Callaghan, Gerard
(c.1787–1833), politician and merchant, was born in Cork city, third son of Daniel (‘Dan’) Callaghan, a wealthy catholic merchant and shipowner from Cork, and Mary Callaghan (née Barry). Dan Callaghan (fl.
Gerard was educated partly in England, where he converted to anglicanism, partly for reasons of self-advancement and partly because he believed that protestantism was more favourable to enterprise and self-reliance. In 1811 he was described as ‘a slight young man, rather elegant in his appearance, affected in his manners, and anglicised in his accent’ (Madden, 187). He soon became active in the family businesses, particularly as a whiskey merchant, giving evidence on the Irish corn trade to a commons select committee in 1813, and becoming president of the Cork city committee of merchants (1815–16). He was elected MP for Dundalk in 1818, standing as a supporter of catholic emancipation. In 1819 he published an open letter to Canning proposing a return to the gold standard after the wartime suspension, and spoke to the same effect in the commons. He also strongly advocated the use of a sinking fund to repay the national debt and on 6 April 1819 made a speech blaming Ireland's ills on over-population. In 1820 he stood unsuccessfully for Cork city, where established political interests looked upon him as an upstart. He thought highly of himself and greatly disliked the condescension of Cork's aristocracy and gentry, many of whom he regarded as boorish mediocrities, and who were frequently the targets of his caustic wit. Charles Arbuthnot at the treasury advised the government against supporting him, describing him as ‘not very reputable, being a great stock jobber’ (Thorne, 360). He fought the election on whether the city should be represented by the landed aristocracy or a resident merchant like himself who could promote Cork's commercial and manufacturing interests, but his appeal to the city's catholics did not prove strong enough. Many catholics despised him because of his apostasy, and many protestants distrusted him for the same reason – the Dublin Evening Post labelled him ‘a kiln dried and medicated mongrel’ (2 January 1827) and accused him of posing as an Orangeman in pursuit of political and personal objectives. After his defeat he became increasingly sectarian in his politics, becoming the leading figure in Cork toryism in the 1820s. He managed to unite middle-class tories and country gentry to vote on a common anti-catholic emancipation platform, and strove to maintain protestant merchants' control of Cork corporation. At a bitterly fought and openly sectarian by-election in December 1826, he described the Catholic Association as ‘an abominable nuisance’ (Madden, 212), and again failed to be elected. He appears to have played an important behind-the-scenes role in founding the Cork Brunswick Constitutional Club, dedicated to the defence of the existing constitution in church and state, and used as a tory election organisation. Eventually he was returned for Cork city in 1829, much to the chagrin of Cork liberals and catholics, who accused him of spending a fortune to bribe electors; the result was challenged and he was unseated in March 1830 on the grounds that as a government contractor he was ineligible to be an MP. After this he devoted himself to business, having spent almost £30,000 on election campaigns. Described as ‘a man of varied talents, of much wit and eloquence, but of infirm judgement and of ill-regulated ambition’ (Madden, 187), he died 25 February 1833 at his residence at Sidney House, Cork, after a surgical accident. He married (7 October 1818) Louisa Margaretta, daughter of John Calvert Clarke of Teddington, Middlesex; they had children.
After Gerard lost his seat in 1830, the by-election was contested by his elder brother Daniel Callaghan (1786–1849), a whiskey merchant andCork director of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, the largest bank in Munster, established in 1825. His candidature was promoted mainly by Gerard to maintain the family's grip on the seat until he could contest it in the next election. Daniel was a catholic and received O'Connellite backing, but having made it clear that he meant no harm to the established church he also received the support of the protestant Brunswick Club. He narrowly won the seat, but proved reluctant to surrender it to his brother in the August 1830 general election. To avoid an ugly family squabble, the brothers allowed six mutual friends to arbitrate between them: they chose Daniel, who had none of Gerard's vanity or sectarian spite, and who was duly elected. He began by supporting the government of Wellington (qv), but in 1831 he voted for the reform bill and in 1832, under pressure from the Cork Trade Association, he declared in favour of repeal. Once out of the shadow of his brother he moved into the O'Connellite camp after 1832, and sat for Cork city until 1849. He often espoused radical causes and in July 1836 was one of eighteen members who supported the motion by William Sharman Crawford (qv) to abolish tithes. In subsequent votes he supported free trade and the extension of the suffrage, and generally voted with the whigs, except on Irish coercion bills. Like other members of his family he was a shrewd businessman, and in parliament he devoted considerable attention to Cork's commercial interests, raising issues affecting the city's tobacco, soap, and textile manufacturers, and its provisions and drinks trades. Some whigs attempted to have him appointed vice-president of the Board of Trade, but Melbourne objected because of his repeal sympathies. He died of cholera 29 September 1849 at his home at Lotabeg, near Cork.