Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn

The Right Honourable The Lord Pernrhyn
Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire
In office 1866–1886
Preceded by	Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, Bt
Succeeded by	John Ernest Greaves
Member of Parliament for Caernarvonshire
In office 1841–1866
Preceded by	John Ormsby-Gore
Succeeded by	George Douglas-Pennant
Personal details
Born	6 June 1800
Died	31 March 1886 (age 85)

Edward Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (20 June 1800 – 31 March 1886), was a Scottish landowner in Wales and Jamaica, and a Conservative Party politician. He played a major part in the development of the Welsh slate industry.

Born Edward Gordon Douglas, he was the younger son of the Hon. John Douglas and his wife Lady Frances (née Lascelles). The 14th Earl of Morton was his paternal grandfather and The 17th Earl of Morton was his elder brother. He served as an officer in the Grenadier Guards.^[1]

He inherited the Penrhyn Estate near Bangor in north-west Wales through his wife's father, George Hay Dawkins-Pennant, and changed his name to Douglas-Pennant by Royal licence in 1841.^[1] This made him the owner of the Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda, Wales, which under his ownership developed into one of the two largest slate quarries in the world. He was also involved in politics and sat as Member of Parliament for Caernarvonshire between 1841 and 1866. He also held the honorary post of Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire.^[1] On 30 August 1852 he was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant to revive and command the county militia regiment, the Royal Carnarvon Rifles. He commanded the regiment until 1858, when he became its Honorary Colonel.^[1][2]

In 1866 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Penrhyn, of Llandegai in the County of Carnarvon.^[1]

In 1868 he sacked 80 workers from Penrhyn Quarry for failing to vote for his son, George Douglas-Pennant, in the general election.^[3]

The village of Llandygai was developed by Lord Penrhyn as a ‘model village’ for his estate workers, in which ‘no corrupting alehouse’ was permitted.^[4] The village lies immediately outside of the walls of the Penrhyn Castle demesne walls, with the entrance to the village being some 100m from the castle's Grand Lodge. Pennant loaned the land the village was to be built on as a 30 year lease to the quarrymen who were to live there. The quarrymen built the entire village infrastructure and buildings with no help from Pennant, but 30 years later he took full ownership of the land and village.

Lord Penrhyn also earned a fortune from slave labour plantations in Jamaica.

Lord Penrhyn died in 1886, aged 85.^[1]

Lord Penrhyn married, firstly, Juliana Isabella Mary, daughter of George Hay Dawkins-Pennant, in 1833. They had two sons and three daughters. After her death in 1842 he married, secondly, Maria Louisa, daughter of Henry FitzRoy, 5th Duke of Grafton, in 1846. They had eight daughters. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, George.^[1]

Coat of arms of Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn

Crest "1st, Out of a ducal coronet an antelope's head argent, maned and tufted or, charged on the neck with a cross crosslet sable, for distinction; 2nd a sanglier, statant, between two clefts of an oak tree, with a chain and lock holding them together all proper, and above it the motto Lock sicker." Escutcheon "Quarterly: 1st and 4th per bend sinister ermine and ermines, a lion rampant or (Pennant), 2nd and 3rd grand quarters quarterly, 1st and 4th argent, a man's heart gules, ensigned with an Imperial crown proper, on a chief azure, three mullets of the field; 2nd and 3rd argent, three piles gules, on the two outer ones a mullet of the field" (Douglas). Supporters "On either side an antelope proper, collared and chain reflexed over the back or, and pendant from the collar of the dexter supporter an escutcheon gules, charged with the bust of a man's head affrontée proper." Motto Aequo Animo "With an even mind"[5]

• Dictionary of Welsh Biography
• Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 100th Edn, London, 1953.
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Bryn Owen, History of the Welsh Militia and Volunteer Corps 1757–1908: 1: Anglesey and Caernarfonshire, Caernarfon: Palace Books, 1989, ISBN 1-871904-00-5.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source] [better source needed]}
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Lundy, Darryl. "FAQ". www.thepeerage.com.^{[unreliable source]}

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Edward Douglas-Pennant