William Sproston Caine

William Sproston Caine (26 March 1842 – 17 March 1903) was a British politician and Temperance advocate.

He was the eldest surviving son of Nathaniel Caine, a metal merchant from Cheshire, and was educated at private schools in Egremont, Merseyside and Birkenhead before entering his fathers business in 1861. In 1864 he was made a partner, before moving to Liverpool in 1871. Public Affairs soon began to occupy large amounts of his attention, and he left the firm in 1878. J. Newton, "W. S. Caine"]

After his retirement from his father's company he retained the directorship of the Hodbarrow Mining Co. Ltd, Millom, and he secured the controlling interest in the Shaw's Brow Iron Co., Liverpool, leaving the management of the concern in the hands of his partner, Arthur S. Cox. The business collapsed in 1893, leaving large amounts of debt which where honourably discharged, but Caine's resources were afterwards largely devoted to paying off the mortgage which he raised to meet the firm's losses.

Caine was brought up as a Baptist under the ministry of Hugh Stowell Brown, who's daughter Alice married Caine in 1868; they had two sons and three daughters. He soon after became interested in the Temperance Movement, and joined the Liverpool Temperance and Band of Hope Union, also becoming chairman of the Popular Control and License Reform Association. In 1873 he was elected vice-president of the United Kingdom Alliance. He was also president of the Baptist Total Abstinence Society, the Congregational Temperance Society, the British Temperance League, and the National Temperance Federation.

Caine first became interested in running for parliament in 1873 to advance his Temperance views, and unsuccessfully contested Liverpool in 1873 and 1874 for the Liberal Party. In 1880 he was returned for Scarborough and, identifying with the extreme radical side, began pushing his views on Temperance onto the house of commons. In 1884 he was made Civil Lord of the Admiralty in succession to Thomas Brassey, retaining his seat in parliament through the necessary by-election but loosing in the 1885 general election.

In 1886 he was returned for Barrow-in-Furness after a by-election, and played an active part in organising the Liberal Unionist Party, which was nicknamed the "Brand of Caine" as a result. Caine was appointed Chief Whip for the Liberal Unionists, but his extreme temperance views soon damaged the Unionist alliance with the Conservative Party. After the passing of a scheme compensating holders of extinguished public-house licences Caine resigned as Whip and his position in the house in protest, running for reelection through a by-election as an Independent Liberal, but was defeated.

In 1892 he was again elected for Bradford East but lost his seat at the 1895 election, reentering the house in 190o for Camborne. Parliamentary activities exhausted his health, and after a trip to South Africa in 1902 failed to restore it he died of heart failure in 1903.

References