The Viscount Gormanston | |
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 | |
| 35thGovernor of the Leeward Islands | |
| In office 1885–1887 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | Charles Monroe Eldridge |
| Succeeded by | Charles Mitchell |
| 14thGovernor of British Guiana | |
| In office 1887–1893 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | Charles Bruce |
| Succeeded by | Charles Bruce |
| 7thGovernor of Tasmania | |
| In office 8 August 1893 – 14 August 1900 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | Robert Hamilton |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Havelock |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 June 1837 |
| Died | 29 October 1907 (1907-10-30) (aged 70) |
| Spouse(s) | 1. Ismay Louisa Ursula Bellew; 2. Georgina Jane Connellan |
Jenico William Joseph Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston,GCMG (1 June 1837 – 29 October 1907), was an aristocratic Anglo-Irishcolonial administrator.
Born atGormanston Castle,County Meath, he was the elder son and heir of Edward Preston, 13th Viscount Gormanston, by his wife Lucretia, daughter ofWilliam Charles Jerningham, brother of the8th Baron Stafford.[1]
He was commissioned into the60th King's Royal Rifle Corps in 1855, and served as aLieutenant during theIndian Rebellion of 1857, before retiring from theBritish Army in 1860.
As the Hon. Jenico Preston he served asHigh Sheriff of County Dublin (1865),County Meath (1871) before being appointedChamberlain to theLord Lieutenant of Ireland, theMarquess of AbercornKG, between 1866 and 1868. He succeeded his father in theviscountcy in 1876, having entered theHouse of Lords under thesubsidiary title ofBaron Gormanston, created for his father in thePeerage of the United Kingdom in 1868.
In 1885 Gormanston was appointedGovernor of the Leeward Islands, a post he held until 1887, and then served asGovernor of British Guiana from 1887 to 1893 and asGovernor of Tasmania from 1893 to 1900.[2]
AppointedKCMG in 1887, he was promotedGCMG in 1897.
Lord Gormanston married firstly the Hon. Ismay Louisa Ursula Bellew, daughter ofPatrick, 1st Baron Bellew, in 1861; they had no children. After his first wife's death in 1875, he married secondly Georgina Jane Connellan, daughter ofMajor Peter Connellan, in 1878; they had three sons and one daughter.
Georgina, Lady Gormanston suggested that a maternity hospital would be a fitting was of marking Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. At the time the only assistance to pregnant women came from untrained and unregulated midwives. It was agreed and a committee of women manage theQueen Victoria Maternity Hospital which opened in September 1897.[3]
Lord Gormanston died atDublin in October 1907, aged 70, and was succeeded in histitles by his eldest son Jenico Edward Joseph Preston, 15th Viscount Gormanston.[2]
He held almost 11,000 acres in Meath and Dublin.[4]
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Governor of the Leeward Islands 1885–1887 | Succeeded by Sir Charles Mitchell, (acting) |
| Preceded by | Governor of British Guiana 1887–1893 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Tasmania 1893–1900 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
| Preceded by Edward Anthony John Preston 13th Viscount | Viscount Gormanston 1876–1907 | Succeeded by Jenico Edward Joseph Preston 15th Viscount |
| Lieutenant-Governors ofVan Diemen's Land |  | |
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| BeforeFederation | ||
| AfterFederation | ||
| International | |
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| People | |
