Colonel George Lionel Dawson-Damer CB PC (28 October 1788 – 14 April 1856) was a British Conservative Party politician.

Background

Dawson-Damer was a younger son of John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington, and Lady Caroline, daughter of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...

. He assumed the additional name of Damer by

royal sign-manual The royal sign-manual is the signature of the sovereign, by the affixing of which the monarch expresses his or her pleasure either by order, commission, or warrant. A sign-manual warrant may be either an executive act (for example, an appointmen ...

in 1829 on succeeding to a portion of the estates of his aunt, Lady Caroline Damer.

Military career

While on the staff of Sir Robert Wilson he was present with the Russian army at the retreat of the French cavalry from Moscow in October 1812. In 1813 he was at the battles of Lützen,

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budi ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, Kulm,

Wurzen Wurzen () is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Mulde, here crossed by two bridges, 25 km east of Leipzig, by rail N.E. of Leipzig on the main line via Riesa to Dresden. It has a cathedral datin ...

, and the

Siege of Hamburg The city of Hamburg was one of the most powerful fortresses east of the Rhine. After being freed from Napoleonic rule by advancing Cossacks and other following Coalition troops it was once more occupied by Marshal Davout's French XIII Corp ...

and the operation at

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

. In 1815 he was appointed quartermaster general to the

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The title ...

, under whom he served in the

1st King's Dragoon Guards The 1st King's Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. The regiment was raised by Sir John Lanier in 1685 as the 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse, named in honour of Queen Mary, consort of King James II. It was renamed the 2nd Ki ...

and was present at the battles at

Quatre Bras Quatre Bras (, French for crossroads; literally "four arms") is a hamlet in the municipality of Genappe, Wallonia, Belgium. It lies on the crossroad of the Charleroi-Brussels road (currently named N5) and the Nivelles-Namur road south of Genappe ...

and Waterloo, where he was wounded and had two horses shot under him and for which he was made a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB).

Political career

Dawson-Damer was returned to Parliament for Portarlington in 1835, a seat he held until 1847, and served under

Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

as Comptroller of the Household from 1841 to 1846. Between 1847 and 1852 he represented Dorchester in 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 ...

Family

Dawson-Damer married Mary Georgiana Emma, daughter of

Lord Hugh Seymour Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour (29 April 1759 – 11 September 1801) was a senior British Royal Navy officer of the late 18th century who was the fifth son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, and became known for being both a ...

and Lady Anne Horatia Waldegrave, in 1825. They had five daughters and one son:thepeerage.com
/ref> * Lady Georgiana Augusta Charlotte Caroline Dawson-Damer -

Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue DL (4 April 1818 – 10 October 1905), known as Viscount Ebrington from 1841 to 1861, was a British peer and occasional Liberal Party politician. Life He was born in London on 4 April 1818. He was the eld ...

* Lady Evelyn Mary Stuart Dawson-Damer * Lady Cecilia Blanche Horatia Seymour Dawson-Damer * Alice Henrietta Dawson-Damer * Lady Constance Wilhelmina Frances Dawson-Damer - Sir John Leslie, 1st Baronet * Lionel Seymour William Dawson-Damer, 4th Earl of Portarlington Mary died in October 1848. Dawson-Damer survived her by eight years and died in April 1856, aged 67. He is buried in St Peter's Church, Winterborne Came, where there is a memorial to him. His only son Lionel succeeded to the title

Earl of Portarlington Earl of Portarlington is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1785 for John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington, who had earlier represented Portarlington in the Irish House of Commons. He was the son of William Dawson, 1st Visco ...

on the death of his cousin

Henry Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington Henry John Reuben Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington (5 September 1822 – 1 March 1889) was an Irish peer. On 17 November 1841, he was commissioned a cornet in the Dorsetshire Yeomanry. He became Earl of Portarlington Earl of Portar ...

, in 1889.

References

External links

*
Portrait of George Dawson-Damer at the National Portrait Gallery

Sketch of George Dawson-Damer at the National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson-Damer, George 1788 births 1856 deaths Younger sons of earls Irish Conservative Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Portarlington Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 UK MPs 1847–1852 Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Dawson-Damer family