Alexander Learmonth
(1829-1887)
1860

Volume 1, page 29, sitting number 320. 

Born on 21 November 1829 at 4 Princes Street in Edinburgh, Alexander Learmonth was the eldest son of John Learmonth, a Tory politician who was Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1831 to 1833. He was also chairman of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company. Alexander’s mother was Margaret Alexandra née Cleghorn. 

He was educated at Eton and at University College, Oxford. In August 1849 he joined the Army as a Cornet in the 17th Light Dragoons. He eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. 

On 2 April 1859 at Byculla, near Bombay, in India he married Charlotte Salter Lyons, the eldest daughter of Lieutenant-General Humphrey Lyons. Their marriage produced seven children. 

On 3 November 1870 he was elected the Member of Parliament for Colchester. 

‘Colonel Alexander Learmonth, of Dean, Midlothian, who was elected yesterday in the Conservative interest as one of the representatives of Colchester in the place of Mr J. Gurdon-Rebow, is the eldest surviving son of Mr John Learmonth of Dean. He was born in 1829, and was educated at Eton and at University College, Oxford. He is a lieutenant-colonel in the army, and was formerly in the 17th Hussars. He is also a magistrate for Midlothian’ (The Echo, London, 4 November 1870). 

When the census was taken in 1871 the family were living at 93 Eaton Place in London. The household included a governess and twelve servants. Alexander gave as his profession ‘Member of Parliament [and] Retired Col. Army.’ 

In 1887 his extravagant lifestyle caused his bankruptcy and the lands in Edinburgh that he had inherited from his father were sold to the builder James Steel. 

Alexander Learmonth died, aged 57, in London on 10 March 1887. 

‘Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Learmonth, M.P. for Colchester from 1870 to 1880, died on Thursday, March 10th. He was born in 1829, and was educated at Eton and University College, Oxford. He entered the Army about the year 1850, and served with the 17th Lancers in the Crimean campaign of 1854-55, receiving a medal, with clasp for Sebastopol, the fifth class of the Medjidie, and the Turkish medal. Colonel Learmonth also served in the Indian Mutiny campaign of 1857-58, and was awarded a medal. Shortly after the death of his father in 1858 he retried from the service. 

‘Col. Learmonth’s affairs had unfortunately become involved, and it was a melancholy fact that he died on the day fixed for the public examination in court, when, it was stated that he was unable through illness to attend. The statement showed, after satisfying creditors, a surplus, subject to realisation, of £6714’ (Chelmsford Chronicle, 18 March 1887). 

He was buried in Brompton Cemetery. The register of burials records his last address as ’44 Park Lane.’