View source for John Stroyan (politician)

{{short description|Scottish politician}}
{{for|the Bishop of Warwick|John Stroyan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name           = John Stroyan
| image          = John Stroyan (1856–1941).png
| image_size     = 150
| caption        =  
| birth_name     =
| birth_date     = {{Birth year|1856}}
| birth_place    = 
| death_date     = {{death date and age|df=y|1941|12|5|1856||}}
| death_place    = Lanrick Castle, Doune
| education      = 
| occupation     = Businessman, politician
| title          = 
| spouse         = Edith Dean
| parents        = John Stroyan
| children       = John Robert Stroyan (b 1890)<br>Ronald Strathearn Stroyan (b 1890) 
| website        =
}}
'''John Stroyan''' (1856 – 5 December 1941) was a Scottish industrialist and businessman. He was a [[Liberal Unionist Party|Liberal Unionist]] Member of Parliament (MP) for [[West Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)|West Perthshire]] from 1900 to 1906.

==Biography==
Stroyan was born in 1856, the eldest son of John Stroyan of Kirkchrist,<ref name=AAWW>Walter H. Wills, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HsSpvNOr7SEC&q=john+stroyan+mp%22John&pg=PA352 Stroyan"] in ''The Anglo-African Who's Who and Biographical Sketchbook'', 1907</ref> a Galloway gentleman-farmer.<ref name="LWM">[https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LWM19390905.2.24 "London Topics – Virile Pioneer"], ''Lake Wakatip Mail'', Issue 4432, 5 September 1939, page 4</ref>

In South Africa, he became a merchant and was due to return to Scotland aged 32 having made a small fortune when he heard of the discovery of gold in the Rand. Staying on, he became associated with [[Cecil Rhodes]] and [[Barney Barnato]] and amassed a vast fortune.<ref name="LWM"/> He was "known to be a lecher and a financial swindler, attracting investments to useless mining propositions".<ref name=SSA>John M. MacKenzie, Nigel R. Dalziel, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=upXLCgAAQBAJ&dq=john+stroyan+mp&pg=PA243 The Scots in South Africa: Ethnicity, identity, gender and race, 1772–1914]'', p243, Manchester University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|9780719076084}}</ref>

After returning from Africa, he was selected to succeed Sir [[Donald Currie]] as candidate for West Perthshire at the [[1900 United Kingdom general election|1900 general election]]. A report at the time described him thus:
{{Quote|Mr. John Stroyan is a sturdy, stalwart, rubicund Scotsman of about forty-five years of age.  For about twenty years he was a merchant in South Africa, and was interested with the late Mr. Barnato in many of his most successful enterprises. He is a very rich man, but modest withal, and now that he has retired from business, he intends to devote himself to parliamentary life and the recreations of a country gentleman. He is an ardent sportsman, a good man after the hounds, a more than average shot, an expert fisherman, and no mean golf player. He has yet to make his mark as a public speaker but he has very decided opinions, and no lack of language wherewith to express them.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-may-27-1899-4074446/ |title=Sir Donald Currie's Successor |magazine=[[Mainly About People]] |page=5 |date=27 May 1899 |volume=50 |number=2 |access-date=2023-09-19 |via=NewspaperArchive}}</ref>}}

He won the election, after which he was consulted by [[Joseph Chamberlain]] on reconstruction measures after the [[Boer War]].<ref name="LWM"/> At the following [[1906 United Kingdom general election|general election, in 1906]] he lost the seat to [[David Charles Erskine]] in a [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] landslide.<ref name=SSA/>

He died, aged 85, on 5 December 1941, at his home, [[Lanrick Castle]], in [[Doune]],<ref name=DET>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000563/19411206/045/0005 |title=Death of Former Perthshire M.P. |newspaper=[[Dundee Evening Telegraph]] |date=6 December 1941 |page=5 |access-date=2023-09-19 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref> previously the property of the Liberal MP, [[Sir Robert Jardine, 1st Baronet|Sir Robert Jardine]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurehistory5259.html |title=Lanrick Castle |work=Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland |editor-last=Groome |editor-first=Francis H. |publisher=Thomas C. Jack |year=1885}}</ref> He left an estate of over £200,000.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000564/19420429/036/0003 |title=Former Perthshire M.P.'S Estate |newspaper=[[Dundee Courier]] |date=29 April 1942 |page=3 |access-date=2023-09-19 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/liverpool-daily-post-recent-wills/132072879/ |title=Recent Wills |newspaper=[[Liverpool Daily Post]] |page=2 |date=30 May 1942 |access-date=2023-09-19 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

==Family==
Stroyan married Edith Dean in 1889. They had two sons, John Robert Stroyan (b 1890) and Ronald Strathearn Stroyan (b 1890). His granddaughter was Sheila Stroyan, a well-known golfer,<ref name="LWM"/> who with her father, John Robert Stroyan, won the inaugural "Family Foursomes" contest over the Old Course at [[Burhill Golf Course]].<ref>[http://www.golftoday.co.uk/news/yeartodate/2012_news/burhil_family_foursomes.html "Mother and son duo crowned champions of Burhill Golf Club's 75th Family Foursomes"], ''Golf Today'', 11 September 2012</ref> She was British girls' champion,<ref>[https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282201/m1/3/zoom/?resolution=3&lat=2676&lon=2202 "Record field of Women Golfers tee Off in national Tournament"], ''Sweetwater Reporter'' (Sweetwater, Texas), 21 August 1939</ref> and held the Dutch title for two years before competing in the US women's championships at [[Noroton, Connecticut]], in 1939.<ref>[http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19390811.2.138.aspx "Girl Challenger for U.S. Golf Title"], ''The Straits Times'', 11 August 1939, Page 18</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-John-Stroyan | John Stroyan }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
  | title  = Member of Parliament for [[West Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)|West Perthshire]]
  | years  = [[1900 United Kingdom general election|1900]] – [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]]
  | before = Sir [[Donald Currie]]
  | after  = [[David Charles Erskine]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stroyan, John}}
[[Category:1856 births]]
[[Category:1941 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Dumfries and Galloway]]
[[Category:Scottish industrialists]]
[[Category:Liberal Unionist Party MPs for Scottish constituencies]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1900–1906]]
[[Category:Randlords]]
[[Category:Cape Colony businesspeople]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish businesspeople]]