John Brownlee Lonsdale, 1st Baron Armaghdale (23 March 1850 – 8 June 1924), known as Sir John Lonsdale, Bt, between 1911 and 1918, was a British businessman and
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
politician.
Early life
Born at The Pavilion, in the cathedral city of
Armagh
Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...
, Lonsdale was the son of James Lonsdale
DL,
JP (1826–1913) and Jane Brownlee, and was educated privately. He was a partner in the family firm of J. and J. Lonsdale & Company.
Business and political career
Lonsdale was a director of the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank and of the ''North of England Debenture Company'', chairman of ''Levenstein Ltd'' and vice-chairman of the ''Manchester Ship Canal Warehousing Company''. In 1895 he was appointed
High Sheriff of Armagh
The High Sheriff of Armagh is the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Armagh. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his/her ...
, succeeding
William Maynard Sinton. He was elected a Member of Parliament for
Mid-Armagh in a
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 ...
in February 1900, and sat until 1918. During his time in parliament, he acted as a whip for the
Irish Unionist Party
The Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA), also known as the Irish Unionist Party, Irish Unionists or simply the Unionists, was a unionist political party founded in Ireland in 1891 from a merger of the Irish Conservative Party and the Irish Loyal and P ...
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. ...
for 15 years, and was a strong opponent of
Home Rule
Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...
. He was created a baronet, of Prince's Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and of The Pavilion in the
City and County of Armagh, on 7 July 1911, and raised to the peerage as Baron Armaghdale, of Armagh in the County of Armagh, on 17 January 1918. Between 1920 and 1924 he was
Lord Lieutenant of Armagh
This is a list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Armagh.
There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated on 23 August 1831. L ...
.
Lonsdale was hostile to the
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
in his political life.
[ Retrieved 7 April 2018.] On 25 July 1906, the sitting
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...
,
John Hamilton-Gordon, had to write to the Intermediate Board (the organisation through which public education policy was implemented), to see that progress was made, due to the frustration of Irish language education provision by those who controlled it. In response, Lonsdale, while sitting as MP for Mid Armagh and member of the
Ulster Unionist Council
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...
, claimed that the Gaelic movement which supported the Irish language was simply inspired by hatred of England and all things English.
He opposed any teaching of Irish in primary schools as "money wasted" and "useless"
as well as claiming that Irish was a vehicle for the dissemination of "seditious views."
Personal life
Lord Armaghdale married Florence Rumney, of Stubbins House, Lancashire. They had no children. The Armaghdales lived in England at The Dunes,
Sandwich Bay, and kept a London house at Prince's Gardens,
SW7. A keen golfer, Lord Armaghdale presented the Lonsdale Cup to the County Armagh Golf Club. He died in London on 8 June 1924, aged 74, when the baronetcy and barony became extinct. Lady Armaghdale died in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1937.
Memorials
In steam
First locomotive
The Lady Armaghdale is the name of a steam locomotive on public display in the Engine House at Highley in Shropshire on the Severn Valley Railway. This is not the first steam engine to carry this name. The first was purchased by Levenstein Ltd in 1920 from the manufacturer Hawthorne Leslie and located at the Blackley dyestuffs works in Manchester. In those days it was common to name steam locomotives serving industry and this one was named after the Chairman's wife. The locomotive remained in use at the Blackley works until early in 1963 when there was an accident and it could not be repaired.
Second locomotive
In 1963 the nearby Manchester Ship Canal Railway was taking steam locomotives out of service but the company (then ICI) purchased a replacement from the Ship Canal. Although this replacement was 22 years older (Hunslet Engine Co 1898) it had recently been refurbished. The replacement locomotive was repainted in a vivid cherry red and the Lady Armaghdale nameplates were fixed to the water tanks. It was used until 1968 when rail traffic was transferred to road. The locomotive was sold to the Warwickshire Industrial Locomotive Preservation Group who transferred it to the Severn Valley Railway.
At Armagh
A memorial stained glass was donated by his wife which was installed in the west-most window of the south aisle in
St. Patrick's Cathedral, depicting Saints
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
,
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
, and
Patrick Patrick may refer to:
* Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
* Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
*Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
. Below the window, a memorial tablet with fine Roman lettering was erected which includes his Achievement of Arms.
Arms
Notes
References
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armaghdale, John Lonsdale, 1st Baron
1850 births
1924 deaths
Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers
High Sheriffs of Armagh
Lonsdale, John, 1st Baronet
Lord-Lieutenants of Armagh
Lonsdale, John, 1st Baronet
Lonsdale, John, 1st Baronet
Lonsdale, John, 1st Baronet
Lonsdale, John, 1st Baronet
Lonsdale, John, 1st Baronet
UK MPs who were granted peerages
People from Armagh (city)
Barons created by George V