Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn

Son of John Pennant and his wife Bonella nee Hodges. Married Anne Susannah Warburton in Bath Abbey, 06/12/1765 and through her acquired a half share of Penrhyn estate in North Wales (where he developed the slate quarry). He bought the remaining half in 1785. MP for Petersfield in Hampshire from 1761-1767 then Liverpool from 1767-1780 and 1784-1790. Spoke repeatedly in the House in defence of the slave trade. Reportedly left debts of £150,000 on his death in 1808 which was paid off by the sale of Winnington Hall and a mortgage on Penrhyn.

Chairman of the Standing Committee of West India Planters and Merchants in London 1785-1808. 'Represented the merchant group politically and the planter group personally.' (Franklin, p. 81) Penrhyn ‘the model of West India absentee plantership: a successful landlord in the colonies and at home, with enough money to rise to the top of society, or at least to an Irish peerage.’ (p. 81)

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/pennant-richard-1736-1808 [accessed 16/07/2015].

Jean Lindsay, ‘Pennant, Richard, Baron Penrhyn (c.1737–1808)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/view/article/21859, accessed 16 July 2015].

Alexandra Franklin, Enterprise and advantage: The West India interest in Britain, 1774-1840 (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1992), pp. 80-81.