William Holmes (politician)

William Holmes (2 April 1779 – 26 January 1851) was an Irish Tory and Conservative politician in the United Kingdom in the early nineteenth century. He was an MP for 28 years.

Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London

Life

He was born in County Sligo, the son of Thomas Holmes of Farmhill, a brewer, and his wife Anne Phibbs, daughter of Harlow Phibbs. He matriculated in 1795 at Trinity College, Dublin, but did not take a degree. Then an army officer, he was secretary to Sir Thomas Hislop, 1st Baronet with rank of captain in the West Indies, from 1803 to 1807. Retiring from the army in 1807, he married and entered Parliament in 1808, as Member for Grampound.^[1]

Holmes served as party manager, and Chief Whip in the House of Commons from about 1818 until his seat (for the rotten borough of Haslemere) was abolished by the Great Reform Act of 1832. He had also previously represented several other constituencies. In the dedication to his novel The Member: An Autobiography (1832), the Scottish author John Galt pays sardonic tribute to his skillful dispensation of political patronage.^[2] After the Reform Act Holmes was out of the Commons for five years, but returned in 1837 as MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Holmes was also Treasurer of the Ordnance from 1818 to 1831.

His wife was Helen Tew, Dowager Lady Stronge (1769–1852), widow of Sir James Stronge, 1st Baronet of Tynan Abbey, County Armagh, Ireland (1750–1804).

Holmes died in 1851 aged 71 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.^[3]

References

^ Hourican, Bridget. "Holmes, William, Dictionary of Irish Biography - Cambridge University Press". dib.cambridge.org.
^ Ward, John T., The Member and Parliamentary Reform, in Whatley, Christopher A., John Galt 1779 - 1979, The Ramsey Head Press, Edinburgh, pp. 151 - 153
^ brompton voyage spectacle shopping ordinateur at brompton.org

Bibliography

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Holmes
Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Holmes

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Robert Williams John Teed	Member of Parliament for Grampound 1808–1812 With: Hon. George Cochrane 1808–1812 Hon. Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone 1812	Succeeded by Hon. Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone John Teed
Preceded by William Gore-Langton James O'Callaghan	Member of Parliament for Tregony 1812–1818 With: Alexander Grant	Succeeded by Viscount Barnard James O'Callaghan
Preceded by Thomas Courtenay Ayshford Wise	Member of Parliament for Totnes 1818–1820 With: Thomas Courtenay	Succeeded by Thomas Courtenay John Bent
Preceded by Douglas Kinnaird William Clive	Member of Parliament for Bishop's Castle 1820–1830 With: Edward Rogers	Succeeded by Frederick Hamilton Cornewall Edward Rogers
Preceded by The Lord Downes John Capel	Member of Parliament for Queenborough 1830 With: Sir Philip Durham	Succeeded by John Capel Thomas Gladstone
Preceded by Sir John Beckett George Lowther Thompson	Member of Parliament for Haslemere 1830–1832 With: Sir John Beckett	Constituency abolished
Preceded by Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin James Bradshaw	Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed 1837–1841 With: Richard Hodgson	Succeeded by Richard Hodgson Matthew Forster
Political offices
Preceded by Thomas Alcock	Treasurer of the Ordnance 1818–1831	Succeeded by Thomas Creevey

[1] Hourican, Bridget. "Holmes, William, Dictionary of Irish Biography - Cambridge University Press". dib.cambridge.org.

[2] Ward, John T., The Member and Parliamentary Reform, in Whatley, Christopher A., John Galt 1779 - 1979, The Ramsey Head Press, Edinburgh, pp. 151 - 153

[3] rompton voyage spectacle shopping ordinateur at brompton.org

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