Frederick Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry

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The Marquess of Londonderry

Portrait by Simon Jacques Rochard, 1833
Tenure1854–1872
PredecessorCharles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry
SuccessorGeorge, 5th Marquess of Londonderry
Born7 July 1805
Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, London
Died25 November 1872(1872-11-25) (aged 67)
White Rock Pavilion, Hastings
BuriedNewtownards Priory
Spouse(s)Lady Elizabeth Jocelyn
FatherCharles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry
MotherCatherine Bligh

Frederick William Robert Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry KP PC (1805–1872), styled Viscount Castlereagh from 1822 to 1854, was a British nobleman and Tory politician. He was briefly Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under Sir Robert Peel between December 1834 and April 1835.

Background and education[edit]

Frederick Stewart was born on 7 July 1805 at Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, London.[1] He was the only child of Charles Stewart and his first wife Catherine Bligh. His father would become the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry but was at the time only the second son of Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry. His father's family was Ulster-Scots. Frederick's mother was the fourth and youngest daughter of John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley.[2]

He was his father's only son from his father's first marriage. In 1812, while Frederick's father was serving in the army in the Peninsular War, Frederick's mother died. Frederick was seven. His father remarried seven years later in 1819 and Frederick's half-siblings were born.

He was the only child of his parents but had younger half-siblings:

Frederick's half-siblings
  1. George Henry Robert Charles William Vane-Tempest (1821–1884), 5th Marquess
  2. Frances Anne Emily Vane (1822–1899), married John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough
  3. Alexandrina Octavia Maria Vane (1823–1874), godchild of Alexander I of Russia, married Henry Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington
  4. Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest (1825–1864), politician, became insane, and had to be medically restrained
  5. Adelaide Emelina Caroline Vane (c. 1830 – 1882), disgraced the family by eloping with her brother's tutor, Rev. Frederick Henry Law
  6. Ernest McDonnell Vane-Tempest (1836–1885), fell in with a press-gang and had to be bought a commission in the army, from which he was then cashiered
Family tree
Frederick Stewart with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.[a] His marriage was childless.
Sarah
Frances
Seymour

1747–1770
Robert
1st
Marquess

1739–1821
Frances
Pratt

c. 1751 –
1833
Robert
2nd
Marquess

1769–1822
Castlereagh
Amelia
Hobart

1772–1829
Catherine
Bligh
d. 1812
Charles
3rd
Marquess

1778–1854
Frances
Vane

1800–1865
Frederick
4th
Marquess

1805–1872
Elizabeth
Jocelyn

1813–1884
George
5th
Marquess

1821–1884
Mary
Edwards

d. 1906
Charles
6th
Marquess

1852–1915
Theresa
Talbot

d. 1919
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article
XXXMarquesses of
Londonderry

Frederick was looked after by his uncle and aunt, Lord and Lady Castlereagh. He went to Eton in 1814, where he stayed until 1820. After his father succeeded to the marquessate of Londonderry in 1822, Frederick Stewart became known by the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh, which was to be his title for 32 years until 1854. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1823.[5]

Frederick Stewart at Mount Sinai in May 1842

Political career[edit]

He served under the Duke of Wellington as a Lord of the Admiralty from 1828 to 1830 and under Sir Robert Peel as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from December 1834[6] to April 1835. On 23 February 1835, he was sworn of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.[7]

He was one of the Members of Parliament for County Down from 1826 until 1852.[8][9]

From 1845 until 1864 he was Lord Lieutenant of Down. In 1856 he was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick.

Frederick Stewart as Marquess of Londonderry. The background on the left shows the view from Mount Stewart over the Strangford Lough on Scrabo Hill with its tower.

Personal life[edit]

In 1838, Count Gérard de Melcy, the husband of the Italian operatic singer Giulia Grisi, discovered a letter written to Giulia by Frederick Stewart, and the two men fought a duel on 16 June of that year. Lord Castlereagh was wounded in the wrist; the Count was uninjured. After the duel, Grisi left her husband and began an affair with Lord Castlereagh. Their son, George Frederick Ormsby (1838–1901), was born in November 1838 and brought up by his father.

