Dobbs, Arthur (1689–1765), economic writer and colonial governor. The heir to land round
Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, Dobbs was MP for Carrickfergus 1727–60.
An Essay on the Trade and Improvement of Ireland (1729–31) has been taken as identifying him as one of the
commonwealth school, concerned with social improvement and critical of English restrictions on Irish trade. However, he was dismissive of the Irish parliament, and wrote two unpublished pamphlets advocating a legislative
union. The holder of an official post as surveyor‐general of Ireland from 1733, he supported government during the
money bill crisis. He was an enthusiastic proponent of British colonial expansion in North America, and persuaded the government to send two expeditions (1741, 1746) in search of a north‐west passage to the Pacific. In 1745 he purchased land in North Carolina and energetically sponsored its settlement with immigrants from his own estates and elsewhere. He went to North Carolina himself as governor in 1754, and died there shortly before a planned return to Ireland.
Francis Dobbs (1750–1811), a great nephew, wrote pamphlets for the
Volunteers. As MP for Charlemont 1799–1800, he opposed the Act of
Union and wrote extensively, in a
millenarian vein, on scriptural prophecy.
