William Holland, 1st Baron Rotherham

In the 1892 general election he stood as Member of Parliament for Salford North, winning the seat from the Conservatives by a narrow majority.

In the 1895 general election the situation was reversed, when he lost the seat by six votes to the Conservative candidate, Frederick Platt-Higgins.

He was knighted in the 1902 Coronation Honours,[1] receiving the accolade from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October that year,[2] and made a Baronet, of Queen's Gate in the Royal Borough of Kensington in 1907.

In July 1910 Holland was raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Rotherham of Broughton, in the County of Lancaster.

He had disposed of William Holland and Sons in 1898, and with the moneys received had made a number of unwise investments in Chinese mines and railways and Japanese bonds.