By 1852, he "had fallen out with his father, the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry over their views on the land question [and] was obliged to retire because of these differences".[10]

Frederick Stewart married Lady Elizabeth Frances Charlotte Jocelyn, widow of Viscount Powerscourt and daughter of Robert Jocelyn, 3rd Earl of Roden, at the British Embassy in Paris on 2 May 1846. There were no children from the marriage. In 1855 his wife converted to Roman Catholicism.[11]

He succeeded his father in 1854 as the 4th Marquess of Londonderry. He built Scrabo Tower as a monument to the memory of his father.[12] In 1857 he and his wife attended the ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone.[13]

Arms of the 4th Marquess of Londonderry[14]

Decline, death, and succession[edit]

In 1862 Londonderry was diagnosed as mentally ill. He was secluded in a mental institution at White Rock Pavilion in Hastings.[15][b] He died there on 25 November 1872, aged 67 and was buried in the Newtownards Priory. His wife, the dowager Marchioness of Londonderry died on 2 September 1884, aged 70, and was buried with him in the double grave in the priory.

As he had no legitimate children, he was succeeded in the marquessate by his half-brother, George Vane-Tempest, 2nd Earl Vane. This had the effect that the fortunes of the Stewart and the Vane side of the Londonderry family were reunited in a single hand.

Ancestry[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ This family tree is based on the genealogies of the marquesses of Londonderry.[3][4] Also see the list of siblings in the text.
  2. ^ This was almost certainly White Rock Villa as the White Rock Pavilion, now called the White Rock Theatre, was not built until 1927.

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Cokayne 1893, p. 133, line 12: "[Frederick was] b. [born] 7 July 1805, in South street, Grosvenor sq.;"
  2. ^ Cokayne 1893, p. 132, line: "He [his father] m. [married] firstly, 8 Aug. 1804, at St. Geo. Han. sq., Catherine, 4th da. [daughter] of John [Bligh], 3d Earl of Darnley [I. [Ireland]] ..."
  3. ^ Burke & Burke 1915, pp. 1275–1277: "Genealogy of the marquesses of Londonderry"
  4. ^ Cokayne 1893, p. 131–134: "Genealogy of the marquesses of Londonderry"
  5. ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Stewart, William Robert Frederick, Viscount Castlereagh" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  6. ^ "No. 19225". The London Gazette. 30 December 1834. p. 2348.
  7. ^ "No. 19243". The London Gazette. 24 February 1835. p. 334.
  8. ^ Cokayne 1893, p. 133, line 14: "M.P. for co. Down (26 years) 1826–1852;"
  9. ^ House of Commons 1878, p. 313: "Frederick Stewart, commonly called Lord Viscount Castlereagh / 8 July 1826 / Down County"
  10. ^ Brian Walker, 'Landowners and Parliamentary Elections in County Down, 1801–1921' PP 307–8 in Lindsay Proudfoot, 'Down – History and Society', Geography Publications, 1997
  11. ^ Gordon-Gorman 1899, p. 140: "Londondery, The late Elizabeth, fourth Marchioness of, daughter of the third Earl of Roden."
  12. ^ Hyde 1979, p. 50: "At the same time her husband constructed the great tower on Scrabo Hill overlooking the town in his father's memory."
  13. ^ "Memorial to the Late Marquis of Londonderry". The Illustrated London News. No. 28 March 1857. p. 300.
  14. ^ Burke 1869, p. 703Coat of Arms
  15. ^ Fleming 2005, p. 10: "The fourth Marquess spent the last decade of his life suffering from mental illness."

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Down
18261852
With: Lord Arthur Hill 1826–36
Earl of Hillsborough 1836–45
Lord Edwin Hill 1845–52
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
1834–1835
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Down
1845–1864
Succeeded by
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Marquess of Londonderry
1854–1872
Succeeded by