British politician
Sir Robert Purvis (5 July 1844 – 23 June 1920) was a British barrister and Liberal Unionist politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1895 to 1905 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Peterborough.
Early life.
Robert Purvis was born on 5 July 1844 in Roxburghshire, the third son of Joseph Purvis. The family moved to Hexham when Purvis was small.
He was educated at Marlborough and at Downing College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a BA in 1880, an MA and LL.M in 1875, and as a Doctor of law (LL.D) in 1881.
Career.
He was called to the bar in 1873 at the Inner Temple, and practised on the North Eastern Circuit.
At the 1885 general election he unsuccessfully contested the Abingdon division of Berkshire as a Liberal Party candidate. When the Liberals split over Home Rule for Ireland, they took the Unionist side, and at the 1886 election he stood as a Liberal Unionist in Edinburgh South, but lost to William Ewart Gladstone's ally and former minister, Hugh Childers, who had been defeated in his previous district the previous December.