Henry Grattan

Henry Grattan
Portrait by Martin Archer Shee
Member of Parliament
for Dublin City
In office
17 December 1806 – 14 April 1820
Preceded byRobert Shaw
Succeeded byThomas Ellis
Member of Parliament
for Malton
In office
4 March 1805 – 17 December 1806
Preceded byCharles Dundas
Succeeded byCharles Wentworth
Member of Parliament
for Wicklow
In office
10 August 1800 – 1 January 1801
Preceded byDaniel Grahan
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Member of Parliament
for Dublin City
In office
1 May 1790 – 19 July 1798
Preceded byTravers Hartley
Succeeded byJohn Claudius Beresford
Member of Parliament
for Charlemont
In office
26 October 1775 – 1 May 1790
Preceded byFrancis Caulfield
Succeeded byRichard Sheridan
Personal details
Born(1746-07-03)3 July 1746
Fishamble Street, Dublin, Ireland
Died4 June 1820(1820-06-04) (aged 73)
Portman Square, London, England
Resting placeWestminster Abbey, London, England
Political partyPatriot (until 1801)
Whig (until 1820)
Spouse(s)Henrietta Fitzgerald
(m. 1782; d. 1820)
Children
Alma materTrinity College Dublin
Signature

Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820)[1] was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 1801 and a Member of Parliament (MP) in Westminster from 1805 to 1820. He has been described as a superb orator and a romantic. With generous enthusiasm he demanded that Ireland should be granted its rightful status, that of an independent nation, though he always insisted that Ireland would remain linked to Great Britain by a common crown and by sharing a common political tradition.[2]

Grattan opposed the Act of Union 1800 that merged the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain, but later sat as a member of the united Parliament in London.

  1. ^ "Grattan, Henry (bap. 1746, d. 1820), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11303. Retrieved 3 July 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ R. B. McDowell (1994) "The Protestant Nation (1775–1800)," in T. W. Moody and F. X. Martin, eds., The Course of Irish History. 2nd ed. p. 233. ISBN 978-1570980152