George Robert Dawson PC

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

 (24 December 1790 - 3 April 1856), was an Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...

 Tory politician.

Background and education

Dawson was born at Castledawson

Castledawson

Castledawson is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is mostly within the townland of Shanemullagh , about four miles from the north-western shore of Lough Neagh, and close to the market town of Magherafelt...

, County Londonderry

County Londonderry

The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, the son of Arthur Dawson, who represented Banagher

Banagher (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

Banagher was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800.-History:Banagher had two members in the 1689 Patriot Parliament summoned by King James II.-1689–1801:...

, Midleton

Midleton (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

Midleton was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800. Incorporated by Charter, 1671 whereby it was granted to Sir John Brodrick with a Corporation sovereign, two bailiffs and 12 burgesses. It was disenfranchised at the Act of Union and compensation of £15,000 paid to...

 and Newtownards

Newtownards (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

Newtownards was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800.-1692–1801:...

 in the Irish Parliament, and Catherine Tyrone. He was educated at Harrow

Harrow School

Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...

 and Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

, where he became friends with Robert Peel, whose sister Dawson later married. He was called to the Bar

Call to the bar

The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...

 at Lincoln's Inn

Lincoln's Inn

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...

 in 1811.

Political career

In 1812 Dawson served as Peel's private secretary during Peel's tenure as Chief Secretary for Ireland

Chief Secretary for Ireland

The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually...

. He was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for County Londonderry in 1815, upon the death of the incumbent Member, William Ponsonby. He served under Lord Liverpool

Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool KG PC was a British politician and the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since the Union with Ireland in 1801. He was 42 years old when he became premier in 1812 which made him younger than all of his successors to date...

 as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department

Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department

-Non-permanent and parliamentary under-secretaries, 1782-present:*April 1782: Evan Nepean*April 1782: Thomas Orde*July 1782: Henry Strachey*April 1783: George North*February 1784: Hon. John Townshend*June 1789: Scrope Bernard*July 1794: The Hon...

 from 1822 to 1827 and under the Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...

 as Financial Secretary to the Treasury

Financial Secretary to the Treasury

Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a junior Ministerial post in the British Treasury. It is the 4th most significant Ministerial role within the Treasury after the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and the Paymaster General...

 from 1828 to 1830. In 1830 he was returned to Parliament for Harwich

Harwich (UK Parliament constituency)

Harwich was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Until its abolition for the 2010 general election it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

, a seat he held for two years, and sworn of the Privy Council

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

. He again held office as First Secretary of the Admiralty under Peel from 1834 to 1835. From 1841 to 1850 he served as Commissioner and Deputy Chairman of Customs.

At Derry

Derry

Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

, in 1828, Dawson made an important speech in which he advocated Catholic emancipation

Catholic Emancipation

Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...

; the following year, under the Tory government of the Duke of Wellington, the Catholic Emancipation Act was made law.

Family

Dawson married Mary Peel, daughter of Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet

Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet

Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet , was a British politician and industrialist and one of early textile manufacturers of the Industrial Revolution...

, on 9 January 1816. He died in 1856 leaving five children, including Robert Peel Dawson

Robert Peel Dawson

Colonel Robert Peel Dawson was an Irish Member of the House of Commons at Westminster. He was one of the Dawson family of Castledawson and lived at Moyola Park, County Londonderry. He served as MP for County Londonderry from 1859 to 1874.He was the son of The Rt. Hon...

, also an MP.

External links