Rosary Notables: Donald Dalrymple (1814–1873)

Donald Dalrymple is one of three Members of Parliament buried at the Rosary; Jeremiah James Colman and George White being the others. Despite being born, growing up and leading his professional life in Norwich, it was as a Member of Parliament for Bath that he became a controversial national figure.

Described as a Liberal of the Whig position he had strong links to the Norwich Liberal establishment and married the daughter of Thomas Osborn Springfield, one of the city’s most prominent and ruthless politicians. But Dalrymple’s proposals to deal with the problem of anti-social behaviour and violence exacerbated by heavy drinking brought him into conflict with his colleagues. 

Portrait of Donald Dalrymple (1814 – 19 September 1873).
English surgeon and Liberal politician who sat in
the House of Commons from 1868 to 1873.

After being elected to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament for Bath, in 1871 he introduced the Habitual Drunkards Bill which would have permitted the compulsory detention of those who were continually before the courts for drunken and disorderly behaviour. Despite huge public concern about the dangers of alcohol Parliament rejected Dalrymple’s bill – his proposals were seen as too draconian. His campaign also faced strong opposition in his Bath constituency. His position became untenable and he subsequently announced he would not seek re-election as an MP. This was to prove academic.

On Thursday 18th September 1873 Dalrymple was taken ill at the home of a friend in Hampshire, suffering ‘violent sickness and diarrhea’, and died the next day. The following Wednesday his body was buried at the Rosary cemetery in the Springfield family vault. His monument in plot D509 is a square plinth inscribed with a record of his achievements, surmounted by a broken column (indicating a life cut short) and topped with a cross. 

Donald Dalrymple had not always been such a controversial figure. The fourth son of William Dalrymple, a Norwich surgeon, he trained as a doctor at Guy’s Hospital, London. Returning to Norwich he established himself as a surgeon, living at Surrey Street with his wife Sarah and their three servants. However, in 1858 he abandoned medicine after receiving a substantial bequest upon the death of his father-in-law. This enabled him to stand for Parliament and travel. It also enabled him to purchase Thorpe Lodge on Yarmouth Road where he lived until his premature death.

Nick Williams