Robert Charles Dallas

Robert Charles Dallas (1754–1824) was a Jamaican-born British poet and conservative writer. He is known also for a contentious book on Lord Byron.

Robert Charles Dallas was born in Kingston, Jamaica, where his father, Robert Dallas, M.D., of Dallas Castle, Jamaica, was a physician; his mother was a daughter of Colonel Cormack or Cammack.

Dr. Robert Dallas came to Jamaica from Scotland around 1730. His first wife was Mary Frances Main, daughter of Samuel Themer Main, a merchant of Kingston. Robert Charles Dallas was born 14 July 1754, the son of Robert Dallas and Sarah Hewitt née Cammack, who had married John Hewitt in 1751; Robert Charles was therefore illegitimate, and his parents married in 1769, in England, after John Hewitt's death.

One of his brothers was Alexander James Dallas; there were at least two other brothers (one possibly a half-brother) and two sisters in the family. His father died in 1769. His will left his estate to his wife Sarah. Dr. Dallas bought the Boar Castle estate on the Cane River, Jamaica in 1758, changing its name to Dallas Castle. He left the island in 1764, having mortgaged the estate and put it in a trust.

Dallas was educated at Musselburgh, in Scotland, and under James Elphinston at Kensington, London. He entered the Inner Temple, but on coming of age went to Jamaica to take possession of the estates which he had inherited, and became an official there. After three years he visited England and married. He returned with his wife to Jamaica. He subsequently resigned his post and left Jamaica, for the sake of his wife's health.

Dallas lived on the continent of Europe, moving to the United States of America when the French Revolution occurred. He was disappointed in America, and returned to England. He sold the Dallas Castle estate on Jamaica, by 1810. He died in autumn 1824, at Sainte-Adresse in Normandy, France, and was buried at Le Havre.

Dallas wrote a great deal: he said himself that he aimed to oppose the Jacobins and "confusion".

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