John Stroyan

John Stroyan (1856 – 5 December 1941) was a Scottish industrialist and businessman. He was a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for West Perthshire from 1900 to 1906. Biography Stroyan was born in 1856, the eldest son of John Stroyan of Kirkchrist, a Galloway gentleman-farmer. In South Africa, he became a merchant and was due to return to Scotland aged 32 having made a small fortune when he heard of the discovery of gold in the Rand. Staying on, he became associated with Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato and amassed a vast fortune. He was "known to be a lecher and a financial swindler, attracting investments to useless mining propositions". After returning from Africa, he was selected to succeed Sir Donald Currie as candidate for West Perthshire at the 1900 general election. A report at the time described him thus: