Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (24 May 1852 – 20 March 1936) was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer. He was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP); the first ever member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to declare himself a socialist; elected Vice-President of the Scottish Home Rule Association (SHRA); a founder and first president, of the Scottish Labour Party; elected first President of the National Party of Scotland; and, in 1934, was elected Honorary Vice-President of the Scottish National Party.
Early life
Cunninghame Graham was the eldest son of Major William Bontine of the Renfrew Militia and formerly a Cornet in the Scots Greys with whom he served in Ireland. His mother was the Hon. Anne Elizabeth Elphinstone-Fleeming, daughter of Admiral Charles Elphinstone-Fleeming of Cumbernauld and a Spanish noblewoman, Doña Catalina Paulina Alessandro de Jiménez, who reputedly, along with her second husband, Admiral James Katon, heavily influenced Cunninghame Graham's upbringing.
He spent most of his childhood on the family estate of Finlaystone in Renfrewshire and Gartmore in Stirlingshire, Scotland, with his younger brothers Charles and Malise.
International travels
After being educated at Harrow public school in England, Robert finished his education in Brussels, Belgium, where he learnt Spanish, before moving to Argentina to try to make his fortune cattle ranching at just 17 years of age. He became known as a great adventurer and gaucho there, and was affectionately known as Don Roberto. He also travelled in Morocco disguised as a Turkish sheikh to find the "forbidden" city of Taroudant but was captured by a Caid (Si Taieb ben Si Ahmed El Hassan El Kintafi), prospected for gold in Spain, befriended Buffalo Bill in Texas, and taught fencing in Mexico City, having travelled there by wagon train from San Antonio de Bexar with his young bride "Gabrielle Marie de la Balmondiere" sic, a supposed half-French, half-Chilean poet. After the death of his father in 1883, he reverted to the Cunninghame Graham surname and returned to the UK where he became interested in politics.
