# Charles Cowan > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Charles_Cowan > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Charles_Cowan.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Cowan > Source revision: 1336053015 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|British politician}} {{For|the Welsh-born English cricketer|Charles Cowan (cricketer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Charles Cowan | image = Charles_Cowan.png | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1801|06|07}} | birth_place = [Crail](/source/Crail), [Fife](/source/Fife) | death_date = 1889 (aged 87-88) | death_place = [Scotland](/source/Scotland) | occupation = Paper-maker (1819–1847)
[Edinburgh MP](/source/Edinburgh_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) (1847–1859) }} '''Charles Cowan''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSE}} (7 June 1801 – 1889) was a Scottish politician and paper-maker. ==Life== He was born in [Charlotte Street](/source/Charlotte_Street%2C_Edinburgh) in [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh) on 7 June 1801, the son of [Alexander Cowan](/source/Alexander_Cowan), papermaker and philanthropist, and Elizabeth Hall, daughter of George Hall a merchant in [Crail](/source/Crail) in Fife. He was the eldest of eleven children, eight of whom survived until adulthood.{{cite ODNB|id=47109|title=Cowan, Charles|first=Ian |last=Machin}} He was educated at [Penicuik](/source/Penicuik) Parish School 1806-11 and then the High School in [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh). He then attended university both in [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh_University) (1814–17) and [Geneva](/source/Geneva) (1817-18). He then followed his father into the paper-making industry. He wrote the article on papermaking for the ''[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica)''.[http://www.penicuikarts.org/lookingback/paper.htm Six generations of Cowans at the Valleyfield Mills, Penicuik Community Arts Association] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060101110825/http://www.penicuikarts.org/lookingback/paper.htm |date=1 January 2006 }} In May 1819, he was sent to learn the papermaking trade at [St Mary Cray](/source/St_Mary_Cray), Kent, where he worked at either Lay's or Hall's mill on the [River Cray](/source/River_Cray).[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~barrowsr/Stories/JoynsosnPaperMill/Paper_making_by_Joynsons_in_St_Mary_Cray_-_email_from_Charles_Joynson.htm Rootsweb] In the [general election of June 1847](/source/1847_United_Kingdom_general_election), he ran as a [Radical](/source/Radicals_(UK)) free-trade candidate in [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh_(UK_Parliament_constituency)), defeating the incumbent Whig [Thomas Babington Macaulay](/source/Thomas_Babington_Macaulay%2C_1st_Baron_Macaulay). His initial election was declared null and void due to his being a party to a government contract, but he was re-elected in a second election that December.{{cite book|title=New Edinburgh Almanac and National Repository|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6SYOAAAAQAAJ|year=1850|publisher=Oliver & Boyd|location=Edinburgh}} He was re-elected in the [1852 election](/source/1852_United_Kingdom_general_election) in second place on the ballot, and returned unopposed in the [1857 election](/source/1857_United_Kingdom_general_election). He did not stand in 1859, and retired from politics. In 1863 he was elected a Fellow of the [Royal Society of Edinburgh](/source/Royal_Society_of_Edinburgh). He then lived at ''Mount Grange'' a large house in the [Grange](/source/Grange%2C_Edinburgh) on the south side of Edinburgh.{{cite journal|title=List of the Ordinary Fellows of the Society|journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh|volume=26|issue=1|year=2013|pages=xi–xiii|issn=0080-4568|doi=10.1017/S008045680002648X|s2cid=251579034 }} He died at ''Wester Lea'', a villa in [Murrayfield](/source/Murrayfield), [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh) on 29 March 1889. ==Family== He married Catharine Menzies (d.1871) in 1824. ==Other accomplishments== * In 1838 he founded the Royal Caledonian Curling Club * For the year 1864-65 he served as president of the [Royal Scottish Society of Arts](/source/Royal_Scottish_Society_of_Arts) ==References== ;Notes {{citation|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002|publisher=[The Royal Society of Edinburgh](/source/The_Royal_Society_of_Edinburgh)|location=Edinburgh|first1=C D|last1=Waterston|first2=A|last2=Macmillan Shearer|date=July 2006|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=17 November 2015|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}} ==External links== * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-charles-cowan | Charles Cowan }} {{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) for [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) | years = [1847](/source/1847_United_Kingdom_general_election)–[1859](/source/1859_United_Kingdom_general_election) | with = [William Gibson-Craig](/source/William_Gibson-Craig) to 1852 | with2 = [Thomas Babington Macaulay](/source/Thomas_Babington_Macaulay%2C_1st_Baron_Macaulay) 1852–56 | with3 = [Adam Black](/source/Adam_Black) from 1856 | before = [William Gibson-Craig](/source/William_Gibson-Craig)
[Thomas Babington Macaulay](/source/Thomas_Babington_Macaulay%2C_1st_Baron_Macaulay) | after = [Adam Black](/source/Adam_Black)
[James Moncreiff](/source/James_Moncreiff%2C_1st_Baron_Moncreiff) }} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}} {{Use British English|date=March 2017}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Charles}} Category:1801 births Category:1889 deaths Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies Category:UK MPs 1847–1852 Category:UK MPs 1852–1857 Category:UK MPs 1857–1859 Category:People from St Mary Cray --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Charles Cowan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Cowan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Cowan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.