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SIR
CHARLES BINE RENSHAWTHE chairman of the Caledonian Railway Company is the third son of the late Thomas Charles Renshaw, Q.C., of Sandrocks, Sussex, and was born 9th December, 1848. He was educated at St. Clere, Sevenoaks, and in Germany, and during the earlier part of his life devoted himself to the business of a manufacturer. He is still chairman of the firm of A. F. Stoddard & Co., Ltd., Elderslie. In 1892 he was returned to Parliament in the Conservative interest as member for the Western Division of Renfrewshire, and he retained his seat with much acceptance and distinction till the General Election of 1906. In 1903 he received the honour of a baronetcy.
In 1895, on the death of Mr. John Cowan, he was elected to fill a vacancy on the directorate of the Caledonian Railway Company, and from that time has taken a strenuous interest in railway management. On SirJames King becoming chairman of the company in 1906, Sir Charles succeeded him in the deputy-chairmanship. The anxious period which succeeded saw the agitation for economy in railway working, organised by the Scottish Railway Shareholders' Association, which brought about the co-operation of the various companies. It also saw the serious labour dispute which threatened disaster to the railways and serious loss to the country. In this latter question Sir Charles took special interest. He had charge of the representation of the Scottish case in the intervention proceedings of the Board of Trade in London. There his shrewd business ability and long Parliamentary experience proved of the utmost advantage. He was the first, also, in Scotland to explain publicly the new system of conciliation boards. These and other services marked him out as the natural successor to the chairmanship of the great Scottish company, and on the retirement of Sir James King in August, 1908, Sir Charles was unanimously chosen to fill the office.
Sir Charles married, in 1872, Mary Home, daughter of Mr. A. F. Stoddard, Broadfield, Renfrewshire, and resides at Barochan, near Houston, in that county and at 82 Cadogan Square, S.W., London. His recreations are shooting and gardening, with a special interest in rock-gardening and flowering shrubs, of which last he has a considerable collection at Barochan.