Jeremiah Dyson

Who was Jeremiah Dyson?

Jeremiah Dyson was a British civil servant and politician.

He studied at Edinburgh University and matriculated at Leiden University in 1742. He settled a pension on his friend Mark Akenside, the poet and physician, and later defended Akenside's The Pleasures of the Imagination against William Warburton. He was a friend of Samuel Richardson.

He purchased the clerkship of House of Commons in 1748, and became a Tory after George III's accession. He discontinued the practice of selling the clerkships subordinate to his office. He was Member of Parliament for Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, 1762–8, for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, 1768–74, and for Horsham, 1774. He was appointed a commissioner for the Board of Trade, 1764–8; a Lord of the Treasury, 1768–74; and a Privy Counsellor in 1774.

He supported Lord North's treatment of the American colonies. Isaac Barré nicknamed him "Mungo", for his noted attention to parliamentary business.