GRAHAM, SIR JAMES ROBERT GEORGE, BART.
(1792-1861), British statesman, son of Sir James Graham and Lady Catherine Stewart, daughter of John, 7th earl of Galloway, was born on June 1, 1792 at Naworth, Cumberland. He was edu cated at Dalston, Westminster school and Christ Church, Oxford (1810-12) . He sat in parliament from 1818 to 182o, but made no serious mark in politics until 1826, when his pamphlet Corn and Currency foreshadowed his career as an advanced liberal. He was returned in 1826 as Liberal M.P. for Carlisle, a seat which he exchanged in 1827 for the county of Cumberland. In 183o he moved for the reduction of official salaries. In Earl Grey's administration of Nov. 1830, he was made first lord of the Admiralty, with a seat in the cabinet, and introduced many financial reforms in his department. Graham served on the Com mittee of four which prepared the first Reform Bill. From 1832-37 he sat again for the county of Cumberland.
In 1834 dissensions on the Irish church question led to his withdrawal, with Lord Stanley, from the ministry. He was again returned for Cumberland in 1835, but in 1837 lost his seat on account of his growing sympathy with the Conservatives. In 1838 he was elected for Pembroke, and in 1841 for Dorchester. He held office as home secretary under Peel (1841-46), but his character hardly fitted him for a post requiring tact and an equable temperament. His treatment of the representatives from Scotland was partly responsible for the dissatisfaction which resulted in the secession of the Free Kirk. During his term of office he became increasingly unpopular, and failed to carry through several reforms which he attempted. In 1844 the de tention and opening of letters at the post-office on his warrant raised a storm of public indignation against Graham, though this action was taken at the request of Lord Aberdeen, then foreign secretary. An unsuccessful attempt was made to abolish the home secretary's power in this respect. In 1846 famine threatened Ireland as the result of a potato disease, and Graham's agreement with Peel that the duty on imported corn could not be maintained alienated the Tories. Graham was out of office from Peel's resignation in 1846 to 1852, and on Peel's death in 185o he be came prominent among the Peelites. In 1852 Graham again repre sented Carlisle, and was again given his post at the admiralty in Lord Aberdeen's coalition Government. Graham took office again under Lord Palmerston, but resigned when he found that there was a cabinet majority in favour of the establishment of a com mittee of inquiry, to which he was opposed in principle in time of war. Graham successfully resisted an attempt to oppose his election in 1857, but took little active part in politics from that time until his retirement in 1861. He died on Oct. 25, 1861. See W. MacCullagh Torrens, Life and Times of Sir James Graham (1863) ; H. Lonsdale, Worthies of Cumberland (6 vols., 1867-75) ; C. S. Parker, Life of Sir James Graham (19o7).