Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart (13 September 1827 – 12 October 1895), was a British soldier, clergyman, politician,Egyptologist, and author.
He was the son ofHenry Villiers-Stuart, 1st and last Baron Stuart de Decies, son of Lord Henry Stuart and his wife, Lady Gertrude Amelia, daughter ofGeorge Mason-Villiers, 2nd Earl Grandison.[1] His paternal great-grandfather wasJohn Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, son of Prime MinisterJohn Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute.[2] Henry Villiers-Stuart had a younger sister, Pauline, later Lady Wheeler Cuffe (died 5 July 1895).[3]
His mother was Theresia Pauline (née Ott), an AustrianRoman Catholic fromVienna. His parents married on 12 January 1826 in a Roman Catholic service atSt James's, Spanish Place, London, and also under Scottish law, but there was uncertainty over whether Theresia was free to marry. As a result of this confusion the younger Henry Villiers-Stuart, after the death of his father in 1874, was unable to establish his claim tothe peerage and become the 2ndBaron Stuart de Decies.[4] Theresia's married name became Villiers-Stuart, and, as a result of her marriage, she was styled as Baroness Stuart de Decies on 10 March 1839. She died on 7 August 1867 atWiesbaden,Hesse, Germany and was interred atVillierstown,County Waterford, Ireland.
Villiers-Stuart served in the Austrian Imperial Army from 1844 to 1846. He was in theBritish Army from 1846 to 1847 as anEnsign in the20th Regiment of Foot.[5] He afterwards attendedUniversity College, Durham and took his BA atDurham University in 1850, graduating with asecond-class degree inClassics.[6][4] In 1849 and still an undergraduate he took his first journey toEgypt, with the intention of visiting sites mentioned in theBible.[7]
He was ordained in theChurch of England and served as Vicar ofBulkington, Warwickshire from 1852 to 1855, and ofNapton from 1855 to 1871, when he resigned Holy Orders to pursue a political career and was successfully returned to Parliament forCounty Waterford in 1873, representing theLiberal Party.[4] His father died the following year and he then resigned his seat so that he could pursue his claim to the barony of Stuart de Decies. However, Stuart-Villiers was unable to satisfactorily claim that his parents were legally married and was not allowed to assume the title. He was again elected to theHouse of Commons for County Waterford in 1880, a seat he held until 1885. While in parliament he was upfront about the economic difficulties faced by Irish landowners of his class. In 1880, he explained to his colleagues in theHouse of Commons that he had taken out a loan so he could afford to employ 200 men.[8]
Travels and Egyptology
Stuart travelled extensively, and published many accounts of his wanderings, notablyAdventures amid the Equatorial Forests and Rivers of South America (1891). He was in South America in 1858, in Jamaica in 1881, and he made several journeys through Egypt, and published various works onancient and modern Egypt.[5] After theBritish intervention in Egypt concluded with victory at theBattle of Tell El Kebir in 1882 he was sent by the British government to report on the conditions of the people in that country, and produced several books on the topic, includingEgypt after the War, which received the special recognition ofLord Dufferin, and his reports were published as a parliamentary blue-book.[2]
TheDurham University Journal noted in their obituary of Villiers-Stuart thatThe Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen was one of his more popular books.[4] In this book he recalled a journey taken in Egypt in 1879, including a visit toDeir el-Bahari, where he translated some of thehieroglyphics on the tomb ofRamesses I.[9] He also visited a canopy amidst the royal mummeries, recently discovered byEmile Brugsch, that formed the funeral tent of Queen Isi em Kheb, the mother-in-law ofShishak, and inspired the title of the book.[10] He was a member of theSociety of Biblical Archaeology.[5] He also joined theEgypt Exploration Fund (EEF) and was concerned about the damage to Egyptian monuments.[7] Like founding member of the EEFAmelia Edwards he noted with alarm how quickly sites were being destroyed.[7] In the winter of 1882 he discovered the alabaster altar and basins inNiuserre's Sun Temple atAbu Ghurab, a discovery that Edwards believed to be very significant.[7]
He contestedEast Cork at the1885 election as an Independent candidate but was unsuccessful, losing out toWilliam John Lane of theIrish Parliamentary Party.[5] Villiers-Stuart was appointedHigh Sheriff of County Waterford for 1889.[11][12]
Villiers-Stuart married Mary Power, the daughter ofAmbrose Power,Archdeacon of Lismore, in 1865.[12] They had five sons and four daughters. He died in October 1895, aged 68, after falling and drowning off Villierstown Quay, near his residence at Dromana, Waterford, having slipped while attempting to enter his boat. His wife survived him by twelve years, dying in September 1907.[2][12] His youngest son, Patrick Villiers-Stuart, married the author and painterConstance Fielden.
Media related toHenry Villiers-Stuart at Wikimedia Commons| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCounty Waterford 1873–1874 With:Sir John Esmonde, Bt | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCounty Waterford 1880–1885 With:John Aloysius Blake 1880–1884 Patrick Joseph Power 1884–1885 | Constituency abolished |
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