GRADY, Henry Deane (?1764-1847), of York Street, Dublin and Stillorgan Castle, co. Dublin.

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

Constituency

Dates

1801 - 1802

Family and Education

b. ?1764, 2nd s. of Standish Grady of Lodge, co. Limerick by Frances, da. of Edward Deane, MP [I], of Dangan, co. Kilkenny and Terenure, co. Dublin. educ. Limerick; Trinity, Dublin 6 Feb. 1779, aged 14; BA 1783, LLB 1787; L. Inn 1784, called [I] 1787. m. 12 Apr. 1794, Dorcas, da. of William Spread, lawyer, of Ballycannon, co. Cork, 3s. 5da.

Offices Held

MP [I] 1797-1800.

KC [I] 1802; second counsel to bd. of revenue [I] 1802, first counsel 1817; bencher, King’s Inn 1814.

Biography

Grady, a successful barrister, entered the Irish parliament for his native Limerick in 1797. In 1799 he was at pains to inform the Castle how much, in terms of ambition, income and professional consequence, he stood to lose by his decision to support the Union:

I suffer much in my expectations because, if I pursue my profession, I must remain in this country, and it is idle to say that an individual here, however industrious or intelligent as a barrister, unknown to the British minister in the Imperial Parliament, can expect that situation of which, as a member of the Irish parliament, time, zeal and fitness for judicial situation acquired at least through practice, might induce a reasonable hope ...

He also ran the risk of losing his seat owing to Limerick’s loss of one Member. While he deprecated ‘a dirty bargain’, he appealed for generous compensation. It appears from the list of Union law engagements that he was expecting £1,000 a year.1

Grady retained his seat in Parliament by ballot in 1801 and was reckoned by the Castle ‘on sale’: he did not hasten over to Westminster, but appeared there in the session of November 1801. No speech by him was reported, but he doubtless supported government. When he did not seek re-election at the dissolution, he obtained his reward, as second counsel to the revenue board, worth about £1,200 a year.2

Both in 1812 and in 1818, according to Colthurst, the ministerialist Member for Cork city, Grady, despite his office, supported opposition candidates. This behaviour is consonant with the disappointment met with by ‘Mr Grady’, whom for the sake of his interest in the county of Limerick Lady Clare recommended to the viceroy for a baronetcy in 1810: the viceroy refused on account of a pamphlet hostile to Chief Baron O’Grady written by Grady to assist Lady Clare’s electoral campaign, and was warned that Grady would probably go into opposition.3 He died 8 Sept. 1847, ‘aged 90 [sic]’.4

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Arthur Aspinall

Notes

  • 1. Cornwallis Corresp. ii. 459; Castlereagh Corresp. ii. 120 (for J. D. Grady read H. D. Grady); HO 100/103.
  • 2. Add. 35713, f. 129.
  • 3. Add. 40278, f. 284; 40279, f. 39; NLI, Richmond mss 62/461, 507, 994, 999, 1003; 66/930a, 941, 954; 67/1024, 74/1772.
  • 4. Illus. London News, xi. 167.