Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/108

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guards, of which he became major and lieutenant-colonel in 1855; he retired from the army in 1859. In politics Hogg was a conservative, and sat as member for Bath from 1865 to 1868, and for Truro from 1871 to 1885. In 1885 and 1886 he was returned for the Hornsey division of Middlesex. In 1876 he succeeded his father as second baronet, and assumed, by royal license dated 8 Feb. 1887, the additional surname of McGarel on succeeding to the estates of Charles McGarel of Magheramorne, co. Antrim; in 1887 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Magheramorne.

Hogg was widely known from his connection with the metropolitan board of works, of which he became a member in 1867, and was chairman from 1870 until its abolition in 1889, when its place was taken by the London county council. Throughout this period Hogg was actively engaged in promoting schemes for the improvement of the metropolis, and personally identified himself with the construction of the Thames Embankment, Shaftesbury Avenue, and Charing Cross Road. In 1874, on the completion of the Chelsea Embankment, he was made a K.C.B. In 1887 some London ratepayers alleged that various members and officers of the board of works had fraudulently turned their official position to their own pecuniary advantage, chiefly in connection with the letting of building-sites in the new streets constructed by the board in central London. A royal commission was appointed in 1888 to inquire into the allegations, which affected almost the whole administration of the board. Hogg gave the commissioners every assistance and tendered valuable evidence. The report of the commissioners, which was issued in 1889, entirely absolved him and the majority of his colleagues of all blame beyond that of placing too much reliance on their subordinates. Magheramorne died on 27 June 1890.

He married, 31 Aug. 1857, Caroline Elizabeth Emma Douglas-Pennant, eldest daughter of Lord Penrhyn, and by her had five sons and one daughter.

[Burke's and Foster's Peerages; interim and final Reports of the Commission of Inquiry, 1888 and 1889; Times, 28 June 1890; Men of the Time, 12th ed., p. 537.]


HOGG, Sir JAMES WEIR (1790–1876), East India director, elder son of William Hogg of Belmont, co. Antrim, by Mary, daughter of James Dickey of Dunmore in that county, was born at Stoneyford, near Lisburn, on 7 Sept. 1790. He received his early education at Dr. Bruce's academy, Belfast, and was elected a scholar of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1808. There he gained the gold medal for oratory, among the unsuccessful competitors being Richard Lalor Sheil, and graduated B.A. in the spring of 1810 (Todd, Dublin Graduates, p. 278). On 20 May 1811 he was admitted a student of Gray's Inn, London, ‘for the Irish bar,’ to which he is said to have been called, though no record of the fact is now to be found in the books of the King's Inns. He sailed for Calcutta, where his family had influence, in 1814, and practised at the bar there for eight years, obtaining an unprecedentedly large and lucrative business. In 1822 his health showed signs of failure owing to overwork, and he accepted the valuable office of registrar of the supreme court of Calcutta, a post which he held until 1833, when he returned to England with a large fortune (Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, 3rd ser. cxxxix. 1999). At the general election in January 1835 he was returned at the head of the poll for Beverley as a conservative and steadfast supporter of Sir Robert Peel, to whose fortunes he closely adhered throughout. He continued to represent Beverley till the dissolution in July 1847. Though he took no prominent part in the debates of the house except upon Indian matters, he seconded the motion (7 May 1841) on the sugar duties, which led to the defeat of the government (ib. lviii. 53). On 11 Sept. 1839 he was elected a director of the East India Company (Asiatic Journal, new ser. xxx. 166), and from that time forward was practically the representative of Leadenhall Street in the House of Commons. He was elected deputy-chairman of the company for 1845–6, 1850–1, and 1851–2, and chairman for 1846–7 and 1852–3 (Prinsep, Madras Civilians, pp. xiii, xxii). In April 1844 W. B. Ferrand's accusation against Hogg and Sir J. Graham of corruption in connection with the Nottingham election petition was declared to be ‘wholly unfounded and calumnious’ (House of Commons' Journals, 1844, p. 239). Hogg, who supported Peel in his free-trade policy, declined, towards the close of 1845, the post of judge advocate-general upon the resignation of Dr. John Nicholl, on the ground that he held the office of deputy-chairman of the East India Company (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser., cxxix. 79). Upon the downfall of the ministry he was created a baronet (20 July 1846). At the general election in July 1847 he was returned unopposed for Honiton, which he continued to represent until the dissolution in March 1857. In his capacity as the recognised representative of the India House, Hogg was frequently attacked by Sir Charles Napier, John Bright, and others, who disapproved of