R. B. Cunninghame Graham
(1852—1936)

Traveller, writer, socialist and nationalist

Larger-than-life figure of a wide range of talents and interests: descended from Robert II on one side and Spanish nobility on the other, he spoke Spanish as his first language and rode with the gauchos in South America where he was highly regarded.

He was also a Lanarkshire Liberal MP and set up the Scottish Labour Party with Keir Hardie. He was possibly the only person to be president of both the Scottish Labour Party (1888) and the Scottish National Party (1934), where his interests later drifted.

A witty and charming man, he travelled widely, wrote and was a friend of figures like Morris, Whistler, Shaw, Wells and Buffalo Bill.