Family and Education

b. 1676, 2nd s. of George Damer by Sarah, da. of Richard Fowler. m. 6 Dec. 1714, Mary, da. of John Churchill of Henbury, Dorset, niece of Awnsham Churchill, M.P. Dorchester 1705-10, ‘the greatest bookseller and stationer of his time’,1 3s. 2da. suc. to Dorset estates of his uncle Joseph Damer 1720.

Offices Held

M.P. [I] 1735-d.

Biography

Joseph Damer was the nephew of Joseph Damer of Came, Dorset, a Cromwellian soldier and diplomatist, who after the Restoration settled in Ireland, where he made a fortune by usury and land speculation.2 He died unmarried in 1720, at a great age, leaving his Irish estates to his nephew, Joseph’s elder brother, John Damer, and his Dorset estate to Joseph, who was returned for Dorchester as a Whig at the next general election. Joseph did not stand again for Dorchester, but sat in the Irish Parliament for Tipperary, where his brother’s estates were situated, till his death, 1 Mar. 1737.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

• 1. H. R. Plomer, Dict. of Printers and Booksellers, 1668-1725, p. 69.
• 2. J. T. Gilbert, City of Dublin, i. 65-66.