Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (1737 – 21 January 1808) was a slave owner, anti-abolitionist Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) and Irish peer

Peerage of Ireland

The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...

.

Richard Pennant was educated at Newsome's academy in Hackney

London Borough of Hackney

The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....

 and Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. He was MP for Petersfield

Petersfield (UK Parliament constituency)

Petersfield was an English Parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Petersfield in Hampshire. It existed for several hundred years until its abolition for the 1983 general election....

 from 1761 to 1767, then becoming one of Liverpool

Liverpool (UK Parliament constituency)

Liverpool was a Borough constituency in the county of Lancashire of the House of Commons for the Parliament of England to 1706 then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It was represented by two Members of Parliament...

's members from 1767 to 1780, and again from 1784 until 1790 when he offered his seat to Sir Banastre Tarleton

Banastre Tarleton

General Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British soldier and politician.He is today probably best remembered for his military service during the American War of Independence. He became the focal point of a propaganda campaign claiming that he had fired upon surrendering Continental...

 who continued his anti-abolitionist activities. He was prominent in the development of the Welsh slate industry

Slate industry in Wales

The slate industry in Wales began during the Roman period when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then expanded rapidly until the late 19th century, at which time the most important slate producing areas were in...

. He was created 1st Baron Penrhyn

Baron Penrhyn

Baron Penrhyn is a title that has been created twice. The first creation came in the Peerage of Ireland in 1783 in favour of Richard Pennant, who had previously served as a Member of Parliament for Petersfield and Liverpool. This creation became extinct on his death in 1808...

 of Penrhyn in the county of Lough in 1783, however this did not disqualify him from standing for elections to the Westminster

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 as his peerage was Irish.

Pennant owned vast properties in Caernarvonshire and six sugar plantations in Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

, where he owned over six hundred enslaved workers. He inherited half of his North Wales estate from his wife, Ann Susannah Pennant nee Warburton; the daughter of General Hugh Warburton, the other half from his father, John Pennant (Warburton's business partner). On his death, Richard's entire estate was inherited by his second cousin, George Hay Dawkins (1763–1840), who subsequently adopted the surname of Dawkins-Pennant. Dawkins' daughter Juliana and her husband were named as co-heirs of the estate on the condition that they also took the surname Pennant (which they duly accepted). Dawkins' son-in-law, Edward Gordon Douglas

Edward Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn

Edward Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn was a Scottish landowner in Wales, and politician. He played a major part in the development of the Welsh slate industry....

, was later created 1st Baron Penrhyn of Llandygai.