James Craig (1759 – 1 June 1833) was an Irish Whig legislator who represented the constituency of Carrickfergus in the

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 ...

from 31 March 1807 to 5 November 1812. A native of the town of Carrickfergus in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, James Craig was the only son and namesake of James Craig, also of Carrickfergus, and his wife, Jane, born in the Antrim

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

of Prospect. In 1779 he was a young officer in the Irish Volunteers and, in 1792–93, a captain in the town's own force, the Carrickfergus True Blues. Also in 1792, he purchased the centuries-old local historical fortification of Scoutbush, having it renovated and established as his own family residence and, in approximately 1800, initiated the construction of another prestigious local house, Glyn Park. He unsuccessfully stood for local election in 1797, but ultimately, on 27 September 1802, gained the office of

burgess __NOTOC__ Burgess may refer to: People and fictional characters * Burgess (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Burgess (given name), a list of people Places * Burgess, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Burgess, Missouri, U ...

. In the March 1807

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

and the 29 April general election, he represented the interests of Downshire and was elected to Parliament. On 24 April 1812, he voted for the then-current Catholic relief bill, after having stated, four days earlier, that Belfast Protestants supported Catholic claims. Five months later, on 29 September, Parliament was dissolved and, in the subsequent 5 October–10 November general election, he was declared an "irregular candidate" and lost his seat. Records indicate that in addition to serving as burgess, Craig also held the local offices of deputy mayor and

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

. He was twice married, once widowed and the father of four sons and four daughters.

References

1759 births 1833 deaths Place of birth missing Place of death missing Date of birth unknown Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Antrim constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 People from Carrickfergus Whig (British political party) MPs for Irish constituencies {{Ireland-UK-MP-stub

See also

References