DUNDAS, Hon. John Charles (1808-1866), of Aske Hall, Richmond, Yorks.; later of Oran, nr. Catterick and Wood Hall, nr. Wetherby, Yorks.; 19 Arlington Street, London.

A scion of the Dundas family, who were stalwart Whigs and major landowners in Yorkshire and Scotland, Dundas followed in his father’s footsteps in sitting for the family pocket borough of Richmond and for York.1HP Commons, 1820-32, iv. 990. However, his politics acquired a slightly more radical hue than other family members, notably his older brother Thomas, who in 1839 succeeded as second earl of Zetland, a title created for their father the previous year.

Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his maternal aunt wrote in 1827 that he ‘gets on famously... though he never left his mother’s apron strings before’, Dundas was returned for Richmond on the family interest in 1830 and 1831.2M. Lewin to T. Lewin, 10 Feb. 1827, in T.H. Lewin (ed.), The Lewin letters. A selection from the correspondence & diaries of an English family 1756-1884 (2 vols., 1909), i. 221. He and his uncle, Robert Lawrence Dundas, were solicited by Richmond’s electors to offer again in 1832, and were praised for ‘the liberal and constitutional opinions which you have invariably supported; your advocacy of Civil and Religious Liberty; your exertions to enforce a strict economy in public affairs; your votes for the suppression of grievances, and the correction of abuses’, and their support for the reform bill. Elected unopposed, Dundas declared that he would adhere to his existing principles, and that Richmond’s expanded electorate would be ‘an additional incitement to exert myself in performing, to the best of my ability, the duties of the trust committed to my charge’.3York Herald, 4 Aug. 1832.

Dundas is not known to have contributed to debate, and his committee service appears to have been confined to election petition committees, serving on that on the Caernarvon election petition in 1833.4CJ, lxxxviii. 398. He also served on the committees on the Queen’s county and Lichfield election petitions in 1838 and 1842 respectively: Morning Post, 28 Feb. 1838; PP 1842 (548), v. 19. He generally voted with Whig ministers, although occasionally displayed sympathy with more radical causes. He divided for the ballot, 25 Apr. 1833, but opposed shorter parliaments, 23 July 1833. He was in the minority for James Silk Buckingham’s motion for a select committee to consider an alternative to press gangs for naval recruitment, 4 Mar. 1834. He also divided for Hume’s motion for a low fixed duty on corn, 7 Mar. 1834. He was given a month’s leave of absence due to a family bereavement, 21 Apr. 1834.5CJ, lxxxix. 202. His cousin Harriet (wife of the Radical MP George Grote) observed of him in August 1833 that ‘John Dundas drinks and smokes. He is getting coarse and bloated’.6H. Grote to F.E. von Koch, 23 Aug. 1833, in Lewin letters, i. 304. He was called to the bar in 1834, but does not appear to have practised.

At the 1835 election Dundas and his brother Thomas effectively swapped constituencies, with Thomas, who had been returned for a vacancy at York in 1833, being elected unopposed at Richmond instead.7York Herald, 13 Dec. 1834. The reasons for this are unclear, but as John’s electioneering speeches at York carefully flagged up the political differences between him and his brother, it may be that his more advanced views were thought more likely to garner support from York’s broader electorate. The York Herald praised him as ‘a sterling Reformer, in every sense of the word’, and his electioneering speeches praised the efforts of Whig ministers and attacked the Tories.8York Herald, 20 Dec. 1834. In contrast with Thomas, he favoured the ballot, a view reinforced by his canvassing experiences at York.9York Herald, 20 Dec. 1834, 27 Dec. 1834. Despite his vote in the previous Parliament, he also expressed support for shorter parliaments. He considered the new poor law an improvement on the previous system, declaring that poor rates in southern counties ‘had become an insupportable burden to the landholder’. He advocated the abolition of sinecures and pensions, a low fixed duty on corn, and extensive church reform, including removal of bishops from the Lords. He promised to vacate his seat at the request of the majority of his supporters if he did not live up to his promises.10York Herald, 20 Dec. 1834. He secured second place behind the lone Conservative, considerably outpolling the second Liberal candidate. A subsequent inquiry into the election uncovered illegal payments to hundreds of voters on Dundas’s behalf, in reluctant response to Conservative expenditure.11PP 1835 (612), x. 285. This was not an election petition committee, but a select committee appointed to investigate allegations made in petitions from York electors.

