Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, (22 April 18016 July 1874), known as Fox Maule before 1852, as The Lord Panmure between 1852 and 1860, was a British politician.

Ancestry

Dalhousie was the eldest son of

William Maule, 1st Baron Panmure William Ramsay Maule, 1st Baron Panmure of Brechin and Navar (27 October 1771 – 13 April 1852) was a Scottish landowner and politician. Life He was born William Ramsay, the younger son of George Ramsay, 8th Earl of Dalhousie and Elizabeth Glen ...

, and a grandson of George Ramsay, 8th Earl of Dalhousie. Christened Fox as a compliment to

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-riv ...

, the great Whig, he served for a term in the Army.

Early life and career

Fox Maule was born in

Brechin Castle Brechin Castle is a castle in Brechin, Angus, Scotland. The castle was constructed in stone during the 13th century. Most of the current building dates to the early 18th century, when extensive reconstruction was carried out by architect Alexan ...

, on 22 April 1801. He was educated at the

Charter House A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

, London. In 1819 he received his commission as ensign in the 79th Regiment of Cameron Highlanders. For some years he served in Canada on the staff of his uncle, the Earl of Dalhousie. In 1831, having attained to the rank of captain, he retired from the army, and having married the Hon. Montagu, daughter of the second Lord Abercrombie, he took up his residence at Dalguise House, on the banks of the Tay, near Dunkeld. This was his home for twenty years. Fox Maule campaigned during the first election for Perthshire, canvassing in favour of his friend, the Marquis of Breadalbane, then Lord Ormelie. As he afterwards said, "I was politically born then." At the next election, in 1834, he was returned as member for Perthshire. Having lost his seat at the next election, he was returned for the Elgin Burghs. Having resigned his seat for the Elgin Burghs, he was elected by the city of Perth, which he continued to represent for ten years, until he was called to the House of Lords after his father's death.

Political career

In 1835 he entered the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

as member for Perthshire. In the ministry of

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pre ...

(1835–1841), Maule was

Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department This article lists past and present Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State serving the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom at the Home Office. Non-permanent and parliamentary under-secretaries, 1782–present *April 1782: Evan Nepean *April 1 ...

, and under

Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and a ...

, he was

Secretary at War The Secretary at War was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Afte ...

from July 1846 to January 1852, when for two or three weeks he was President of the Board of Control. In April 1852, he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Panmure. In February 1855, he joined

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

's cabinet, filling the new office of Secretary of State for War. Lord Panmure held this office until February 1858. He was at the War Office during the concluding period of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, and met a good deal of criticism. He was

Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland The office of Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, one of the Great Officers of State, first appears in the reign of David II. After the Act of Union 1707 its holder was normally a peer, like the Keeper of the Great Seal. The office has re ...

from 1853 until his death. Always interested in church matters, Dalhousie was a prominent supporter of the Free Church of Scotland after it split from the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...

in the disruption of 1843. In December 1860, he succeeded his kinsman, the 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, as 11th Earl of Dalhousie. He shortly afterwards changed his surname to "Maule-Ramsay" (his father had changed his surname to "Maule" from the family's patronymic "Ramsay" before being created Baron Panmure).

Death and legacy

London-Woolwich, Royal Arsenal, Shell Foundry Gate 04

He died in Brechin Castle on 6 July 1874 in the same room in which he had been born.

Free Church elder

For thirty years he was returned by the Free Presbytery of Dunkeld as their representative elder to the General Assembly, and took an active part in its proceedings. After the Disruption, when so many proprietors refused sites for the building of churches and manses, it was mainly through his speeches in Parliament that the difficulty was surmounted. He laid the foundation stone for the new Free Church at Dunkeld.

Freemasonry

Maule was appointed Senior Grand Warden of the

United Grand Lodge of England The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the governing Masonic lodge for the majority of freemasons in England, Wales and the Commonwealth of Nations. Claiming descent from the Masonic grand lodge formed 24 June 1717 at the Goose & Gridiron ...

in 1832, and later (as Lord Panmure) Deputy Grand Master in 1857. He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1867. In 1860, Panmure Lodge (now No. 723) was warranted, being named after the then Deputy Grand Master.

Marriage

Lord Dalhousie married the Hon. Montague, daughter of George Abercromby, 2nd Baron Abercromby, in 1831. They had no children. She died in November 1853, aged 46. Lord Dalhousie died July 1874, aged 73. On his death, the barony of Panmure became extinct, but the earldom of Dalhousie (and its subsidiary titles) passed to his cousin, George Ramsay.

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalhousie, Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, Fox Maule Ramsay, 11th Earl Maule, Fox Maule, Fox Maule, Fox Maule, Fox Dalhousie, E11 Maule, Fox Dalhousie, Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie Eldest sons of British hereditary barons Dalhousie, Fox Maule Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, Fox Maule Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, Fox Maule Ramsay, 11th Earl Dalhousie, Fox Maule Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, Fox Maule Ramsay, 11th Earl Dalhousie, Fox Maule Ramsay, 11th Earl

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

Free Church of Scotland people Presidents of the Board of Control