Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heron, Richard
HERON, Sir RICHARD (1726–1805), secretary to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, youngest son of Robert Heron, esq., of Newark, Nottinghamshire, and Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Brecknock, esq., of Thorney Abbey, Cambridgeshire, was born in 1726. He was educated for the legal profession, and by the influence of the Duke of Newcastle was in 1751 appointed a commissioner of bankruptcy, and subsequently a sworn clerk in the remembrance office, and lord treasurer's remembrancer in the court of exchequer. In December 1776 he was appointed principal secretary to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, John Hobart, second earl of Buckinghamshire [q. v.] He arrived in Dublin on 24 Jan. in the following year, and was immediately sworn of the privy council there. He was described by a writer in the ‘Hibernian Magazine’ as ‘rather above the middle size, well made, and of a good constitution.’ Notwithstanding the difficulties of his position owing to the attitude of the English government on the question of the commercial concessions, he was much esteemed by the Irish for his affability, integrity, and devotion to his duties. On 25 July 1778 he was created a baronet, and about the same time rewarded with the position of searcher, packer, and gauger at Cork, worth about 700l. a year. A severe illness in the spring of 1779 incapacitated him; in 1780 he was succeeded by William Eden (afterwards Lord Auckland), and a small pension was granted to Lady Heron. He married Jane Hall, widow of S. Thompson, esq., but died without issue on 18 Jan. 1805. In 1798 he compiled and published a useful genealogical table of the Herons of Newark.
[Gent. Mag. 1805; Freeman's Journal, 1777; Hibernian Mag. 1779; Life and Times of Henry Grattan, ii. 175, 183; Addit. MSS. 19244 f. 171, 177, 21033 ff. 37–42, 28051 f. 398, 32724 f. 474, 32920 f. 410, 458, 32921 f. 232, 32944 f. 124, 32967 f. 413; Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep., Stopford Sackville MSS.]