Dundas’s votes in the subsequent Parliament were in keeping with his pledges, dividing with the Whigs on the speakership, 19 Feb. 1835, and the address, 26 Feb. 1835. He paired for Russell’s motion on the Irish church, 2 Apr. 1835, and supported the Irish church bill, 3 June 1836. He consistently voted for the ballot. While he opposed repeal of the malt tax, 10 Mar. 1835, he backed Chandos’s motion for relief to the agricultural interest, 27 Apr. 1836. He was in the minority for an inquiry into the pension list, 19 Apr. 1836.12Dundas does not feature in the division list printed in Hansard, but see The Times, 23 Apr. 1836. The abandonment of the stamp duties bill in 1836 meant that he was unable to pursue his motion for abolishing the duty for admission to a corporation, guild or company.13The Times, 9 May 1836; York Herald, 15 Apr. 1837. He was, however, praised for his efforts in support of the York and North Midland railway company’s bill that year.14The Times, 18 Aug. 1836. Dundas was later on the committee of the London and York railway, and had significant railway investments, amounting to £13,000 in 1846.15The Times, 19 Oct. 1844; PP 1846 (473), xxxviii. 90. He became a director of the Great North of England railway, and was among the York, Newcastle and Berwick railway shareholders present at a meeting which initiated legal proceedings against the fraudulent George Hudson in 1849.16H. Glynn, Reference book to the incorporated railway companies of England and Wales (1847), 65; Leeds Mercury, 21 July 1849.

Re-elected at York in 1837, Dundas cited the beneficial measures passed since 1835. He declared his support for the ballot, Irish municipal reform and the expulsion of bishops from the Lords, ‘not with the view of injuring the Church, but to root it more firmly in the affections of the people’. He denounced the ‘clap-trap cries’ about the separation of man and wife under the poor law, arguing that this was not part of the original legislation, and trying to shift the blame on to the poor law commissioners, notably ‘the chief Commissioner, Mr. Frankland Lewis... as rank a Tory as ever breathed’.17Leeds Mercury, 29 July 1837. Later that year he attended the meeting – chaired by his brother – at which the North Riding Liberal Association was established.18York Herald, 14 Oct. 1837.

Dundas continued to give silent support to Whig ministers, dividing with them on the Canadian question, 7 Mar. 1838, and slave apprenticeships, 30 Mar. 1838. He again voted for the ballot, 15 Feb. 1838, and backed the use of the Irish church’s surplus revenues for educational purposes, 15 May 1838. At the York Liberal Association’s inaugural meeting in January 1839 he heralded the establishment of that body as a sign of the Reform Act in action, affording constituents more opportunities to hear from their representatives. Yet given his own family’s continuing role as electoral patrons, his assertions that prior to the Act’s passing ‘it was almost in vain for any respectable assembly to suppose they could in any manner have weight in the Government; there were so many nominees of the aristocracy’ showed a curious lack of self-awareness. He declared his support for free trade, but conceded that ‘any violent and sudden change would be most dangerous’, and thus wished to see ‘a fixed duty as low as they could consistently with the well-being of the agricultural population’.19York Herald, 26 Jan. 1839. Although he was warned that if he persisted in these views, he would not secure re-election at York, he nonetheless divided for Villiers’s motion that the corn law petitioners be heard at the bar of the House, 19 Feb. 1839, and for going into committee on the corn laws, 26 May 1840.20The Standard, 1 Feb. 1839. In June 1840 he announced that he would not offer again at York.21The Standard, 29 June 1840. He was absent from the key division on the second reading of the Irish parliamentary voters bill, 25 Feb. 1841, when the government majority was only 5, as he had sustained a compound fracture of his leg after being kicked by his horse at his residence near Catterick.22Morning Post, 23 Feb. 1841; B. Disraeli to S. Disraeli, 23 Feb. 1841, in M.G. Wiebe & J.A.W. Gunn (ed.), Benjamin Disraeli letters (1987), iii. 319. He was, however, present to rally to ministers on Peel’s confidence motion, 4 June 1841.

With his support for free trade scuppering his chances at York, it was reported that Dundas would offer either for Orkney and Shetland, where he had been appointed lord lieutenant in 1839, or for Richmond, now under the control of his brother Thomas.23The Times, 14 June 1841. In the event, he was returned unopposed for the latter, filling the place vacated by his uncle. Despite an assurance by Dundas that his chosen running-mate, William Nicholas Ridley Colborne, would be withdrawn if local Whigs preferred someone else, local attempts to promote another candidate foundered in the face of the Dundas influence.24The Times, 25 June 1841. Addressing electors during the 1841 contest, Dundas declared his support for his party’s policy on corn, but feared that the proposed reductions in sugar duty would encourage slave-grown sugar. Contrary to his previous views, he conceded the need to mitigate several aspects of the poor law, particularly the separation of man and wife. He remained ‘greatly in favour’ of the ballot.25York Herald, 3 July 1841. He espoused similar opinions when speaking in support of the Liberal candidate at York, and also appeared on the Stirlingshire hustings to nominate Sir Michael Bruce.26York Herald, 26 June 1841; The Times, 13 July 1841.

