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Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess
of Londonderry, (1739-1821)
son of Alexander Stewart, of Mount Stewart and Mary Cowan
Born 27 September 1739
Died 6 April 1821 Mount Stewart
Married 3 June 1766 Dublin Castle
Lady Sarah Frances Seymour
Born 27 September 1747
Died 18 July 1770 Dublin
Buried Newtownards
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As a young man his father sent him under the care of a tutor to study
"literature" at the University of Geneva, and later made the Grand Tour.
He was in his early twenties when he returned from his Continental travels
and fell in love with Lady Sarah Seymour, the
teenage daughter of the future Marquess of Hertford. He was twenty-six
when he married the eighteen year old Lady Sarah, and they became the parents
of two sons of which only one survived. However, when pregnant for the
third time, complications occurred and she died on 17 July 1770.
Five years later he married Lady Frances Pratt, daughter of Earl Camden,
and they became the parents of eleven children, all of whom, except three
who died young, grew into adulthood.
Although this has been contested by his enemies, there is some evidence
that he reduced the rents on his Ards estate when times were hard and he
also encouraged the custom known as Ulster tenant right which prevailed
in the north of Ireland and guaranteed a measure of security of tenure
to tenant farmers unlike other parts of the country.
He was M.P. for County Down 1771-1783. He was created Baron Londonderry
on 20 September 1789; Viscount Castlereagh on 1 October 1795; and Earl
of Londonderry on 8 August 1796. Finally, on 13 January 1816, he became
Marquess of Londonderry, in recognition of his son's diplomatic achievements.
In 1801 he became Custos Rotulorum (Keeper of the Rolls) for County Down
and in 1803 for County Londonderry, holding
both positions until his death. A pro-Catholic Tory, he died aged eighty-one
at Mount Stewart.
Source: Leo van de Pas |
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