William Henry Gregory

Who was William Henry Gregory?

Sir William Henry Gregory PC was an Anglo-Irish writer and politician, who is now less remembered than his wife Augusta, Lady Gregory, the literary hostess and folklorist.

The only child of Robert Gregory and Elizabeth O'Hara Gregory, William Gregory was born at the Castle, in Dublin. From 1830 to 1835 he attended Harrow, where he was an award-winning student. He entered Christ Church, Oxford in 1836, but left three years later without receiving a degree.

In 1842 Gregory was elected to the British House of Commons in a by-election as a Conservative member for Dublin. Among his close associates were Sir Robert Peel, Lord Lincoln and Lord George Bentinck, but he was also friendly with Daniel O'Connell and sympathetic to Catholic interests. He was responsible for the "Gregory Clause" of the relief laws passed in response to the Irish potato famine.

After Gregory failed to retain his seat in the general election of 1847 he took up residence on the family estate at Coole Park in County Galway. He was appointed High Sheriff of County Galway in 1849. He had inherited a large fortune, mainly derived from the earnings of his grandfather in the East India Company, but he lost a large part of it at the racetrack.