The Graphic of Saturday, 26 April 1884 recorded "Mr. John LANCASTER, formerly M.P., for Wigan, who rose from humble beginnings to the ownership of the great mines of Nantyglo Blaina, Monmouthshire.
The captain and several of the crew of the 'Alabama', after its engagement with the 'Kearsarge', off Cherbourg, in 1864, were rescued by Mr. LANCASTER, who, to save them, exposed his yacht to the fire of the Federal war-steamer.
"This refers to the Battle of Cherbourg in the American Civil War in which the Union sloop USS Kearsarge sank the Confederate raider CSS Alabama.
In the aftermath, Lancaster, having observed the battle on his personal steam yacht Deerhound, managed to rescue Captain Raphael Semmes, his officers, and a handful of crewmen; his status as a civilian and a member of Parliament enabled him to spirit the defeated Confederates to safety before they could be captured.
This article about a Liberal Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom representing an English constituency is a stub.