Andrew Spottiswoode


Andrew Spottiswoode was a Scottish printer, publisher and politician, MP for Saltash from 1826 to 1830, and Colchester from 1830 to 1831.

Life

Spottiswoode was born in London on 19 February 1787. He was the fourth, but third surviving, son of John Spottiswoode of Spottiswoode, Berwick, and Margaret Penelope Strahan. Among his siblings was brother, Robert Spottiswoode. On their father's death in 1805, his eldest brother, John Spottiswoode, inherited their father's Scottish estate and property in Tobago.
His paternal grandparents were John Spottiswoode, an eminent advocate and legal author, and Mary Spottiswoode of Fife. The family descended from John Spottiswoode, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Lord Chancellor of Scotland. His maternal grandparents were the former Margaret Penelope Elphinstone and William Strahan, an MP and publisher who was good friends with Benjamin Franklin.
He was educated at Edinburgh High School.

Career

In 1819 Andrew and his brother Robert assumed the management of the printing business of their uncle Andrew Strahan. They brought in steam-powered printing presses. They were also publishers, of works by Henry Fuseli and William Henry Pyne among others, including Anna Eliza Bray's memoir of her husband Charles Alfred Stothard.

King's Printer

In 1830, Strahan was granted a renewed 30-year patent as King's Printer. It resulted in a successful petition against Spottiswoode's election in Colchester, on the grounds that he was a government contractor. The monopoly it conferred was also contested by Joseph Hume, a Radical colleague of Daniel Whittle Harvey to whom Spottiswoode had come second in Colchester. Hume made allegations about the patent, beginning a period in which the status of the monopoly was brought into play.
Spottiswoode gave evidence on Bible printing costs to a parliamentary committee in 1832, as did David Hunter Blair who had the Scottish patent as King's Printer. A criticism of him by the Baptist minister Thomas Curtis, due to allegations of inaccurate printing, was published in 1833.

Political career

Spottiswoode was returned unopposed on the Russell interest as a Member of Parliament for Saltash, serving from 1826 to 1830.
At the 1830 general election, he was a candidate for the open borough of Colchester, standing on the Blue interest. Spottiswoode finished second in the poll to Daniel Whittle Harvey, the radical sitting Member, but far ahead of the reformer William Mayhew. After Harvey raised issue with Spottiswoode's role as the King's Printer, Mayhew petitioned against his return, "alleging malpractice by the returning officer and bribery by Spottiswoode, but crucially arguing that his patent as king’s printer disqualified him, as a government contractor." On petition, Spottiswoode's election to Colchester was declared void and a by-election was held where he was succeeded by Mayhew.

Personal life

On 16 March 1819 Spottiswoode was married to Mary Longman, daughter of Thomas Norton Longman, the printer. In London they lived at 9 Bedford Square, and in Surrey, they owned Broome Hall. Together, they had two sons and three daughters, including:
Spottiswoode died at his London home at 12 James Street, Buckingham Gate on 20 February 1866. Following his death, both Rosa and Augusta inherited equal shares in his four Life Assurance policies and thirteen shares each in the London Gas Light Company.

Descendants

Through his son William, he was a grandfather of William Hugh Spottiswoode and Cyril Andrew Spottiswoode.
Through his son George, he was posthumously a grandfather of Capt. John Spottiswoode of the 6th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, who was killed in action at Gheluvelt during World War I; he had married married Sybil Gwendolen Ginsbury in 1907. His sister, Mabel Spottiswoode, married Robert Stansfield Herries.