| The Right Honourable The Lord Rathmore PC, QC |
|
|---|---|
| "hereditary eloquence" Plunket as caricatured by Ape (Carlo Pellegrini) in Vanity Fair, May 1880 |
|
| Paymaster-General | |
| In office 24 March 1880 – 21 April 1880 |
|
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Earl of Beaconsfield |
| Preceded by | Sir Stephen Cave |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Wolverton |
| First Commissioner of Works | |
| In office 24 June 1885 – 28 January 1886 |
|
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Rosebery |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Morley |
| In office 5 August 1886 – 11 August 1892 |
|
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Elgin |
| Succeeded by | George Shaw-Lefevre |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 December 1838 |
| Died | 22 August 1919 Greenore, County Louth |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Unmarried |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Dublin |
David Robert Plunket, 1st Baron Rathmore PC, QC (3 December 1838 – 22 August 1919) was an Irish lawyer and Conservative politician.
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Plunket was the third son of John Plunket, 3rd Baron Plunket, second son of William Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His mother was Charlotte, daughter of Charles Bushe, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, while the Most Reverend William Plunket, 4th Baron Plunket, Archbishop of Dublin, was his elder brother. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and was called to the Irish bar in 1862.[1]
After practising on the Munster Circuit for a number of years, Plunket was made a Queen's Counsel in 1868, and became legal adviser to the Irish government that same year.[1] In 1870, he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Dublin University,[1][2] and was Solicitor General for Ireland under Benjamin Disraeli from 1875 to 1877. He was then briefly Paymaster General under Disraeli (then known as the Earl of Beaconsfield) in 1880[1] and was sworn of the Privy Council the same year.[3] In 1885 he became First Commissioner of Works in Lord Salisbury's first ministry, a post he held until January 1886. He resumed the same post in August of the same year when the Conservatives returned to power, and held it until 1892.[1] On his retirement from the House of Commons in 1895 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Rathmore, of Shanganagh in the County of Dublin.[4]
Apart from his political and legal career he was a director of the Suez Canal Company, Chairman of the North London Railway for many years and was a director of the Central London Railway at its opening in 1900..
In Dublin, Rathmore was a member of the Kildare Street Club.[5] He died in August 1919, unmarried, at the age of eighty,[1] in a hotel in Greenore, County Louth. His peerage became extinct at his death.[1]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Anthony Lefroy John Thomas Ball |
Member of Parliament for Dublin University 1870–1895 With: John Thomas Ball 1870–1875 Edward Gibson 1875–1885 Hugh Holmes 1885–1887 Dodgson Hamilton Madden 1887–1892 Edward Carson 1892–1895 |
Succeeded by Edward Carson W. E. H. Lecky |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Sir Stephen Cave |
Paymaster-General 1880 |
Succeeded by The Lord Wolverton |
| Preceded by The Earl of Rosebery |
First Commissioner of Works 1885–1886 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Morley |
| Preceded by The Earl of Elgin |
First Commissioner of Works 1886–1892 |
Succeeded by George Shaw-Lefevre |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by Henry Ormsby |
Solicitor General for Ireland 1875–1877 |
Succeeded by Gerald Fitzgibbon |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Rathmore 1895–1919 |
Extinct |