Major-General Rt Hon. Francis Plunkett Dunne, PC(Ire), (died 1874), was an Irish landowner, officer in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, and member of

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, where he was sometimes known as 'the Honourable Member for the Army' because of his staunch support of the military.

Family

Francis Plunkett Dunne was the eldest son of General Edward Dunne (1767–1844) of Brittas, Queen's County (now County Laois), by his wife Frances White, sister of the 1st

Earl of Bantry Earl of Bantry, of Bantry in the County of Cork, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1816 for Richard White, 1st Viscount Bantry, who had helped repelling the French invasion at Bantry Bay in 1797. He had already been crea ...

. Dunne was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and the Senior Department of the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

(the Senior Department was the predecessor of the

Staff College Staff colleges (also command and staff colleges and War colleges) train military officers in the administrative, military staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career. For e ...

Military career

Dunne was commissioned (by

purchase Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between ...

) as a Cornet in the

7th Dragoon Guards The 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1688 as Lord Cavendish's Regiment of Horse. It was renamed as the 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards for Princess Charlotte in 1788. ...

in 1823, and purchased promotions to

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in 1825 and Captain in 1826. Shortly after the latter promotion he was placed on

half pay Half-pay (h.p.) was a term used in the British Army and Royal Navy of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries to refer to the pay or allowance an officer received when in retirement or not in actual service. Past usage United Kingdom In the Eng ...

, but exchanged into the 10th Foot in 1829, serving with that regiment for the remainder of his active career. For much of that time the 10th was stationed in the Ionian Islands, and Dunne was awarded the Order of St Saviour of Greece. In 1840 Dunne was promoted to be an unattached Major on the half-pay list: he never returned to full pay, but he did receive periodic brevet promotions:

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

in 1851,

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

in 1854, and

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in 1865. He was also Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant and later Honorary Colonel of the Queen's County Militia.

Political career

Dunne sat as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for the Irish constituency of Portarlington from 1847 to 1857, and held the office of

Clerk of the Ordnance {{Infobox official post , post = Office of the Clerk of the Ordnance , body = , nativename = , insignia = File:Badge of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on a RML 10 inch 18 ton gun in Gibraltar.jpg , insigniasize ...

1852–53. As a backbencher he frequently took a leading role in debates on military issues, and was sometimes jokingly referred to as 'the Honourable Member for the Army'. He was private secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Eglinton, in 1858–59, and afterwards returned to the

Westminster Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

as MP for Queen's County 1859–68. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1866. He stood unsuccessfully for re-election for Queen's County in 1874, but died shortly afterwards.

Brittas Castle

In 1869 Dunne rebuilt Brittas Castle to a design by the architect John McCurdy. The castellated house was destroyed by fire in 1942. The ruined tower still stands.

Death

Francis Plunkett Dunne died unmarried on 6 July 1874 and was succeeded in his estates by his brother Edward Meadows Dunne.Sir Bernard Burke, ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland'', London: Harrison, 1875 Edn.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunne, Francis Plunkett 1874 deaths Members of the Privy Council of Ireland 7th Dragoon Guards officers Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Politicians from County Laois Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Queen's County constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Portarlington UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs 1852–1857 Royal Leicestershire Regiment officers British Army major generals Year of birth unknown