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Dingley was born in Durham, Maine and attended the common schools at Unity, Maine, Waterville Seminary , and Waterville College . He graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1855. He then studied law, recieved a law degree from Bates College, and was admitted to the bar in 1856Events January 8 Borax is discovered ( John Veatch). January 29 Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross February 18 The American Party ( Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former Presi. However, he never practiced law and instead became proprietor and editor of the Lewiston, MaineLewiston is a city located in Androscoggin County, Maine. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 35,690. A former industrial center, it is located in southwest Maine, at the falls of the Androscoggin River, across from Auburn. Founded i Journal, holding this post for more than twenty years. He was a member of the Maine State house of representatives 1862Events January-March January 10 End of term for John Gately Downey, 7th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Amasa Leland Stanford. January 30 The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched. February 1 Julia Ward Howe's " Battle Hy- 18651865 is a common year starting on Sunday. Events January 31 American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief. February 17 American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forc, 1868Events January 3 Meiji Emperor declares " Meiji Restoration", his own restoration to full power, against the supporters of the Tokugawa Shogunate. January 10 Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu declares emperor's declaration "illegal" and attacks Kyoto. Pro-Emperor, and again in 1873Events The United Kingdom declares war against Ghana's King Kofi KariKari, who was involved in the trading of slaves. The war ended by July and the British established the Gold Coast Colony. January 17 Indian Wars: First Battle of the Stronghold during th, serving as speaker in 1863Events January-March January 1 Abraham Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War. January 1 The first claim under the Homestead Act is made for a farm in Nebraska January 8 Ground is broken in Sacramen and 1864Events January March January 21 Maori Wars: The Tauranga Campaign starts. February 27 American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia. March 1- Alejandro Mon Menendez takes office as Prime Minist. He was Governor of Maine in 1874 and a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876 and 1880.
Dingley was elected as a Republican to the Forty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William P. Frye . He was then reelected to the Forty-eighth and to the seven succeeding Congresses, serving from September 12, 1881, until his death in Washington, D.C., before the close of the Fifty-fifth Congress . Reputedly "destitute of humor but soundly versed in finance," Dingley was chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means in the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Congresses. The tariff schedule of 1897, known as the Dingley Tariff, was framed under his direction to counter the lower rates set forth in the 1894 Democratic Wilson-Gorman tariff. The Dingley Tariff raised tariff rates and granted the President authority to invoke reciprocity when negotiating trade treaties.
Dingley had been reelected to the Fifty-sixth Congress and was succeeded by Charles E. Littlefield . He is interred in Oak Hill Cemetery, near Auburn, Maine.