Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Saunderson, Edward James
SAUNDERSON, EDWARD JAMES (1837–1906), Irish politician, born on 1 Oct. 1837 at Castle Saunderson, was fourth son of Colonel Alexander Saunderson (1783-1857) of Castle Saunderson, Belturbet, co. Cavan, by his wife Sarah Juliana (d. 1870), elder daughter of the Rev. Henry Maxwell, sixth Baron Famham. The Saundersons trace their lineage to a family called de Bedic, settled in co. Durham in the fourteenth century, of which one branch after a settlement in Scotland removed to Ireland in the seventeenth century. Before Saunderson was ten his father shut up his house and chose to live abroad. Saunderson and his brothers were educated chiefly at Nice, by private tutors. He learnt to talk French fluently, but his attention was largely devoted to the designing, building, and sailing of boats, always his favomite recreations. One or two of his foreign tutors were Jesuits, but Saunderson and his brothers grew up in earnest attachment to protestant principles. Through life Saunderson was an ardent protestant and Orangeman, and, although he was not careful of dogmas and formularies, he cherished an absolute faith in divine guidance, was an earnest and eloquent preacher, and was in the habit until death of conducting the services in the church at Castle Saunderson. His father died in Dec. 1857 and left Castle Saunderson to his younger son, Edward, to come into possession of it on reaching the age of twenty-five in 1862. Settling accordingly in Ireland, Saunderson was high sheriff of Cavan in 1859, and soon joined the Cavan militia, of which he later was colonel commanding (1891-3). At first he spent most of his time in hunting or sailing on Lough Erne. In politics he was a liberal of the whig type, and an admirer of Lord Palmerston. At the general election of 1865 he was returned unopposed for his county (Cavan), his colleague being a conservative, Hugh Annesley, afterwards, earl of Annesley. The two were re-elected without opposition at the election of 1868. Saunderson opposed the disestablishment of the Irish church in 1869, but otherwise gave little sign of political interest or activity. In 1874 he stood for Cavan for a third time, again with Annesley, and both were defeated by home rulers, one of them Joseph Gillis Biggar [q. v. Suppl. I]. For the next ten 3^ears Saunderson pursued the uneventful life of a country gentleman at home, with occasional visits abroad. But the advance of the home rule movement under Parnell's leadership, which he regarded as dangerous and disloyal, drew him into the fighting line. In July 1882 he appeared at Ballykilbeg on a platform as an Orangeman. Although he never ceased to call himself a whig, he was in London in 1884 eagerly assisting his conservative friends in their opposition to the franchise bill, which (he foresaw) promised a serious advantage to the followers of Parnell in Ireland. In a pamphlet, 'Two Irelands, or Loyalty versus Treason' (1884), he explained his hostility to the nationalist agitation. At the general election in Nov. 1885 he was elected for North Armagh as a conservative in contest with a liberal, and he represented the constituency until his death, twenty-one years later. He defeated a nationalist at the general election of July 1886, and an independent conservative at that of Oct. 1900; in July 1892, July 1895, and Jan. 1906 he was returned unopposed.
Saunderson rapidly became the most conspicuous member of the Irish unionist party in the House of Commons. He was never a good debater and made little pretence of mastering details, but he had an imposing presence, a fine voice, great fluency, abundant humoxu-, and a zest for personal controversy with opponents. During the passage of Gladstone's second home rule bill through the House of Commons in 1893 he was indefatigable in protest and frequently evoked disturbances by his attacks on the nationalists. He declared the nationalist members to be eighty-five reasons for not passing the bill. On 2 Feb. 1893 he raised a storm by describing an Irish priest named Macfadden as a 'murderous ruffian,' words which he afterwards changed to 'excited politician.' On 27 July 1893, while the home rule bill was in committee, he engaged in a free fight with his Irish foes on the floor of the chamber. Although he supported the conservative party in their main policy. he showed independence on occasions, and criticised adversely the conservative land bill of 1896, and joined the nationalists in 1897 in denouncing the financial relations between England and Ireland as unjust to the smaller country. In regard to South African policy he was in sympathy with Mr. Joseph Chamberlain. In 1897-8 he visited South Africa., with other members of Parliament, to attend the opening of the Bechuanaland railway, and made several stirring speeches from the English point of view upon the vexed questions which were then disturbing the South African colonies and were leading towards war. On the political platform outside the House of Commons both in England and Ireland Saunderson proved a formidable champion of the Irish union. On 31 May 1894 he took part in an adjourned debate on home rule at the Oxford Union, answering a speech by Mr. John Dillon of the week before. The proposal in favour of home rule was defeated by 344 to 182. He threw himself with enthusiasm into the work of the Orange lodges and was grand master at Belfast from 1901 to 1903.
Saunderson was made a privy councillor in 1898 and lord-lieutenant of Cavan in 1900. In private life his ardent spiritual aspirations never diminished his natural humour nor his love of recreation. He was a capable artist and caricaturist, and maay spirited sketches of his parliamentary associates are of historic value. He continued to the last to design and build boats which held their own with the best yachts on Lough Erne. He shot and played billiards and latterly golf. A serious illness in 1904 impaired his health. He died at Castle Saimderson on 21 Oct. 1906, and was buried in the churchyard in his park. He married on 22 June 1865 Helena Emily, youngest daughter of Thomas de Moleyns, third Lord Ventry. He left four sons and one daughter, of whom the eldest son Somerset (late captain, king's royal rifles) succeeded to the property. In 1907 three of his religious addresses were published under the title 'Present and Everlasting Salvation,' with a preface by J. B. Crozier, then bishop of Ossory. A portrait by Edwin Long, R.A., painted in 1890, belongs to Mr. Burdett-Coutts, together with a crayon drawing by R. Ponsonby Staples dated 1899. Another portrait by H. Harris Brown is at Castle Saunderson. A statue by (Sir) William Goscombe John, subscribed for by the public, was unveiled at Portadown in 1910.
[Reginald Lucas's Colonel Saunderson : a Memoir, 1908; The Times, 22 Oct. 1906; H. W. Lucy's Home Rule Parliament, 1892–5, and The Salisbury Parliament, 1895-1900.]