- David Plunket, 1st Baron Rathmore
-
The Right Honourable
The Lord Rathmore
PC, QC"hereditary eloquence"
Plunket as caricatured by Ape (Carlo Pellegrini) in Vanity Fair, May 1880Paymaster-General In office
24 March 1880 – 21 April 1880Monarch Victoria Prime Minister The Earl of Beaconsfield Preceded by Sir Stephen Cave Succeeded by The Lord Wolverton First Commissioner of Works In office
24 June 1885 – 28 January 1886Monarch Victoria Prime Minister The Marquess of Salisbury Preceded by The Earl of Rosebery Succeeded by The Earl of Morley In office
5 August 1886 – 11 August 1892Monarch Victoria Prime Minister The Marquess of Salisbury Preceded by The Earl of Elgin Succeeded by George Shaw-Lefevre Personal details Born 3 December 1838 Died 22 August 1919
Greenore, County LouthNationality British Political party Conservative Spouse(s) Unmarried Alma mater Trinity College, Dublin David Robert Plunket, 1st Baron Rathmore PC, QC (3 December 1838 – 22 August 1919) was an Irish lawyer and Conservative politician.
Contents
Background and education
Plunket was the third son of John Plunket, 3rd Baron Plunket, second son of William Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His mother was Charlotte, daughter of Charles Bushe, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, while the Most Reverend William Plunket, 4th Baron Plunket, Archbishop of Dublin, was his elder brother. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and was called to the Irish bar in 1862.[1]
Political and legal career
After practising on the Munster Circuit for a number of years,[citation needed] Plunket was made a Queen's Counsel in 1868, and became legal adviser to the Irish government that same year.[1] In 1870, he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Dublin University,[1][2] and was Solicitor General for Ireland under Benjamin Disraeli from 1875 to 1877. He was then briefly Paymaster General under Disraeli (then known as the Earl of Beaconsfield) in 1880[1] and was sworn of the Privy Council the same year.[3] In 1885 he became First Commissioner of Works in Lord Salisbury's first ministry, a post he held until January 1886. He resumed the same post in August of the same year when the Conservatives returned to power, and held it until 1892.[1] On his retirement from the House of Commons in 1895 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Rathmore, of Shanganagh in the County of Dublin.[4]
Apart from his political and legal career he was a director of the Suez Canal Company, Chairman of the North London Railway for many years and was a director of the Central London Railway at its opening in 1900..[citation needed]
Personal life
In Dublin, Rathmore was a member of the Kildare Street Club.[5] He died in August 1919, unmarried, at the age of eighty,[1] in a hotel in Greenore, County Louth.[citation needed] His peerage became extinct at his death.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g thepeerage.com David Robert Plunket, 1st and last Baron Rathmore
- ^ leighrayment.com House of Commons: Dover to Dulwich and West Norwood
- ^ London Gazette: no. 24827. p. 2245. 26 March 1880.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 26680. p. 6182. 15 November 1895.
- ^ Thomas Hay Sweet Escott, Club Makers and Club Members (1913), pp. 329–333
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by David Plunket
Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded by
Anthony Lefroy
John Thomas BallMember of Parliament for Dublin University
1870–1895
With: John Thomas Ball 1870–1875
Edward Gibson 1875–1885
Hugh Holmes 1885–1887
Dodgson Hamilton Madden 1887–1892
Edward Carson 1892–1895Succeeded by
Edward Carson
W. E. H. LeckyPolitical offices Preceded by
Sir Stephen CavePaymaster-General
1880Succeeded by
The Lord WolvertonPreceded by
The Earl of RoseberyFirst Commissioner of Works
1885–1886Succeeded by
The Earl of MorleyPreceded by
The Earl of ElginFirst Commissioner of Works
1886–1892Succeeded by
George Shaw-LefevreLegal offices Preceded by
Henry OrmsbySolicitor General for Ireland
1875–1877Succeeded by
Gerald FitzgibbonPeerage of the United Kingdom New creation Baron Rathmore
1895–1919Extinct Categories:- 1838 births
- 1919 deaths
- Alumni of Trinity College, Dublin
- Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
- Irish barristers
- Irish Conservative MPs
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Irish constituencies (1801–1922)
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for university constituencies
- Solicitors-General for Ireland
- UK MPs 1868–1874
- UK MPs 1874–1880
- UK MPs 1880–1885
- UK MPs 1885–1886
- UK MPs 1886–1892
- UK MPs 1892–1895
- Younger sons of barons
- Directors of the London and North Western Railway
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