John Orrell Lever (1824 – 4 August 1897) was an English shipping owner and politician who sat 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. ...

in two periods between 1859 and 1885. Lever was the eldest son of James Lever of Manchester, and the descendant of Sir

Ashton Lever Sir Ashton Lever FRS (5 March 1729 – 28 January 1788) was an English collector of natural objects, in particular the Leverian collection.South Wales Railway The South Wales Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd De Cymru) was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to ...

and the Atlantic Royal Mail Steam Navigation Co. He was responsible for establishing

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

as a packet-station. He was the sole lessee of the Thames and Channel Passenger Service and wrote several works.

Business

Lever had diverse business interests, including cotton, linen, and corn mills in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the exports of finished products from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, and especially steam shipping. During 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 de ...

, he created several charter companies with Thomas Howard to ship soldiers and supplies to the war. This wartime activity led to a large profit. He and other investors established the Galway Line, a transatlantic shipping company. He considered establishing a transatlantic cable, but was unable to do so. Lever and his partners did successfully manage to lobby for several transatlantic mail contracts between Great Britain and Canada.

Member of Parliament

In February 1859, Lever was elected at a by-election as a

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 of ...

(MP) for Galway Borough. During the campaign for his first election, he claimed that "as a result of his coming to Galway men's wages had doubled from one to two shillings a day and that he looked forward to the time when they would receive double that again. He wanted to see every man, woman and child in Galway well fed, well clad, and well housed; their children well educated; bonnets on the heads of the working men's wives, good boots and stockings on their feet, and a twelve pound leg of mutton in their kitchen ranges every Sunday and Thursday, with all the appropriate accompaniments." He was re-elected at the general election in May 1859, but was defeated at the 1865 general election. At the 1880 general election he was re-elected for Galway, and held the seat until the 1885 general election. He was elected as a

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 ...

in 1859, and stood as Conservative in 1865. At the 1880 election, Walker records him as a

Home Rule League The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...

candidate, but Debrett's in 1881 describes as a Liberal-Conservative. Lever died at the age of 73. Lever married Elizabeth Dorning, daughter of Jonathan Dorning of Swinton Lancashire in 1847. She died in 1877.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lever, John Orrell 1824 births 1897 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Galway constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1880–1885 British businesspeople in shipping Irish Conservative Party MPs Home Rule League MPs 19th-century British businesspeople