George Damer, 2nd Earl of Dorchester, PC, PC (Ire) (28 March 1746 – 7 March 1808), styled Viscount Milton between 1792 and 1798, was a British politician. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1794 and 1795.
The Earl of Dorchester | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chief Secretary for Ireland | |
| In office 1794–1795 | |
| Monarch | George III |
| Prime Minister | William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | Sylvester Douglas |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Pelham |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 March 1746 |
| Died | 7 March 1808 Park Lane, London |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Background
editDorchester was the second son of Joseph Damer, 1st Earl of Dorchester. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his MA in 1767.[1][2]
Political career
editLord Dorchester sat as Member of Parliament for Cricklade between 1768 and 1774,[3] for Anstruther Burghs between 1778 and 1780,[4] for Dorchester between 1780 and 1790[5] and for Malton between 1792 and 1798.[6] He also represented Naas in the Irish House of Commons between 1795 and 1798[7] and served under William Pitt the Younger as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1794 and 1795. He was sworn of the British Privy Council in 1794[8] and of the Irish Privy Council in 1795.[9]
He succeeded his father in the earldom on 12 January 1798, his elder brother having committed suicide in 1776, and entered the House of Lords. On 25 June 1798, he was appointed colonel of the Dorset Militia in succession to Lord Rivers,[10] but resigned in late 1799.[11] Lord Dorchester was also Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, and colonel of the Dorsetshire Yeomanry Cavalry, from 1803 to 1808.[12]
Personal life
edit
Lord Dorchester was a great favourite of the royal family who occasionally stayed at his estate at Milton Abbey near Weymouth.[13] He died unmarried in Park Lane, London,[14] in March 1808, aged 61, when his titles became extinct. His estates were inherited by his sister Lady Caroline Damer, and on her death in 1828 by their Dawson cousins, who assumed the additional name of Damer. John Dawson-Damer, 2nd Earl of Portarlington, inherited the large but encumbered Irish properties, and his younger brothers Henry and George Dawson-Damer received respectively the estates of Milton Abbey and Came.[15]
References
edit- ^ "Damer, the Hon. George (DMR763G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ The Athenaeum Magazine, April 1808
- ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Cornwall-Cynon Valley". Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Andover–Armagh South". Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Devizes–Dorset West". Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Macclesfield–Marylebone West". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "leighrayment.com Irish House of Commons". Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ leighrayment.com Privy Counsellors 1679–1835[usurped]
- ^ leighrayment.com Privy – Ireland[usurped]
- ^ "No. 15038". The London Gazette. 3 July 1798. p. 616.
- ^ "No. 15214". The London Gazette. 17 December 1799. p. 1305.
- ^ leighrayment.com Peerages: Desborough–Dorchester[usurped]
- ^ The Athenaeum Magazine, April 1808
- ^ The Athenaeum Magazine, April 1808
- ^ Burke's Peerage, 1831; Journal of Mary Frampton [1885]