George Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn

He was born at Linton Springs, Yorkshire, on 30 September 1836. He was the elder son of Edward Gordon Douglas (1800–1886), third son of The Hon. John Douglas, second son of George Douglas, 16th Earl of Morton. His mother, his father's first wife, was Juliana Isabella Mary (died 1842), eldest daughter and co-heiress of George Hay Dawkins-Pennant of Penrhyn Castle. In 1841, the father, whose wife inherited vast property in North Wales, assumed the additional surname of Pennant by royal licence, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Penrhyn on 3 August 1866.

George was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. A project of entering the army was abandoned in deference to his father's wishes, but he always interested himself in military affairs. He was commissioned on 1 March 1860 as captain-commandant of the 1st (Carnarvon) Carnarvonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, which was largely recruited from his family's Pennant Slate Quarry at Penrhyn. A second unit was soon raised from Pennant employees and he was promoted to major in command of the 1st Administrative Battalion of Carnarvonshire Rifle Volunteers. He was later made Honorary Colonel of the 4th (Militia) Battalion of Royal Welch Fusiliers.[1][2][3]

In 1866 he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Caernarvonshire, and held the seat until 1868. Following this defeat his father sacked 80 quarrymen for failing to vote for him.[4] He was again elected in 1874, but was defeated in 1880 by Watkin Williams, Q.C.. [5]

He succeeded to the peerage on his father's death in 1886. Thenceforth he devoted the greater part of his time and energies to the management of the large property which came to the family through his mother. The Penrhyn Estate contained no less than 26,278 acres, with a rent-roll of £67,000, and the family owned the Bethesda slate quarries which, when fully employed and in former times of good trade, were estimated to produce £150,000 a year.[5]

In his later years his father had allowed much of the management of the Bethesda slate quarries to pass into the hands of an elective committee of the men. In 1885, when the quarries were on the verge of bankruptcy, the son George was entrusted with full powers to reform their administration. One of his first actions was to repudiate the authority of the workmen's committee. Under fresh and strenuous management the quarries once again became busy and prosperous. A great strike began in 1897 with Lord Penrhyn replying by closing the quarries. An angry debate took place in the House of Commons but Lord Penrhyn would abate none of his conditions, and the men capitulated.[5]

As an opponent of trade unionism, Lord Penrhyn refused to allow the intervention of outsiders in dealings with his men, and late in 1900 a second general strike began, known as the Great Strike. The quarries were again closed, but were re-opened after a prolonged stoppage with 600 of the former non-union workmen. Penrhyn refused to re-engage the ringleaders or to recognise any trade union officials. On 9 August 1901, Robert Thomas Jones, raised a discussion as a matter of urgent public importance on the conduct of the local magistrates in requisitioning cavalry for maintaining peace in the district, but Penrhyn's position was unaffected. On 13 March 1903, he brought an action for libel against William John Parry, in respect of an article in the Clarion, accusing him of cruelty to his workmen; he received £500 damages and costs. Penrhyn acted throughout in accordance with what he believed to be stern equity and from a wish to obtain justice for non-union men. In 1907, he gave his workmen a bonus of 10 per cent on their wages, owing to a spell of bad weather which had interrupted work at the quarries.[5]

Fond of horse-racing and breeding, he was elected to the Jockey Club in 1887, but was not very fortunate on the turf. In 1898, however, he won the Goodwood Cup with King's Messenger, which both in 1899 and 1900 carried his master's colours to the post for the Great Metropolitan Handicap at Epsom. With another horse, Quaesitum, in 1894 he won both the Chester Cup and the Queen's Vase. He was an excellent shot, but derived his chief enjoyment from fishing, in which he was exceptionally skilled. He was master of the Grafton hounds from 1882 to 1891.[5]

Lord Penrhyn was a deputy-lieutenant for Carnarvonshire and was a county councillor for the Llandegai division of the county.[5]

He died on 10 March 1907 aged 70 at his town residence, Mortimer House, Halkin Street, London SW1, and was buried near one of his country residences, Wicken, Stony Stratford.[5]

Memorial to George Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn, in the church of St Peter & St Paul, Exton, Rutland

He married, first, Pamela Blanche, (died 1869) daughter of Sir Charles Rushout, 2nd Baronet, in 1860. They had one son and six daughters. In 1875, he married, Gertryde Jessy, daughter of Reverend Henry Glynne. They had two sons who both fell in the Great War (Lieutenant The Hon. Charles Douglas Pennant died 29 October 1914, aged 37, while serving with 1st Bn. Coldstream Guards and Captain The Hon. George Henry Douglas-Pennant died 11 March 1915, aged 38, while serving with King's Coy. 1st Bn. Grenadier Guards) and six daughters, including Violet Douglas-Pennant. [5]

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Sidney, Leicester Philip (1912). "Douglas-Pennant, George Sholto Gordon". Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Douglas-Pennant