snip

] Tarleton ran in the same election of 1784 for Liverpool, lost narrowly, and won in 1790. He was opposed by the Corporation of Liverpool, which had its own candidates. The Tarleton family backed him up in this election (though they ran his own brother against him in a subsequent one -- ah, family harmony!) The Tarletons were Liverpool merchants (including slave traders), his father had been Mayor, so he wasn't an outsider. His reputation as a war hero (or war villain, from the American point of view) served him well: he'd lost two fingers in the American War and would wave his mangled hand on all occasions.

Here's a capsule biography of Tarleton, who was a vigorous and for the most part successful commander (except for one very bad defeat at Cowpens) of Loyalist troops in the American Revolution. I've tried to link to the Joshua Reynolds portrait; we'll see if it works.