MUSGRAVE, Sir Richard (1790-1859), of Tourin , Cappoquin, co. Waterford

Musgrave owned more than 8,000 acres near Cappoquin, co. Waterford, and was considered to be ‘one of the best landlords in Ireland’.1Freeman’s Journal, 28 Aug. 1832; A.M. Breen, The Cappoquin Rebellion 1849 (1998), 30. A supporter of Catholic Emancipation, he assisted the Catholic Association’s campaign at the 1826 general election and became the first president of the County Waterford Liberal Club in 1828. In 1830, he and his brother John provided advice to Daniel O’Connell during the latter’s candidacy for the county seat, and in 1831 he actively supported O’Connell’s re-election and the Grey ministry’s reform bill. After succeeding O’Connell as MP for County Waterford in 1831, he supported reform, defended the conduct of Irish anti-tithe campaigners, and introduced an abortive bill for Irish poor relief.2HP Commons, 1820-32: Sir Richard Musgrave.

Musgrave retired at the 1832 general election due to a family illness, in spite of being solicited by ‘a majority’ of the electors. This was regarded by Irish Liberals as ‘a national calamity’, his ‘independence and patriotism’ having made him the ‘perfect representative’. Musgrave, however, signalled his support for the repeal cause and remained involved in local politics, presiding at a dinner for John O’Connell, the newly elected MP for Youghal. Daniel O’Connell regarded Musgrave as someone who preferred his ‘country’s interests to the selfish gratification of the apathetic pride of a would-be aristocracy’, and helped to secure his unopposed return for County Waterford at the 1835 general election.3Stenton, Who’s Who of British MPs, i. 282; Freeman’s Journal, 10 Aug., 15 Dec. 1832, 11 Nov. 1833, 4 Feb. 1834.

While Musgrave was ‘favourable to a local legislature in Ireland’, his first object was to secure a satisfactory settlement of the tithe question and the introduction of Irish poor laws.4Dod MS, iii. 833; Parliamentary Test Book (1835), 110; Stenton, Who’s Who of British MPs, i, 282. In the Commons, he worked alongside William Smith O’Brien (MP County Limerick 1835-49) to secure the latter, initially by serving on a select committee on Irish public works.5In 1852, Musgrave signed a memorial requesting a pardon for O’Brien, who had been transported to Tasmania. Freeman’s Journal, 4 May 1852. In March 1835, he seconded O’Brien’s resolution in favour of an Irish poor law and, in spite of O’Connell’s opposition to the measure, he introduced an Irish poor relief bill in April.6PP 1835 (329) xx. 145; Hansard, 19 Mar. 1835, vol. xxvi, cc.1206-14; 24 Mar. 1835, xxvii, 202-4; Belfast News-letter, 24 Apr. 1835; A. Macintyre, The Liberator. Daniel O’Connell and the Irish Party 1830-1847 (1965), 209-11; PP 1835 (95) iii. 653. When the bill was read for a second time, on the understanding that it would not go beyond the committee stage that year, he made an impassioned speech in its support by drawing upon his experiences with a local cholera committee to vividly describe the plight of Ireland’s ‘crowds of wretched paupers’.7Hansard, 8 July 1835, vol. xxix, cc.308-12; Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, 18 July 1835; Manchester Times and Gazette, 11 June 1836. Musgrave introduced a second Irish poor law bill in Febuary 1836, this time with the qualified support of O’Connell, only to withdraw it upon an assurance that a similar measure was under consideration by government.8PP 1836 (43) iv. 617; Hansard, 9 Feb. 1836, vol. xxxi, cc.226-9; 8 June 1836, vol. xxxiv, cc.211-2; R.B. O’Brien, Fifty Years of Concessions to Ireland 1831-1881, i (1883), 550-4. Meanwhile, Musgrave sought to introduce other legislation which might alleviate the burden on Irish labourers. In June 1835, he introduced an abortive bill to consolidate the grand jury laws and promote the extension of public works and in March 1836 he introduced another to establish county boards to provide employment for able-bodied labourers.9PP 1835 (293) i. 325; PP 1836 (70) iii. 1; Hansard, 5 June 1835, vol. xxxviii, cc.576-7; 3 Mar. 1836, vol. xxxi, cc.1181-7. Although O’Connell praised this measure for its ‘most excellent principles and practical enactments’, and had it referred to a select committee, it did not become law - a fate also suffered by Musgrave’s second county boards bill of May 1837.10Freeman’s Journal, 19 May 1835; Morning Chronicle, 28 May 1835; Caledonian Mercury, 13 July 1835; Hansard, 23 Mar. 1836, vol. xxxii, cc.520-1; Northern Star, 29 Aug. 1846; Macintyre, Liberator, 193-4; Morning Chronicle, 31 May 1837; PP 1837 (302) ii. 509.

