 31 December 1902. p. 8.
  6. "No. 27695". The London Gazette. 12 July 1904. p. 4448.
  7. "Achnasheen and Garve Community Website". Achnasheen and Garve. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  8. "Bagpipes – Arthur Bignold of Lochrosque". Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2011 – via YouTube.
  9. "Achnasheen and Garve Community Website". Achnasheen and Garve. Retrieved 21 November 2011.


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