William Henry Gregory
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The Right Honourable Sir William Henry Gregory PC (Ire) KCMG |
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| 14th Governor of British Ceylon | |
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In office 4 March 1872 – 4 September 1877 |
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| Monarch | Queen Victoria |
| Preceded by |
Henry Turner Irving acting governor |
| Succeeded by | James Robert Longden |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1 July 1816 Dublin Castle |
| Died | 6 March 1892 (aged 75) London, England |
| Resting place | Gregory family vault, Kiltartan, County Galway |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Temple Bowdoin (m.1872 until her death) Augusta, Lady Gregory (m.1880) |
| Children | William Robert Gregory (1881–1918) |
| Alma mater |
Harrow School Christ Church, Oxford |
| Occupation | Writer, Politician |
Sir William Henry Gregory PC (Ire) KCMG (13 July 1816 – 6 March 1892) was an Anglo-Irish writer and politician, who is now less remembered than his wife Augusta, Lady Gregory, the playwright, co-founder and Director of Dublin's Abbey Theatre, literary hostess and folklorist.
The only child of Robert Gregory (1790 – 20 April 1847) and Elizabeth Gregory (née O'Hara from Raheen, 1799 – 7 January 1877), William Gregory was born at the Under-Secretary's residence, Ashtown Lodge, in Phoenix Park, 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.
William' father, Robert, had been an improving landlord who died of a fever contracted while visiting his tenants during the Great Famine in 1847.
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 Famine.
After the death of his father and following his failure 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, also named Robert Gregory, in the East India Company, but he lost a large part of it at the racetrack.
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