Quintin Dick

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Quintin Dick
Member of Parliament
for Aylesbury
In office
29 March 1848 – 7 July 1852
Preceded byJohn Peter Deering
George Nugent-Grenville
Succeeded byRichard Bethell
Austen Henry Layard
Further information
Dublin Parliament
for Dunleer
In office
January 1800 – August 1800
Serving with Thomas Foster
Preceded byThomas Foster
Henry Coddington
Succeeded byDisenfranchised
Personal details
Born7 February 1777
Trinity College, Dublin

Quintin Dick (7 February 1777 – 26 March 1858)

independent, Conservative, and Tory politician, and barrister.[7][8]

Family

Born in Dublin, Dick was the eldest child of East India merchant and proprietor Samuel Dick and Charlotte née Forster, daughter of Nicholas Forster. He graduated from

Trinity College, Dublin with a BA in 1797, before becoming a barrister of King's Inns, Dublin, in 1800. He died at his home in Mayfair, London, in 1858, unmarried, leaving an estate worth almost £300,000.[7][8]

Political career

Over the course of 52 years, Dick represented six constituencies as a Member of Parliament, including one for the Parliament of Ireland. He was seen as "dandified and stiff, old-fashioned in dress as in politics" and his "lavishly illuminated" Mayfair dinners, leading to the nickname "Jolly Dick, the lamplighter"—commented upon by Benjamin Disraeli as unsuited to his habitual expression. Also known as "Carrotty Quintin" due to his wealth, Dick was unpopular.[8]

Dunleer MP

Dick first entered politics as a representative for

Act of Union 1800.[6] However, when that act passed later that year, unifying the parliaments of Ireland and Great Britain into the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Dunleer was disenfranchised and Dick left without a seat.[7][8]

West Looe MP

However, upon inheritance of his father's wealth in 1802, Dick entered the UK Parliament in 1803 as an independent member for

Pittite. He then held the seat until the 1806 general election when he did not seek re-election.[8][4]

Cashel MP

Initially offering £5,000 for Tralee—a payment blocked by Viscount Castlereagh for his previous lack of support for the administration—Dick returned to parliament in 1807, becoming a Tory MP for the Irish borough of Cashel through a purchase from Henry Wellesley.[3] However, this part of his career was also short-lived as he resigned in 1809 when unwilling to vote with the administration to block an investigation into Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany's alleged abuse of military patronage.[8][7]

Although he saw his resignation as a matter of honour, he complained of receiving no rebate for vacating the seat, leading to a call from

Jacobinism". Dick wrote to Madocks, as well as his kinsman John Foster, assuring them that the alleged corruption was "totally unfounded" and that accusations Spencer Perceval had put pressure on Dick to resign were wrong, and instead he had pressed him to remain in the house.[8][7][9]

1826 election

After a long period outside of Parliament, and being "thrown out of his gig and nearly killed" in August 1820, Dick sought election as a Tory professing independence at Maldon at the 1826. At first securing the support of Colchester Radical MP Daniel Whittle Harvey, on the basis his politics would be congenial, Dick stood on an anti-Catholic agenda. However, at the nomination he landed third, behind his fellow candidates Thomas Barrett-Lennard and George Allanson-Winn, and then came third and last at the eventual election, narrowly defeated by 53 votes.[10]

The poll saw Dick and his fellow candidates rack up considerable bills, with more than £50,000 estimated to have been spent on transport, treating and admission fees. Dick himself spent £4,000 on tavern bills. Barrett-Lennard's electoral agent, who had admitted the Whigs' campaign had been "bad", also said the "purse of Mr. Dick" would lead to the seat only represented by those "who can afford to contest the place".[10]

Orford MP

Charges were again levelled at him that he was "merely a wealth cat's paw" for the Tories, and later that year he paid an additional £4,000 to become MP for Orford at a by-election in 1826—called when "his friend" Horace Seymour chose to sit for Bodmin, which he had also been elected to at the general election.[8][7][5] In this seat, Dick opposed Catholic emancipation right up to when Lord Hertford told his members to vote for it in 1829.[11]

Maldon MP

At the 1830 general election, Dick left Orford to successfully seek election, unopposed, as a Tory at Maldon, alongside the Whig Thomas Barrett-Lennard.[10][2]

The two members were on either side of the debate over the Grey ministry's Reform Bill—with Barrett-Lennard supporting and Dick opposing—which would see Maldon reduced to one seat. During a debate over the motion in the House of Commons, Dick made arguments against the partial disenfranchisement of the constituency, and it was at one point suggested it could be combined with Heybridge to create a viable two-member constituency but this was concluded unfeasible due to the high cost of the 1826 election. However, the Parliament Boundaries Act 1832 added Heybridge to the old borough, and the seat retained its two MPs.[10]

While the Reform Act was designed to reduce corruption and remove

rotten boroughs, in Maldon it increased the corruption by creating a "manageable and venal resident electorate", leading to every election being 1832 and the Reform Act 1867 being contested via an election petition. Despite this, becoming a Conservative in 1834 and a "peripheral" Young Englander in the 1840s, Dick retained the seat until the 1847 general election when he was defeated.[2] Dick then sought election again in 1852 as an independent conservative,[12] and 1854 as a Peelite.[13][10][14]

Aylesbury MP

Nevertheless, Dick's protectionist record and money allowed him to gain the Aylesbury seat as a Conservative at a by-election in 1848, caused by the election of John Peter Deering being declared void due to treating.[15] He held the seat until 1852.[14][1]

Military

Dick also served in the military, becoming captain of the West Essex militia in 1839, and Lieutenant-Colonel from 1846 to 1852.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 3)
  2. ^ a b c Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 1)
  3. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 3)
  4. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 2)
  5. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"
  6. ^ a b Rayment, Leigh (20 September 2012). "Irish House of Commons 1692-1800". Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Thorne, R.G. (1986). "DICK, Quintin (1777–1858), of 20 Curzon Street, Mayfair, Mdx". History of Parliament. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  8. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/42183. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  9. ^ Jupp, P. J. (1986). "Cashel". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Fisher, David R. (2009). "Maldon". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  11. ^ Escott, Margaret (2009). "Orford". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  12. ^ "The Elections". London Daily News. 12 July 1852. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 27 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ "The Elections". Blackburn Standard. 23 August 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 27 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3
    .
  15. ^ "Dumfries and Galloway Standard". 29 March 1848. p. 3. Retrieved 27 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

External links

Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Dunleer
March 1800 – December 1800
With: Thomas Foster 		Disenfranchised under the
Act of Union 1800
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for West Looe
1803 – 1806
With: Ralph Daniell (1805–1806)
James Buller (1803–1805) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Cashel
1807 – 1809 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Orford
1826 – 1830
With: Henry Frederick Cooke 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Maldon
1830 – 1847
With: John Round (1837–1847)
Thomas Barrett-Lennard (1830–1837) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Aylesbury
1848 – 1852
With: Richard Bethell (1851–1852)
Frederick Calvert (1850–1851)
George Nugent-Grenville (1848–1850) 		Succeeded by
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