Back at Westminster Dundas supported Russell’s motions against Peel’s introduction of income tax, 13 Apr. 1842, and for consideration of the state of Ireland, 23 Feb. 1844. He was in the minority for going into committee on Irish church temporalities, 12 June 1844. He continued to divide against the corn laws, and although absent from the second reading, voted for repeal on the third reading, 15 May 1846. His attendance declined towards the end of this Parliament, but he was present to divide against a ten hour factory day, 17 Mar. 1847. His decision to retire at the dissolution was explained publicly by his inability to give ‘constant attendance’ at Westminster.27York Gazette, cited in The Standard, 26 July 1847. Privately, however, it appeared that ‘certain family differences’ were responsible. It has been suggested that these stemmed from political disagreements with his brother Thomas, who opposed the ballot and was not keen on further parliamentary reform, although they shared concerns about ‘the trend in the Liberal Party towards egalitarianism’.28R. Fieldhouse & B. Jennings, A history of Richmond and Swaledale (1978), 425.

Dundas emerged from retirement at the 1857 election to offer for the North Riding, in response to a requisition from those dissatisfied with the parliamentary conduct of Edward Stillingfleet Cayley,29York Herald, 14 Mar. 1857. whom Dundas derided as ‘a so-called Liberal’.30York Herald, 28 Mar. 1857. Cayley in return accused Dundas and his landed Whig supporters of trying to make the constituency ‘a close borough’.31York Herald, 4 Apr. 1857. Dundas declared that on the Canton question he would have backed Palmerston, and voiced his support for the Maynooth grant, abolition of church rates, franchise extension and the ballot, but opposed Sunday opening of the British Museum.32York Herald, 28 Mar. 1857; The Times, 2 Apr. 1857. Although he and the Conservative incumbent won the show of hands, Dundas polled third, over 400 votes short of Cayley, and ‘retire[d] without reluctance to the privacy from which he came’.33The Times, 2 Apr. 1857, 7 Apr. 1857. A false rumour that he had converted to Catholicism – his wife being a Catholic – was alleged to have cost him hundreds of votes.34York Herald, 11 Apr. 1857.

Ill-health prompted his retirement as chairman of the Northallerton quarter sessions later that year.35Newcastle Courant, 18 Dec. 1857. He retained an interest in public affairs, however, and in January 1859 expounded his views on parliamentary reform in the York Herald. He raised the spectre of Derby and Bright, who ‘hates the aristocracy cordially’, competing for popular support, and feared that ‘we may see class legislation attempted and antipathies excited on either side, an array of the landed interest pitted against an array of the manufacturing and commercial interests’. He mooted a £5 borough franchise, a £10 tenant-at-will county franchise, and redistribution of some seats from small boroughs to populous towns. He still favoured the ballot, but suggested as a compromise that it might be trialled in one or two county seats.36York Herald, 15 Jan. 1859. The following month, supporting Sir John Ramsden for a vacancy in the West Riding, he emphasised the need for unity among reformers.37Leeds Mercury, 26 Feb. 1859. He was again active in the West Riding at that year’s general election.38Leeds Mercury, 7 May 1859.

At the 1865 election, with the family differences which had prompted his retirement in 1847 ‘quite healed’, Dundas was again returned unopposed for Richmond, advocating the ballot, a ‘liberal’ extension of the franchise, and abolition of church rates.39Fieldhouse & Jennings, History of Richmond and Swaledale, 426; York Herald, 15 July 1865. As in previous years, he spent the winter in Nice for the benefit of his health.40The Times, 19 Feb. 1866. He died there at the Villa Cessole in February 1866, not yet having retaken his seat at Westminster.41Pall Mall Gazette, 16 Feb. 1866. He was buried in the family vault at Marske-by-the-Sea, near Guisborough, in conformity with his request for a funeral ‘of the plainest character’.42Morning Post, 26 Feb. 1866. He left estate valued at under £90,000.43England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, Index of Wills and Administrations,1861-1941, 9 May 1866. He divided his property between his surviving children, with the exception of his eldest son, Lawrence (1844-1929), who became heir presumptive to the earldom of Zetland.44HP Commons, 1820-32, iv. 989. Lawrence sat briefly as Liberal MP for Richmond (1872-3) before succeeding as 3rd earl in 1873, and, having become a Conservative and served as viceroy of Ireland, 1889-92, was created marquess of Zetland in 1892. Dundas’s second son John Charles (1846-1892) served as Liberal MP for Richmond, 1873-85, but failed to secure election as a Liberal Unionist at York in 1886. Dundas’s personal papers, including his diary, form part of the family archive held at the North Yorkshire County Record Office.