The Shaw Family

Sir Robert Shaw M.P.

Engraving of Sir Robert Shaw M.P. Also, Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1815 - 1816

© Hibernian Magazine October 1806 (Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland)

Sir Robert Shaw M.P.
© Hibernian Magazine October 1806 (Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland)

Sir Robert Shaw M.P.

Engraving of Sir Robert Shaw M.P. Also, Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1815 - 1816

© Hibernian Magazine October 1806 (Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland)

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The Shaw family moved to Dublin in the eighteenth century. Robert Shaw (Senior) prospered as a merchant and became Accountant General of the Post Office. His son, Robert Shaw, became a well-known figure in nineteenth century Dublin. He became a member of the Guild of Merchants at the age of 21 and was elected as their representative to the Dublin City Assembly (forerunner of the present day City Council). He was one of Dublin's foremost financial experts, with his own bank, Robert Shaw and Son, at Foster Place. He was a Member of Parliament for New Ross and Dublin from 1804 to 1826 and, in deference to his position, he was conferred with a Baronetcy on August 17th 1821, during King George IV's visit to Dublin.

In 1796, at the age of 22, Sir Robert married Maria, daughter and heiress of the neighbouring family, the Wilkinsons. His bride brought a substantial dowry and the 110 acre estate of Bushy Park to the marriage.

In 1806, Sir Robert sold his family home, Terenure House, and Bushy Park House became the family home and seat for the Shaw family. On his death in 1848 Sir Robert was succeeded by his son Lieutenant Colonel Robert Shaw. His son Frederick Shaw was Tory M.P. for Dublin City and University of Dublin from 1830 to 1848 and Recorder of Dublin from 1828 until his death in 1876.

G. B. Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Photograph of George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

© Reproduced with the kind permission of the National Trust (U. K.)

G. B. Shaw (1856 - 1950)
© Reproduced with the kind permission of the National Trust (U. K.)

G. B. Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Photograph of George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

© Reproduced with the kind permission of the National Trust (U. K.)

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George Bernard Shaw

The Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin is the highest honour the City Council may bestow and it is conferred very rarely. The recipient becomes an Honorary Citizen of Dublin and although no financial or other benefits are attached to the award, the prestige which it carries is immense.

The Honorary Freedom of Dublin was instituted under the Municipal Privileges Act, 1876 and is currently conferred under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1991.

G.B.(George Bernard) Shaw was a recipient of this honour in 1946. The dramatist, who was born in Dublin in 1856, was a collateral descendant of Sir Robert Shaw, M.P. In 1876 G.B. Shaw moved to London, where he established himself as a leading music and theatre critic and became a member of the Fabian Society. While his earliest literary career was as a novelist, he began to write plays from 1898. His many plays include: Candida, Back to Methuselah, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles and the Lion, Major Barbara and Saint Joan. Shaw received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.

The play Pygmalion, written in 1912, features a character named Eliza Doolittle, interestingly, the same name is listed as a beneficiary in an 1823 deed of release of legacies. Sir Robert Shaw, M.P. was the executor of that will.