Author: DALLAS, Robert Charles
Biography:
DALLAS, Robert Charles (1804-1874: ancestry.com)
Born at Dawlish, Devon, on 23 Dec. 1804, a son of MP Sir George Dallas (1758-1833; q.v.) and his wife, Catherine Margaret Blackwood (1771-1846). He succeeded his father as second baronet. Dallas was tutored at the preparatory school of the Rev. Edward Lloyd of Peterley House, Great Missenden, Bucks. He then entered Harrow School in 1818 and in 1825 graduated BA from Oriel College, Oxford (MA 1829). In 1829, he passed the bar at Lincoln’s Inn. NCBEL incorrectly attributes to his uncle Sir Robert Dallas (q.v.) his juvenile publication, Ode to the Duke of Wellington and Other Poems. On 9 July 1819, its publisher, John Murray, distributed thirty presentation copies of the Ode to, among others, the Literary Gazette, the Duchess of Wellington (two copies in large paper, red morocco), Thomas Campbell, Francis Jeffrey, William Gifford, Samuel Rogers, Walter Scott, Robert Southey, and, “with Lady Parker’s compliments,” to Lord Byron (qq.v.). At St Mary’s, Bryanston Square, London, on 29 Sep. 1841 he married Frances Henrietta (1812-1894), a widow, the youngest daughter of Edward Law, first baron Ellenborough and his wife, Ann Towry. He and Frances had three children, George (b 1843), Theodosia (b 1844), and Rupert (b 1847). He died on 1 Aug. 1874, at 55 Montagu Square, Marylebone. His family derived a substantial part of their fortune from Mount Craven plantation, Grenada, and, therefore, from the labour of enslaved Africans. He was related to George Ellis (q.v.), whose family also owned slaves. At probate, his estate was valued under £7,000. The Bodleian Library holds his correspondence, 1858-71. (ancestry.com 30 May 2023; LBS 20 May 2023; NLS John Murray Archive; Percy Anecdotes [1820], 91-97; Harrow School Register [1894], 52) JC