Sir
Ralph Howard
Member of Parliament
for Wicklow
In office
27 April 1848 – 17 July 1852
Preceded byWilliam Acton
William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam
Succeeded byWilliam Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick
William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam
In office
22 July 1829 – 7 August 1847
Serving with James Grattan (1829–1841)
William Acton (1841–1847)
Preceded byGranville Proby
James Grattan
Succeeded byWilliam Acton
William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam
Personal details
Born1801
Died15 August 1873(1873-08-15) (aged 71–72)
NationalityIrish
Political partyWhig

Sir Ralph Howard, 1st Baronet (1801 – 15 August 1873[1][2]) was an Irish Whig politician and army officer.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Family

Howard was the first son of Hugh Howard and Catherine née Bligh, daughter of Robert Bligh. He was also the grandson of Ralph Howard, 1st Viscount Wicklow, and brother-in-law of Granville Proby, 3rd Earl of Carysfort. Educated at Eton College from 1817, and Brasenose College, Oxford, from 1819, he married, in 1817, Charlotte Anne Crauford, daughter of Daniel Craufurd, and widow of James John Fraser.[3][7][8]

Political career

At the 1826 general election, Howard proposed his brother-in-law, Granville Proby, for election at Wicklow and, three years later at a by-election, the support was repaid in kind when Proby made way for Howard to take the seat as a Whig. With the approval and "no objection whatever" of Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam, he was returned unopposed.[6] In Parliament, he voted for the enfranchisement of Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester and divided with the Whigs against pensions for Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville and W. L. Bathurst, for the abolition of the Irish viceroyalty, and a reduction of the grant to South America missions.[7]

At the 1830 general election, promising to support ministers when "their measures entitled them", he was returned unopposed and was listed by ministers as "bad doubtfuls". In the House of Commons, he voted against the civil list, and then sponsored a "very short and tolerably mild" against a repeal of the Acts of Union 1800, later pushing for the reintroduction of the acts to suppress seditious meetings. He noted that popular meetings could "not be held without the permission of the local authorities". He presented petitions for the abolition of slavery and voted for reform, going into the 1831 general election as a reformer, where he was returned unopposed.[7][6]

In the latter year, he joined Brooks's, sponsored by Lords Charlemont and Gosford, and continued to vote for the reform bill, including granting the franchise to all persons rated to the poor at £10 and giving two members of parliament to Stoke-upon-Trent. At some time a member of the Athenaeum Club, he then held the Wicklow seat until 1847 when he unsuccessfully sought election at Evesham. He was returned for Wicklow again at a by-election in 1848—caused by the resignation of William Acton—and held the seat until 1852 when he did not seek re-election.[9][6][3][7]

Baronetcy

He was elevated to the Baronetcy of Bushey Park in 1838,[10] but the baronetcy became extinct upon his death in 1873.[2][7][8]

References

  1. ↑ Rayment, Leigh (13 June 2017). "The House of Commons: Constituencies beginning with "W"". Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. 1 2 Rayment, Leigh (1 October 2018). "The Baronetage of England, Ireland, Nova Scotia, Great Britain and the United Kingdom: Baronets beginning with "H"". Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. 1 2 3 "Ralph Howard". Members of Parliament after 1832. The History of Parliament. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  4. ↑ Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1838. p. 126. Retrieved 14 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ "Ireland". Morning Chronicle. 26 April 1848. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 14 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 244. Retrieved 14 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Salmon, Philip (2009). Fisher, D. R. (ed.). "HOWARD, Ralph (?1802-1873), of Bushy Park, co. Wicklow". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 Lundy, Darryl (22 June 2008). "Sir Ralph Howard, 1st and last Bt". The Peerage. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  9. ↑ Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.
  10. ↑ "No. 19631". The London Gazette. 3 July 1838. p. 1488.
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