Albert Denison Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough, KCH, FRS, FSA (21 October 1805 – 15 January 1860) was a British Whig Party politician and diplomat, known as Lord Albert Conyngham from 1816 to 1849.

Early life and career

Born Albert Denison Conyngham, he was the third son of Henry Conyngham, 1st Marquess Conyngham and Elizabeth Denison. He was educated at Eton, and was commissioned a cornet and sub-lieutenant in the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

, in 1821, before joining the diplomatic service. On 28 April 1826, he purchased an unattached infantry lieutenancy. In 1824, he was an Attaché to Berlin, then Vienna in 1825, and Secretary of the Legation to Florence in 1828, and to Berlin, from 1829 to 1831. Conyngham was knighted in 1829, and at the 1835 general election he was elected as Whig Member of Parliament for Canterbury, a seat he held until

1841 Events January–March * January 20 – Charles Elliot of the United Kingdom, and Qishan of the Qing dynasty, agree to the Convention of Chuenpi. * January 26 – Britain occupies Hong Kong. Later in the year, the first census of the i ...

, when he did not contest the election. He was elected unopposed at a by-election in March 1847 and held the seat until he was elevated to peerage in 1850. From 1844 to 1845, he served as first President of the British Archaeological Association, and from 1855 until his death as first President of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. He was sometime Vice-Admiral of the Yorkshire Coast. In 1849, he changed his surname to Denison under the terms of the will of his maternal uncle,

William Joseph Denison William Joseph Denison (12 May 1769 – 2 August 1849), son of Joseph Denison (c.1726 – 1806), was an English banker, politician, landowner, and philanthropist. Life William was born in Princes Street, Lothbury, the only son of Joseph D ...

and was created Baron Londesborough a year later. In 1851, he bought both

Grimston Park Grimston Park is a grade II* listed Georgian country house in Grimston, North Yorkshire, England, some 1.7 miles (3 km) south of Tadcaster. Since being owned by the Isherwood family, it has been converted into a number of luxury homes. The ...

, near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire and the painting '' The Monarch of the Glen'', the latter for £840.

Family

On 6 July 1833, Londesborough had married Henrietta Weld-Forester (a daughter of the 1st Baron Forester) and they had six children: * William Henry Forester (1834–1900) * Albert Denison Somerville (1835–1903) *Henrietta Elizabeth Sophia (d. 1924), married Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 11th Baronet, and had issue. *Selina Camerina Charlotte (d. 1852) *Isabella Maria (d. 1856) *Augusta Elizabeth (d. 1887), married

Arthur Wrottesley, 3rd Baron Wrottesley Arthur Wrottesley, 3rd Baron Wrottesley (17 June 1824 – 28 December 1910), was a British peer and Liberal politician. Biography Wrottesley was the son of John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley, President of the Royal Society, and his wife Sophi ...

, and had issue. Londesborough's first wife died in 1841, and on 21 December 1847, he married Ursula Bridgeman (a daughter of Vice-Admiral Charles Orlando Bridgeman) and they also had six children: *Ursula Elizabeth (1848–1880) *Henry Charles (1849–1936) *Conyngham Albert (1851–1938) *Albertina Agnes Mary (1854–1929), who married Colonel

Ivor Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen Major-General Ivor John Caradoc Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen, CB, CMG, KStJ (15 July 1851 – 18 October 1933), known as Sir Ivor Herbert, Bt, between 1907 and 1917, was a British Liberal politician and British Army officer in the Grenadier Guard ...

, in 1873. She founded and was the first President of the Ottawa Decorative Art Society. She was president of the Woman's Humane Society, and the first president of the Humane Society of Ottawa. She also had cabmen's shelters erected in Ottawa. *Harold Albert (1856–1949) *Evelyn Albert (1859–1883; after an argument with his father-in-law, Evelyn emigrated, first to Belgium in 1878, then to the United States, where he died from consumption)

Death

Lord Londesborough died in 1860 and his title was inherited by his eldest son, William, who was later created Earl of Londesborough in 1887. His second wife later married

Lord Otho FitzGerald Lord Otho Augustus FitzGerald PC (10 October 1827 – 19 November 1882) was a British soldier and Liberal politician. He notably served as Comptroller of the Household under William Gladstone between 1868 and 1874. He was also a noted amateur ...

Sources

Burke's Peerage

References

External links