Robert James Tennent (1803 – 25 May 1880) was an Irish Whig politician who, in the cause of reform, in 1832 contested

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

's first competitive

parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

. Breaking the

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

hold on the town, he was eventually returned as a Member of Parliament from Belfast in 1847.

Early life and education

Born in

and the son of Robert Tennent, medical doctor, merchant, and philanthropist, and Eliza née Macrone, Tennent was educated at the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

and in

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

Political career

In 1824, with his friend James Emerson, he volunteered to join the Greeks in their War of Independence. For Tennent, it was with conviction that having "learned too feelingly the black consequences of slavery by the wretched example of may own country", Ireland, he could not "remain a passive spectator of the conflict". He was soon disillusioned by the Greek insurgents, concluding that, beyond emancipation from the Turks, they had "no idea of true liberty". In 1832, the two friends contested Belfast's first competitive

. Emerson (who having married an heiress cousin of Tennent's, was now James Emerson Tennent) stood the interest of the town's proprietor, Lord Donegall, as an Independent Whig (but subsequently took the Tory Whip). In the cause of reform, Tennent stood as a Whig and lost. A Protestant

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

mob celebrated his defeat with an attack on the central Catholic district (Hercules Street) and with an attempt to ransack Tennent's house. In 1826 Tennent had been admitted to

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

. He was called to the Irish Bar In 1833 he was called to the Irish Bar and to the English Bar in 1834. Tennent succeeded in being elected a Whig Member of Parliament (MP) for

at the 1847 general election and held the seat until 1852, when he was defeated again by a Tory.

Personal life

In 1830 he married Eliza, daughter of John McCracken and niece of the United Irishman Henry Joy McCracken (hanged in 1798) and campaigner Mary Ann McCracken. They had at least two children Robert Tennent, and Letitia whose son Henry Harrison became an Irish Nationalist (Parnellite) MP and daughter

Sarah Cecilia Harrison Sarah Cecilia Harrison (21 June 1863 – 23 July 1941) was an Irish artist and the first woman to serve on Dublin City Council. Early life and education Harrison, who went by the name Cecilia, was born to an affluent family in Holywood House, i ...

, was an artist and the first woman to be elected to serve on

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the authority was k ...

References

External links

* Whig (British political party) MPs for Irish constituencies UK MPs 1847–1852 1803 births 1880 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Belfast constituencies (1801–1922) Politicians from Belfast Members of Lincoln's Inn Lawyers from Belfast Irish barristers Alumni of Trinity College Dublin {{Ireland-UK-MP-stub