Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/516

 privy council, being the first Jew upon whom this honour was conferred. On 24 Nov. 1887 an international conference on sugar bounties met in London in the interest of the sugar-growing colonies. The United States was not represented. De Worms was chosen president. As one of the British plenipotentiaries he signed a protocol with a convention (19 Dec. 1887), wherein all the representatives of sugar producing or manufacturing countries condemned in principle the bounty system, and recommended legislation for its abolition. De Worms early next year visited the chief European capitals to urge practical effect being given to the convention. All countries, save France, Denmark, and Sweden, signed (30 Aug. 1888) a final convention, but this was not ratified by the English parliament. De Worms, despite the failure of his efforts, continued to denounce the bounty system in the interest of the sugar-growing colonies. On 15 Nov. 1895 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Pirbright, taking the title from the village of Pirbright, Surrey, where he had acquired an estate.

In the Jewish community he was long a prominent worker, serving as president of the Anglo- Jewish Association (1872-86). In 1886, on the marriage of his daughter Alice to John Henry Boyer Warner of Quorn Hall, Leicestershire, a union contrary to Jewish observance, he severed his connection with the Jewish community. He died on 9 Jan. 1903, and was buried in the churchyard of Wyke St. Mark, near Guildford.

De Worms, who was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, published: 1. 'The Earth and its Mechanism,' 1862. 2. 'The Austro-Hungarian Empire,' 1870; 2nd edit. 1872. 3. 'England's Policy in the East,' 1877. He was twice married: (1) in 1864 to Fanny, eldest daughter of Baron von Todesco, of Vienna, by whom he had three daughters, and whom he divorced in 1886; and (2) in 1887 to Sarah, then Mrs. Barnett, only daughter of Sir Benjamin Samuel Phillips. He left no heir.

A portrait of Lord Pirbright in his peer's robes, painted by Sir Luke Fildes, R.A., is in possession of Lady Pirbright. A cartoon portrait by 'Ape' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1880. A public hall and recreation ground commemorate him at Pirbright.

 DIBBS, GEORGE RICHARD (1834–1904), premier of New South Wales, born in Sydney on 12 Oct. 1834, was youngest son of Capt. John Dibbs, formerly of the East India Co.'s service. He was educated in Sydney at St. Philip's Church of England school and at Dr. Lang's Australian College. In 1857 he joined his father-in-law in a sugar refinery which passed into other hands. In 1859 he formed a shipping business, joined by his brother next year, in Sydney and Newcastle (New South Wales), and started a successful branch at Valparaiso. In 1866 the firm became bankrupt on the failure of the Agra bank. Later the creditors were paid in full, and Dibbs & Co. became one of the foremost firms in Sydney. In 1868 he toured through Europe and the British Isles. In 1871 he was cast in a libel suit and spent a year in Darlinghurst debtors' prison rather than pay damages.

At forty years of age he began his political career, advocating republicanism and free trade. He was one of the leading members of the Public Schools League, which championed free compulsory and secular education in state primary schools. In 1874 he was elected one of the members for West Sydney of the legislative assembly of New South Wales. In 1877 he was defeated, but in 1882 was returned for St. Leonards. In January 1883 he became treasurer and colonial secretary in the ministry of Sir Alexander Stuart [q.v.]. At this time, owing to enormous sales of crown land, the state coffers were overflowing with money. The Stuart-Dibbs government passed a law stopping these sales. On 7 Oct. 1885 Sir George Dibbs succeeded Sir Alexander Stuart as premier, first holding the office of colonial secretary, then that of treasurer. His ministry was defeated on 22 Dec. 1885. From 26 Feb. 1886 to January 1887 he was colonial secretary in the Jennings ministry. In 1887 he lost his seat at St. Leonards to Sir Henry Parkes [q. v. Suppl. I], but was immediately returned by the Murrumbidgee. From 17 Jan. to 6 March 1889 he was again premier and colonial secretary. During his new term of office he declared his conversion from free trade to protection and succeeded in carrying a tariff. His republican views had undergone modification, and in March 1891 he was appointed a delegate to the federation convention held in Sydney, in spite of Sir Henry Parkes' s objection on the ground of his republican sympathies. On 23 Oct. 1891, on the defeat of Sir Henry Parkes's ministry, Sir George Dibbs became, for a third time, premier and colonial secretary. In June 1892 he visited England as premier of his colony and on a special mission to reassure London capitalists of the financial 