George Garland (1753 – 28 December 1825) of Purbeck, Dorset was an English politician and merchant involved in the

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

fishery.

Life and work

He was born in

East Lulworth East Lulworth is a village and civil parish nine miles east of Dorchester, near Lulworth Cove, in the county of Dorset, England. The village, which consists of 17th-century thatched cottages, is dominated by the barracks of the Royal Armoured ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, the son of a yeoman farmer. In 1779, Garland married Amy Lester, the daughter of Benjamin Lester, who was involved in the fish trade, and became the manager for Lester's

counting house Counting is the process of determining the number of Element (mathematics), elements of a finite set of objects; that is, determining the size (mathematics), size of a set. The traditional way of counting consists of continually increasing a (men ...

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

. After his father-in-law's death in 1802, Garland took over the operation of the business. Following the death of Lester's son John in 1805, the company was named George Garland and Sons. His sons

John Bingley John Alfred Bingley (10 November 1940 – 14 January 2024) was an Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda in the Victorian Football League. Early life and career in Tasmania Born in Tasmania, Bingley began his senior football car ...

and

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

were sent to

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

to look after the operation of the fishery. Garland served as mayor of Poole in 1788 and 1810 and was the Member of Parliament for

from 1801 to 1806. He was

High Sheriff of Dorset The High Sheriff of Dorset is an ancient high sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. Until 1567 the Sheriff of Somerset was also the Sheriff of Dorset. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Governmen ...

for 1824/25. He passed control of the business to his sons in 1822 but remained involved until his death in 1825. He and his wife had 8 sons and 3 daughters. His eldest son Benjamin Lester took the name

Benjamin Lester Lester Benjamin Lester Lester (1779 – 1838) was a British politician. Lester was born in Poole and worked as a merchant, in the shipping trade with Newfoundland. He stood in an 1809 by-election in Poole, and won the seat as a Whig. He supported ...

to comply with the terms of his grandfather's will; he served in the British House of Commons but took no interest in the Newfoundland fishery.

References

External links

* * Biography of George Jr.
Restoration of Lester-Garland House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garland, George 1753 births 1825 deaths People from Purbeck District Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Poole UK MPs 1801–1802 High sheriffs of Dorset UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 Mayors of Poole