Jonathan Pim (1806 – 6 July 1885) was an
Irish Liberal Party
The Liberal Party was one of the two Major party, major List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. B ...
politician. He was elected as
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Dublin City at the
1865 general election, and held the seat until the
1874 general election, when his absence abroad when the election was called unexpectedly made it impossible to mount an effective campaign. He was president of the
Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland
The Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland (SSISI) is a learned society which analyses the major changes that have taken place in population, employment, legal and administrative systems and social services in Ireland. It operates as ...
between 1875 and 1877. A
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
, he served as secretary for the Quaker Relief fund during the
Great Irish Famine
The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...
: the work involved was so exhausting that he suffered a temporary collapse of health. Nonetheless, he retained a lifelong interest in efforts to alleviate the poverty-stricken condition of the Irish. Under his guidance, the family firm, Pim Brothers, opened a pioneering department store in
South Great George's Street in Dublin city centre. He had a reputation for being an especially generous employer. He is buried in the
Friends Burial Ground, Dublin
The Friends Burial Ground (), also called Temple Hill Burial Ground or the Friends Sleeping Place is a Quaker burial ground located at Temple Hill, Blackrock, Dublin. It opened in 1860 and is one of only two Quaker burial grounds in Dublin; the ...
in Blackrock, County Dublin.
Family
Pim's father was Thomas Anthony Pim, one of the
''Pim Brothers'' of Dublin, born in 1771.
Pim married Susanna Todhunter. They had a total of 10 children, of whom 6 would live to adulthood. Pim's daughter Mary was the wife of pioneering lighthouse engineer
John Richardson Wigham.
Pim had several notable descendants. His grandson
Jonathan Ernest Pim was a lawyer who would hold a number of government positions including
Attorney-General for Ireland
The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish and then, from 1801 under the Acts of Union 1800, United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on ...
and briefly
Lord Justice of Ireland
The Lords Justices (more formally the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland) were deputies who acted collectively in the absence of the chief governor of Ireland (latterly the Lord Lieutenant) as head of the executive branch o ...
.
[Ball, F. Elrington "The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921" London John Murray 1926 Vol.2 p.384 ] His great-grandchildren included Sir
Richard Pim, a British naval officer based at Downing Street during World War II, and
Charles Bewley, an Irish diplomat and Republican.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pim, Jonathan
1806 births
1885 deaths
Irish Liberal Party MPs
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)
UK MPs 1865–1868
UK MPs 1868–1874
Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland
Irish Quakers
Burials at Friends Burial Ground, Dublin