Henry Grattan (junior)

Henry Grattan (1789-16 July, 1859) was a Whig Member of Parliament representing Dublin City from 1826 to 1830 in the British House of Commons. From 1831 to 1852, he represented Meath.

Grattan was a barrister who was called to the Irish Bar in 1810.

Grattan was the son of the famous Irish orator and statesman, the Right Honourable Henry Grattan, who had been a leading figure in the pre-Union Parliament of Ireland and represented Dublin City in the UK House of Commons from 1806 until his death in 1820. He is said to have laid the foundations for Daniel O'Connell through his Catholic emancipation bill which was defeated in the Commons in 1813.

Henry Grattan was the Whig candidate to succeed his father. At a by-election, on 30 June 1820, the Tory candidate Thomas Ellis defeated Grattan.

In the UK General Election of 1826, Grattan was returned unopposed. He was defeated in the UK General Election of 1830, when he finished third in the election for the two-member Dublin City seat.

Henry Grattan was elected an MP for Meath at a by-election on 11 August 1831 after having been defeated there in the general election earlier that year. He retained his seat as a Repealer candidate in the UK General Election of 1832 and as a Liberal Repealer in 1835 and 1841. In the UK General Election of 1847 Grattan was again elected as a Repealer candidate.

However in the UK General Election of 1852, Grattan, standing as a Liberal, pledged to support the Irish Independent Opposition Party (which some of the Irish MPs organised in 1852), was defeated.

References

*"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)

*"Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885", edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)

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