DELGARNO, John (?1751-1818), of Newport, I.o.W.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

27 Feb. 1804 - Mar. 1804
26 Apr. 1808 - May 1808
22 Nov. 1814 - Apr. 1816

Family and Education

b. ?1751, s. of Lt.-Col. John Delgarno (d.1764) by Catherine née Morgan of Kingston, I.o.W. m. 27 May 1789, Elizabeth, da. of Thomas Dickonson of Newport, 1da.

Offices Held

Ensign 8 Ft. 1768, lt. 1775, capt. 1785, ret. 1792; capt. I.o.W. militia 1794, 1803, Yarmouth Castle 1808-d.

Biography

Delgarno’s wife was a niece of Lord Holmes who, until his death in January 1804, was patron of both seats for Newport and returned one Member for Yarmouth. Holmes was succeeded by his son-in-law, Rev. Sir Henry Worsley Holmes, who twice returned Delgarno as a stopgap for Yarmouth, for a few weeks only. Worsley Holmes’s heir, Sir Leonard, married Delgarno’s daughter Anne Redstone in 1813 and a year later returned him for Newport as a stopgap. By then Sir Leonard was losing interest in the Marquess Wellesley’s politics and was inclined to government. Delgarno accordingly gave the Liverpool administration a silent support, voting with them on the Regent’s expenditure, 31 May 1815, and in favour of the renewal of the property tax, 18 Mar. 1816. He vacated soon afterwards for a guest of his son-in-law’s, having been his agent in informing government that he would no longer return Wellesleyites.1

Delgarno died 12 Apr. 1818, aged 67. His consequence was purely local. In 1798 he was captain of the island militia which offered to serve in Ireland. He was a county magistrate, mayor of Newport and captain of Yarmouth Castle from 1808. The year before his patron had recommended him for government patronage with the assurance that his views were ‘very confined’.2

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Brian Murphy

Notes

  • 1. Add. 38261, f. 281.
  • 2. Gent. Mag. (1818), i. 475; Debrett (ser. 3), vi. 480; NLS mss 3795, f. 173.