The Right Honourable
The Earl of Dorchester
PC, PC (Ire)
Chief Secretary for Ireland
In office
1794–1795
MonarchGeorge III
Prime MinisterWilliam Pitt the Younger
Preceded bySylvester Douglas
Succeeded byThomas Pelham
Personal details
Born(1746-03-28)28 March 1746
Died(1808-03-07)7 March 1808
Park Lane, London
NationalityBritish
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge

George Damer, 2nd Earl of Dorchester, PC, PC (Ire) (28 March 1746 – 7 March 1808), styled Viscount Milton between 1792 and 1798, was a British politician. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1794 and 1795.

Background

Dorchester was the second son of Joseph Damer, 1st Earl of Dorchester. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his MA in 1767.[1][2]

Political career

Lord Dorchester sat as Member of Parliament for Cricklade between 1768 and 1774,[3] for Anstruther Burghs between 1778 and 1780,[4] for Dorchester between 1780 and 1790[5] and for Malton between 1792 and 1798.[6] He also represented Naas in the Irish House of Commons between 1795 and 1798[7] and served under William Pitt the Younger as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1794 and 1795. He was sworn of the British Privy Council in 1794[8] and of the Irish Privy Council in 1795.[9]

He succeeded his father in the earldom on 12 January 1798, his elder brother having committed suicide in 1776, and entered the House of Lords. On 25 June 1798, he was appointed colonel of the Dorset Militia in succession to Lord Rivers,[10] but resigned in late 1799.[11] Lord Dorchester was also Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, and colonel of the Dorsetshire Yeomanry Cavalry, from 1803 to 1808.[12]

Personal life

Milton Abbey in the late 1800s

Lord Dorchester was a great favourite of the royal family who occasionally stayed at his estate at Milton Abbey near Weymouth.[13] He died unmarried in Park Lane, London,[14] in March 1808, aged 61, when his titles became extinct. His estates were inherited by his sister Lady Caroline Damer, and on her death in 1828 by their Dawson cousins, who assumed the additional name of Damer. John Dawson-Damer, 2nd Earl of Portarlington, inherited the large but encumbered Irish properties, and his younger brothers Henry and George Dawson-Damer received respectively the estates of Milton Abbey and Came.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Damer, the Hon. George (DMR763G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ The Athenaeum Magazine, April 1808
  3. ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Cornwall-Cynon Valley". Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2009.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Andover–Armagh South". Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2009.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Devizes–Dorset West". Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2009.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Macclesfield–Marylebone West". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ "leighrayment.com Irish House of Commons". Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2009.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ^ leighrayment.com Privy Counsellors 1679–1835[usurped]
  9. ^ leighrayment.com Privy – Ireland[usurped]
  10. ^ "No. 15038". The London Gazette. 3 July 1798. p. 616.
  11. ^ "No. 15214". The London Gazette. 17 December 1799. p. 1305.
  12. ^ leighrayment.com Peerages: Desborough–Dorchester[usurped]
  13. ^ The Athenaeum Magazine, April 1808
  14. ^ The Athenaeum Magazine, April 1808
  15. ^ Burke's Peerage, 1831; Journal of Mary Frampton [1885]
Parliament of Great Britain Preceded byThomas GoreArnold Nesbitt Member of Parliament for Cricklade 1768–1774 With: Sir Robert Fletcher Succeeded byWilliam EarleArnold Nesbitt Preceded byPhilip Anstruther Member of Parliament for Anstruther Burghs 1778–1780 Succeeded bySir John Anstruther, Bt Preceded byJohn DamerWilliam Ewer Member of Parliament for Dorchester 1780–1791 With: William Ewer 1780–1789Thomas Ewer 1789–1790Cropley Ashley 1790Francis Fane 1790–1791 Succeeded byFrancis FaneCropley Ashley Preceded byEdmund BurkeWilliam Weddell Member of Parliament for Malton 1792–1798 With: Edmund Burke 1792–1794Richard Burke 1794–1795William Baldwin 1795–1798 Succeeded byWilliam BaldwinBryan Cooke Parliament of Ireland Preceded byLord NaasSir James Bond, Bt Member of Parliament for Naas 1795–1798 With: Sir James Bond, Bt 1795–1797Vacant 1797–1798 Succeeded byVacantFrancis Hely-Hutchinson Military offices Preceded byThe Lord Rivers Colonel of the Dorset Militia 1798–1799 Succeeded byRichard Bingham New regiment Colonel of the Dorsetshire Yeomanry Cavalry 1803–1808 Succeeded byJames Frampton Political offices Preceded bySylvester Douglas Chief Secretary for Ireland 1794–1795 Succeeded byThomas Pelham Honorary titles Preceded byThe Lord Rivers Lord Lieutenant of Dorset 1803–1808 Succeeded byThe Earl Digby Peerage of Great Britain Preceded byJoseph Damer Earl of Dorchester 1798–1808 Extinct
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