Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (1737 – 21 January 1808) was a British politician who represented Petersfield and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the

House of Commons of Great Britain The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the Pa ...

from 1761 to 1790. He was the owner of Penrhyn Castle, an estate on the outskirts on Bangor,

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

. Pennant was also an absentee owner of six

sugar plantations Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobac ...

and slaves in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. In Parliament, Pennant opposed the British abolitionist movement. In

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, Pennant was a major figure in the development of the Welsh slate industry. He received an

Irish peerage The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

from

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

in 1783, and died in 1808, leaving his estates to George Hay Dawkins.

Early life

Pennant was the second son of John Pennant, a

-based merchant, and his wife Bonella Hodges, a wealthy heiress from the British

colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was Invasion of Jamaica (1655), captured by the The Protectorate, English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British Empire, British colon ...

. He was educated at Newcome's School in Hackney, and was admitted to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

on 18 January 1754.

Political career

Pennant entered the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

as an MP representing Petersfield at the 1761 general election alongside William Jolliffe under an arrangement with William Beckford. He intended to represent

in the House of Commons at the next election, but when a vacancy arose in 1767, he was returned unopposed at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

on 4 December 1767. He successfully contested Liverpool in 1768, and again in 1774. In the 1780 general election, he was defeated at Liverpool. On the recommendation of

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a British British Whig Party, Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centurie ...

, he was granted an

from King George III and created 1st Baron Penrhyn of Penrhyn in the county of Lough,

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in 1783. Holding an Irish peerage did not disqualify him from standing for elections to the House of Commons as, both before and after the Acts of Union, Irish peerages were used to create peers who could not sit in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

but who could do so in the House of Commons. In the 1784 general election, Penrhyn again contested Liverpool and was returned as MP to Parliament. In the ensuing parliament he is said to have made over thirty speeches relating to the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

and trade in Liverpool. There was a debate on the slave trade in May 1788, and it was reported that the only two MP's who spoke in favor of the trade were Penrhyn and Bamber Gascoyne. He stood again for Liverpool at the 1790 general election and was ahead in the poll, but withdrew in favour of Sir Banastre Tarleton.

Estates and involvement in slate industry

Pennant owned numerous properties in Caernarfonshire,

, half of which he inherited from his wife, Ann Susannah Pennant ''née'' Warburton, the daughter of

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer Hugh Warburton; the other half he inherited from his father, who was Warburton's business partner. As the owner of Penrhyn quarry, he was prominent in the development of the Welsh slate industry. Pennant was also the absentee owner of six

in Jamaica, which were operated with the forced labour of over six hundred enslaved Africans. Despite this, Pennant never visited the island, managing them from his estates in Britain. The wealth Pennant generated from his sugar plantations were invested by him into road and dock construction, alongside the Welsh slate industry- most prominently the Penrhyn quarry.

Death and legacy

On his death on 21 January 1808, Penrhyn's entire estate went to his second cousin, politician George Hay Dawkins, who subsequently adopted the surname of Dawkins-Pennant. Dawkins' daughter Juliana and her husband were named as co-heirs of the estate on the condition that they also took the surname Pennant, which they duly accepted. Dawkins' son-in-law, Edward Gordon Douglas, was later created 1st Baron Penrhyn of Llandygai. The widowed Lady Penrhyn moved to a home in Grosvenor Square.

Early life

Political career

Estates and involvement in slate industry

Death and legacy

References

Citations

Books

Websites

Further reading