John Claudius Beresford

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John Claudius Beresford
Portrait by William Cumming
Lord Mayor of Dublin
In office
1814–1815
Preceded byJohn Cash
Succeeded byRobert Shaw
Member of Parliament for County Waterford
In office
6 January 1806 – June 1811
Member of Parliament for Dublin City
Irish Parliament (1798–1801)
In office
1798–1804
Member of Parliament for Swords
In office
1790–1798
Personal details
Born23 October 1766
Died20 July 1846 (aged 79)
Political party
Trinity College, Dublin
Military service
AllegianceKingdom of Ireland Kingdom of Ireland
Branch/serviceYeomanry
Battles/warsIrish Rebellion of 1798

John Claudius Beresford (23 October 1766 – 20 July 1846) was an Irish Tory Member of the UK Parliament representing Dublin City 1801–1804 and County Waterford 1806–1811.

Early life

Beresford was educated at

John Beresford, for the family borough of Swords to the Irish House of Commons in 1790. In 1798 he was returned for Dublin City, helped by his position in the port, and as a partner in a leading Dublin bank and a member of Dublin Corporation
.

The rebellion

During the

United Irishmen. As such, he became identified as one of the leading opponents of the rebellion, and the rebels deliberately burnt the banknotes issued by his bank. His reputation for persecuting political opponents survived throughout his political career.[2]

He took a prominent part in the Irish House of Commons, where he unsuccessfully moved the reduction of the proposed Irish contribution to the imperial exchequer in the debates on the Act of Union. He was to the last an ardent opponent of the union (taking the opposite position to his father); he resigned his post at the port on 25 January 1799 so as not to be tainted by it or by the suggestion that his actions were motivated by a desire to retain it.

Union

Under a provision of the

William Pitt the younger and later Henry Addington; he had to give up his Irish business interests to play a full part in Parliamentary business. He was re-elected at the general election of 1802
, being top of the poll.

On 3 June 1803 Beresford was the only previous supporter of the government to desert them and support a censure motion moved by

Resignation from the British House of Commons
for details of the procedure).

Impact on Irish politics

After the death of his father on 5 November 1805 Beresford returned to Parliament by winning the by-election to replace him as MP for

Henry de La Poer Beresford
; the faction aimed at trying to stop the government from giving power in Ireland to the Ponsonby family. Beresford was the chief spokesman for his group in their meetings with Ministers.

Although expected to go into opposition in 1806, Beresford in fact supported the government, because a run on funds at his bank left him in need of government support for credit. His support led to his re-election at the 1806 general election in a contested election. This was a controversial decision within the government, with the Duke of Bedford admitting that Beresford had been guilty of persecution but believing he was now loyal, while Lord Howick believed it unlikely that he could be relied upon.

Howick turned out to be correct. In 1807 Beresford did not support the government, and became a supporter of the

Duke of Portland before his accession to the premiership later that year. He was unopposed in the 1807 general election
. He was however erratic, and some of his speeches were reckoned as doing more harm than good to the government's cause. He strongly supported government against the proposal that peace negotiations with France be begun in 1809.

Later life

In January 1811 Beresford suffered a further severe financial crisis which prevented his attendance at Parliament for some months. In June he resigned his seat through appointment as Escheator of Munster, being succeeded by his kinsman, Major General Sir

William Carr Beresford
. The next year, Beresford attempted to get a government appointment but was refused as he already had a good pension. Beresford served as Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1814–15, where he was known for his "princely hospitality", but thereafter withdrew from public life.

References

  1. Thomas Ulick Sadleir
    p61: Dublin, Alex Thom and Co, 1935
  2. ^ Sarah Atkinson, Essays, 1896. p.404

Sources

  • Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
  • The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), 2nd edition edited (in one volume) by F. W. S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
  • History of Parliament 1790–1820 (
    History of Parliament Trust
    )
  • Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages [
    better source needed
    ]
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Beresford, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 770.
Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Swords
1790–1798
With: Eyre Massey 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for
1801
With: Arthur Wolfe 1798
George Ogle
1798–1801 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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