Peter McLagan
Peter McLagan was a British Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1893. He was Scotland's first non-white MP.
McLagen was born in Demerara in British Guiana. His father was Peter McLagan, and his mother was an unknown black woman. His father co-owned a sugar plantation with Samuel Sandbach. When the British government emancipated the slaves in the 1830s, they compensated the elder McLagan and Sandbach to the tune of over £21,000 for the liberation of over 400 slaves.
He left British Guiana with his father as a child and was educated in Tilicoultry and Peebles, before attending The University of Edinburgh.
In 1841, at the age of 18, he is known to be living at 77 Great King Street in the New Town, Edinburgh, with his father and cousin. His father died in 1860 and is buried in New Calton cemetery.
At the 1865 general election, he was elected unopposed as the Member of Parliament for Linlithgowshire, and was re-elected at the next six general elections. He resigned his seat on 2 June 1893 by becoming Steward of the Manor of Northstead.
As an MP, he supported women's suffrage, the neeed for women doctors, and the Irish Home Rule Movement.
