The Marquess of Hertford | |
|---|---|
 1785 portrait of Hertford byJoshua Reynolds | |
| Lord Lieutenant of Ireland | |
| In office 7 August 1765 – October 1766 | |
| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath |
| Succeeded by | George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francis Seymour-Conway 5 July 1718 |
| Died | 14 June 1794(1794-06-14) (aged 75) |
| Citizenship | British |
| Spouse | Lady Isabella Fitzroy (m. 1741) |
| Children | 13 |
Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford (5 July 1718 – 14 June 1794) was a British courtier and politician who served as theLord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1765.
Hertford was born inChelsea, London, the son ofFrancis Seymour-Conway, 1st Baron Conway and Charlotte Shorter, daughter of John Shorter of Bybrook. He was a descendant ofEdward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and first cousin ofEdward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset. He succeeded to the barony on the death of his father in 1732. The first few years after his father's death were spent in Italy and Paris. On his return to England, he took hisseat, as 2ndBaron Conway, among the Peers in November 1739.Henry Seymour Conway, politician and soldier, was his younger brother.
In August 1750 he was createdViscount Beauchamp andEarl of Hertford, both of which titles had earlier been created for and forfeited by his ancestorEdward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset,Lord Protector of England, following his attainder and execution in 1552. The Seymour family had inherited amoiety of thefeudal barony of Hatch Beauchamp, in Somerset, by marriage to the heiress Cicely Beauchamp (d.1393). In 1755, according toHorace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, "The Earl of Hertford, a man of unblemished morals, but rather too gentle and cautious to combat so presumptuous a court, was named Ambassador to Paris". However, due to the demands of the French, the journey to Paris was suspended. From 1751 to 1766 he wasLord of the Bedchamber toGeorge II andGeorge III. In 1756 he was made aKnight of the Garter and, in 1757,Lord-Lieutenant and Guardian of the Rolls of the County of Warwick and City ofCoventry.
From 1759 to 1765, Hertford's household includedEdward Despard, serving his wife as a page.[2] Despard was to hang in London in 1803 as the ringleader of an alleged republican plot against the King.[3]
In 1763 Hertford becamePrivy Councillor and, from October 1763 to June 1765, was a successful ambassador in Paris. He appointedDavid Hume as his Secretary, who wrote of him, "I do not believe there is in the World a man of more probity & Humanity, endowd with a very good Understanding, and adornd with very elegant Manners & Behaviour".[4] He witnessed the sad last months ofMadame de Pompadour, whom he admired, and wrote a kindly epitaph for her.[5]
In August 1765 he was appointedLord Lieutenant of Ireland. In Dublin, leading representatives of theProtestant Ascendancy warmly anticipated his arrival. TheSpeaker of theIrish House of Commons,John Ponsonby, was satisfied that "the public as well as private character of Lord Hertford, together with the great property which he has in Ireland" were "the best securities which we can have for his good behaviour. There could not have been found a person to govern us who in all respects would be so likely to use us well . . .". But with his eldest son,Francis, Viscount Beauchamp, as his chief secretary, Hertford was in Ireland for just one parliamentary session (October 1765–June 1766). He hastened to return to his court circle in London where he was appointedLord Chamberlain 1766–82 (and again April–December 1783).[6]
In 1782, when she was only fifty-six, his wife died after having nursed their grandson atForde's Farm,Thames Ditton, where she caught a violent cold. According to Walpole, "Lord Hertford's loss is beyond measure. She was not only the most affectionate wife, but the most useful one, and almost the only person I ever saw that never neglected or put off or forgot anything that was to be done. She was always proper, either in the highest life or in the most domestic." (Walpole visited Forde's Farm on several occasions from his residence atStrawberry Hill, Twickenham.) Within two years of the tragedy, Lord Hertford had sold Forde's Farm to Mrs Charlotte Boyle Walsingham, and a further two years later, she had re-developed the estate, building a new mansion which she called Boyle Farm, a name still in use today.
In July 1793 he was createdMarquess of Hertford, with the subsidiary title ofEarl of Yarmouth. He enjoyed this elevation for almost a year until his death at the age of seventy-six, on 14 June 1794, at the house of his daughter, theCountess of Lincoln. He died as the result of an infection following a minor injury he received while riding. He was buried atArrow, inWarwickshire.
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Lord Hertford marriedLady Isabella Fitzroy, daughter ofCharles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, on 29 May 1741. Her grandfather wasHenry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton (1663–1690), an illegitimate son of KingCharles II. By his wife he had thirteen children:
He is not known to have suffered himself from any mental abnormality, but a noted strain of eccentricity, even madness, appeared among his descendants: the debauched behaviour of his grandson, the 3rd Marquess, and the suicide of another grandson,Viscount Castlereagh, were both attributed to a strain of madness supposed to be hereditary in the Seymour Conway family.[7]
Lord Hertford died inSurrey, England.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | British Ambassador to France 1763–1765 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire 1757–1794 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire 1775–1776 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1765–1766 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Master of the Horse 1766 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Chamberlain 1766–1782 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Chamberlain 1783 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| New creation | Marquess of Hertford 1793–1794 | Succeeded by |
| Earl of Hertford 1750–1794 | ||
| Peerage of England | ||
| Preceded by | Baron Conway 1732–1794 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
| Preceded by | Baron Conway 1732–1794 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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