Alexander Learmonth (politician)

Lt. Col. Alexander Learmonth was a British Army officer and a Conservative Party politician.

Life

Born at 4 Princes Street in Edinburgh, the eldest son of John Learmonth, Alexander Learmonth was educated at University College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1847 before entering the Inner Temple to study law. He joined the Army and became a Colonel in the 17th Lancers.
On retiring from the Army he was elected Conservative MP for Colchester on 3 November 1870, sitting from 1870 to 1880.
In 1859, he married Charlotte Lyons, the eldest daughter of Lieutenant-General Humphrey Lyons. The couple had 7 children.
By 1887, his extravagant London lifestyle caused his bankruptcy and the lands he had inherited in Edinburgh from his father were sold to the builder James Steel.
Learmonth died in London on 10 March 1887.