Isaac Corry

Isaac Corry (15 May 1753 - 15 May 1813) was an Irish and British Member of Parliament.

Early Career

Corry was born in Newry, Ireland. The son of Edward Corry MP and Catharine Bristow. He was educated at the Royal School, Armagh, where his contemporaries included Viscount Castlereagh, and later at Trinity College, Dublin, from which he graduated in 1773.

In 1771 he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple and then in 1779 to the Irish Bar at King's Inns.

Member of Parliament

In 1776 Corry succeeded his father as MP for Newry, sitting in the Irish House of Commons. In 1802, with the passing of the Act of Union 1800 he transferred to the House of Commons of the newly created United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the new constituency. He served as a Whig at Westminster until 1806. It was written in 1783 that Corry would expect to enter high office, given that "he lives expensively and does not pursue his profession, which is the law." Thus in 1788 he became Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, a position which paid £1,000 per year for "doing virtually nothing." The following year Corry was appointed a commissioner of the revenue. Finally in 1799 he was appointed Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer and a Lord High Treasurer of Ireland in place of Sir John Parnell, who quarrelled violently with Pitt over the projected union, which he categorically refused to support. In 1795 he became a Privy Councillor.

Later Years

In 1802 Corry was dismissed from the Exchequer and replaced by John Foster, he was awarded, however, £2,000 p.a. in compensation. In 1806 the changes in ownership of the Newry estates altered Corry's position; the lands had passed to a senior line of the Needham family and Lady Downshire, decided to return his brother General Francis Needham, 1st Earl of Kilmorey at the general election. Corry did not have the funds needed, in excess of £5000, to purchase a seat elsewhere. However, Lady Downshire was inclined to support the Grenville ministry and came to a formal agreement with Corry to give him £1000 towards his expenses should he be successful in Newry, and, if not, to bring him in for another borough. Corry failed against the Needham interest in Newry, but a seat at Newport, Isle of Wight, was purchased for him, with £4000 from Lady Downshire, and Corry was appointed to the Board of Trade. Six months later Grenville's ministry had fallen and there was another general election. Corry stood, again unsuccessfully, for Newry.

By the 1810s his health was failing and he died at his house in Merrion Square, Dublin, on 15 May 1813 and was buried in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. Corry was unmarried but had a long-term relationship with Jane Symms; they had six children; his daughter Ann married the brother of the first Baron Rossmore. Corry's residence in Newry was Derrymore House, Bessbrook, which he had inherited from his father and sold in 1810. It is now the property of the National Trust.

External Links

* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-derrymorehouse/ Derrymore House]