Donald Horne Macfarlane

Who was Donald Horne Macfarlane?

Sir Donald Horne Macfarlane was a Scottish merchant who entered politics and became a Member of Parliament, firstly as a Home Rule League MP in Ireland and then as Liberal and Crofters Party MP in Scotland.

Macfarlane was born in Scotland, the youngest son of Allan Macfarlane J.P., of Caithness and his wife Margaret Horne. He became an East Indies merchant as a tea trader and indigo plantation owner. While in India he was a passionate amateur photographer. He experimented freely and produced semi-abstract images.

At the 1880 general election Macfarlane was elected as a Home Rule Member of Parliament for Carlow County. The Carlow constituency lost one of its two seats under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and at the 1885 general election Macfarlane stood instead for the Crofters Party in Argyllshire. He won the seat, but lost it in 1886. He was re-elected at the 1892 general elections as a Liberal/Crofters candidate, holding it until a further defeat in 1895. He was knighted in 1894.

Macfarlane married Mary Isabella Bagshawe in 1857