During 1836-7 Musgrave served on select committees on a number of Irish issues, including turnpike trusts, county cess and education. In March 1836 he opposed the Irish assizes removal bill and supported O’Connell on matters such as the appropriation of Irish church revenues and municipal reform.11PP 1836 (527) xii. 1; PP 1836 (547) xix. 335; PP 1837 (484) xx. 397; PP 1836 (586) xiii. 583; PP 1836 (630) xiii. 1; Hansard, 27 Mar. 1836, vol. xxviii, c.194. As with the poor law, however, he was prepared to break ranks with O’Connell over the tithe question. In March 1837, he led a deputation to the king calling for a prompt settlement of the issue, having already opposed O’Connell by supporting William Sharman Crawford’s motion for the complete abolition of tithes in July 1836.12Morning Chronicle, 9 Mar. 1837; The Examiner, 12 Mar. 1837. Although an Anglican, Musgrave had always repudiated the extreme views of his uncle and namesake, Member in the Irish Parliament for Lismore 1778-1800, concerning the Catholic threat to the Irish Protestant interest, and joined his fellow Irish Liberals in denouncing the great Protestant Meeting in Dublin on 24 January 1837.13E. Johnston-Liik, History of the Irish Parliament 1692-1800, v (2002), 333-5; Morning Chronicle, 23 Aug. 1837; Freeman’s Journal, 21 Jan. 1837. On other issues he was equally liberal. He argued that the ballot was the only means of preventing voter intimidation, and considered the situation whereby Irish tenant farmers ‘were prevented by the nature of their tenures from effecting permanent improvements’ to their holdings to be ‘the greatest evil of Ireland’.14Hansard, 9 Feb. 1836, vol. xxxi, c.228; 16 Mar. 1835, vol. xxvi, c.1204.

It was reported that ‘delicacy of health’ compelled Musgrave to retire at the 1837 general election, and he was deeply affected by the death of his brother John that year and the tragic accident which resulted in the death of his second son in 1839.15John (aged 14) shot himself while playing with a shotgun. Freeman’s Journal, 28 Aug. 1839. Yet he remained active in local politics, participating in the Waterford Reform Association and the Precursor Society, which favoured repeal if equal rights could not be obtained for Ireland under the Union. By 1839, he was attending meetings of the Repeal Association, to which he remained a generous subscriber, being convinced that recent acts of the imperial parliament ‘treated Irishmen as an inferior race’ and ‘fully justified the demand for Repeal’. He briefly abandoned ‘domestic privacy’ to chair the repeal meeting at Dungarvan in 1841 and was subsequently lauded by O’Connell, who declared that ‘a truer patriot’ was ‘not to be found amongst his countrymen’.16Freeman’s Journal, 4 Jan., 8 Mar., 10 Dec. 1838; 11 Dec. 1839, 16 Oct. 1840, 18 Jan., 24 Aug. 1841; The Times, 25 Aug. 1841, 7 Jan. 1846. In 1843, Musgrave chaired the Waterford repeal meeting, but subsequently declined to preside over another at Lismore, deeming the Waterford meeting sufficient for the whole county.17Freeman’s Journal, 12 July 1843; The Examiner, 15 July 1843; The Times, 15 Sept. 1843.

In 1846, the potato famine brought Musgrave back into public life when he became chairman of the Cappoquin Relief Committee.18Freeman’s Journal, 18 Dec. 1846; Breen, Cappoquin Rebellion, 28-30, 33. His nomination speech for Robert Keating at the 1847 general election in County Waterford, which attacked the Whig ministry’s handling of famine, was thought to have secured the return of two repealers. In 1852, he supported Sir Ralph Howard’s abortive candidacy for Youghal, and chaired a meeting of electors in favour of Dungarvan’s Liberal candidates.19Daily News, 19 Aug. 1847; Brian Walker, ‘Politicians, Elections and Catastrophe: The General Election of 1847’, Irish Political Studies, 22:1 (2007), 1-34. [17]; Freeman’s Journal, 3 Apr., 2 July 1852. Musgrave devoted his last years to the practical improvement of his native county, being a ‘zealous advocate’ of railway communication, canal construction, and the steam navigation of the Blackwater. He died suddenly at his marine residence at Whiting Bay, co. Waterford on 7 July 1859, and he was succeeded by his son Richard (1820-74), who, although spoken of as a Liberal candidate for County Waterford in November 1866, did not enter politics.20Morning Chronicle, 12 July 1859; The Times, 13 July 1859; Freeman’s Journal, 12 Nov. 1866.