| Ernest Jardine | |
| Birth Place: | Nottingham |
| Death Place: | Nottingham |
| Education: | Tudor House School, Nottingham Lycée Impérial, Saint-Omer |
| Occupation: | Industrialist, politician |
| Party: | Liberal Unionist (until 1912) Conservative (from 1912) |
| Spouse: | Ada Fletcher (d. 1925) |
| Parents: | John Jardine |
| Children: | John |
Sir Ernest Jardine, 1st Baronet (1859 – 26 April 1947) was a Nottingham, England, industrialist and businessman. He was a Liberal Unionist and later a Conservative Member of Parliament for East Somerset from 1910 to 1918.[1]
Jardine took over father's lace machinery business, John Jardine. He had four factories in Nottingham and others in Draycott and Newark,[1] employing some 2,500-3,000 workers in 1907.[2] Another of his factories in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, provides the reason for his adoption as a parliamentary candidate in that county. His company exported lace-making machinery to the United States, France and Germany.[3]
In 1924, he became the owner of the Barlock Tyewriter Company, set up in Basford.[1] The company later became the Byron Typewriter Company and was taken over by the British Oliver Typewriter Company, under licence from the US Oliver Typewriter Company, in 1948.[4]
He was chairman of the Trent Navigation Company until his death.[5]
In 1907, Jardine was associated with the purchase of Glastonbury Abbey on behalf of the Ecclesiastical authorities.[6] The Abbey was offered for sale by auction amid considerable disquiet that it could be purchased by "an American plutocrat". Jardine's bid of £30,000 was successful.[7] Jardine announced that he had no intention of living there, but that he would sell the Abbey to the Church of England for what he had paid.[8]
In the January 1910 general election, Jardine contested the East Somerset constituency as a Liberal Unionist. He defeated the sitting MP, the Liberal John William Howard Thompson, by 4,997 votes to 3,970.[9]
At the following general election, in December 1910, he again defeated Thompson, by 4,748 votes to 3,875.[10] The Liberal Unionist and Conservative parties merged in 1912.
The constituency was abolished at the 1918 general election which Jardine did not contest. He was made a baronet in 1919 and was High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1928–9.[1]
Jardine was educated at Tudor House School in Nottingham and at the Lycée Impérial in Saint-Omer, France. He married Ada née Fletcher She died in 1925. They had one son, John,[1] and a daughter, Iris.[11]
Jardine died on 26 April 1947, aged 87.[1] His estate was valued at £502,340 gross (£480,076 net).[12]