Saunderson was born at the family seat of Castle Saunderson in County Cavan. He was the younger son of Colonel Alexander Saunderson, who served as the Tory Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Cavan, and Honorary He was the grandson of Henry Maxwell, 6th Baron Farnham.
Saunderson was educated abroad, mostly in Nice by private tutors, and inherited his father"s Cavan estates following his death in 1857.
He led the Irish Unionist Party between 1891 and 1906. Sarah Juliana Maxwell. The Irish Saundersons were a 17th-century branch of an old family, originally from Durham.
A Lincolnshire branch, the Saundersons of Saxby, held the titles of Viscount Castleton (Irish: c 1628) and Baron Saunderson (British: c 1714) up to 1723.
Helena Emily de Moleyns, a daughter of Thomas Townsend Aremberg de Moleyns, 3rd Baron Ventry. In his private life, Saunderson was well known as a keen yachtsman, and his character was deeply marked by stern religious feeling.
He was a devout Evangelical Anglican. Saunderson was first elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom as the Palmerstonian Liberal member for Cavan in 1865.
In 1868, he became a Conservative.
Other than opposing the disestablishment of the Irish church in 1869, he otherwise gave little sign of political interest or activity at this stage. Saunderson lost his seat to the Home Rule League candidates, Joseph Biggar and Charles Joseph Fay, at the 1874 general election. In 1885 he stood again for parliament and was elected as a Conservative for the North Armagh constituency.
By this stage, he had become a prominent figure in the Orange Order and in the unionist political movement.
He retained his North Armagh seat in the 1886 election. He became the IUA"s first leader in 1891, a position which he held until his death.
Saunderson became known for his uncompromising speeches in the House of Commons, and he was nicknamed "the Dancing Dervish" by friends and opponents. Saunderson had entered the Cavan militia (4th battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers) in 1862, and was made a major in 1875.
He became a colonel in 1886 and was in command of the battalion from 1891 to 1893.
In March 1893, Saunderson was one of the signatories of the manifesto of the Ulster Defence Union, launched to organise resistance to the Second Home Rule Bill of 1893. He was a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Cavan, and was appointed High Sheriff of Cavan in 1859. He served as the grand master of the Orange Order lodge in Belfast from 1901 to 1903.
He died of pneumonia in 1906 and a statue, subscribed for by the public, was unveiled at Portadown in 1910.
He was subsequently involved in organising the establishment of the Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA), a political party which sought to unite the unionist movement across Ireland.
19th United Kingdom Parliament. 20th United Kingdom Parliament. 23rd United Kingdom Parliament.
24th United Kingdom Parliament.
25th United Kingdom Parliament. 26th United Kingdom Parliament.
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He was invested as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1898 in recognition of his political service.
