Marquess of Sligo is a title in the
Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...
. It was created in 1800 for John Browne, 3rd Earl of Altamont. The Marquess holds the subsidiary titles of Baron Mount Eagle, of Westport in the County of Mayo (created 10 September 1760), Viscount Westport, of Westport in the County of Mayo (created 24 August 1768), Earl of Altamont, in the County of Mayo (created 4 December 1771), Earl of Clanricarde (created 1800) and Baron Monteagle, of Westport in the County of Mayo (created 20 February 1806). All these titles are in the Peerage of Ireland, except the Barony of Monteagle, which is in the
Peerage of the United Kingdom. The latter peerage entitled the Marquesses to a seat in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
prior to the
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...
. The Earldom of Clanricarde was inherited by the sixth Marquess in 1916 according to a special remainder in the letters patent.
History
The Browne family descends from Colonel John Browne, younger son of Sir John Browne, 1st Baronet, of
The Neale,
County Mayo, whose eldest son, the second Baronet, was the ancestor of the
Barons Kilmaine. The baronetcy was created in 1636. Colonel John Browne's grandson John Browne represented
Castlebar
Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. W ...
in the
Irish House of Commons
The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...
. He was created Baron Mount Eagle in 1760, Viscount Westport in 1768 and Earl of Altamont in 1771, the titles of Mount Eagle and Altamont deriving from
Croagh Patrick near Westport. Both his son, the second Earl, and grandson, the third Earl, represented
County Mayo in the Irish Parliament. In 1800 the latter was elected as one of the 28 original
Irish Representative Peers
In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords. Until 1999, all members of the Peerage of England held the right to ...
and later that year he was created Marquess of Sligo.
In 1806, he was made Baron Monteagle in the
Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave the Marquesses an automatic seat in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
. He was succeeded by his son, the second Marquess. He was
Lord Lieutenant of County Mayo from 1842 to 1845. Lord Sligo married Lady Hester Catherine de Burgh, eldest daughter of
John Thomas de Burgh, 13th Earl of Clanricarde.
In 1800, Lord Clanricarde was given a new Earldom of Clanricarde, with remainder, failing heirs male of his own, to the heirs male of his two daughters. Lord Sligo's younger son, the fourth Marquess, represented
County Mayo in Parliament from 1857 to 1868. His nephew, the sixth Marquess, succeeded to the Earldom of Clanricarde (1800 creation) in 1916 on the death of his cousin
Hubert George de Burgh-Canning, 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde. As of 2014 the titles are held by his great-nephew, the twelfth Marquess, who succeeded his first cousin in 2014. He is a property consultant living in the central highlands of regional Victoria, Australia.
The family seat was
Westport House
Westport House in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, is a country house, historically the family seat of the Marquess of Sligo and the Brownes and designed by notable eighteenth century architects Richard Cassels, Thomas Ivory and James Wyatt. ...
, near
Westport, County Mayo
Westport (, historically anglicised as ''Cahernamart'') is a town in County Mayo in Ireland.Westport Before 1800 by Michael Kelly published in Cathair Na Mart 2019 It is at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean on th ...
in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. After the death of the 11th Marquess, it passed to his five daughters, in accordance to a private legislation passed by the Irish Senate in 1993. Westport House was sold by Lord Sligo's daughters in October 2017, breaking the formal link between Westport House and the family which had been ongoing for 380 years. The house was sold to the Hughes family, a local family of entrepreneurs with
Portwest
Portwest is a global clothing manufacturing company based in Westport, Ireland that specializes in the design and production of protective clothing, including high visibility, flame resistant workwear, safety footwear, work gloves and personal ...
clothing manufacturing operations and a hotel in Westport.
Barons Mount Eagle (1760), Viscounts Westport (1768), Earls of Altamont (1771)
*
John Browne, 1st Earl of Altamont
John Browne, 1st Earl of Altamont (c.1709 – 4 July 1776), known as The Lord Mount Eagle between 1760 and 1768 and as The Viscount Westport between 1768 and 1771, was an Irish peer and politician. He began the building of Westport House and the ...
(c. 1709-1776)
*
Peter Browne, 2nd Earl of Altamont
Peter Browne, 2nd Earl of Altamont (c. 1731 - 28 December 1780) was an Irish landowner, absentee slaveholder and MP.
He was the son of John Browne, 1st Earl of Altamont, and Anne Gore. He married Elizabeth Kelly, the only legitimate child and h ...
(c. 1731-1780)
*
John Denis Browne, 3rd Earl of Altamont (1756–1809) (created Marquess of Sligo In 1800)
Marquesses of Sligo (1800), Barons Monteagle (1806), Earls of Clanricarde (1916)
*
John Denis Browne, 1st Marquess of Sligo
John Denis Browne, 1st Marquess of Sligo, KP, PC (Ire) (11 June 1756 – 2 January 1809) was an Irish peer, absentee slaveholder and politician, and was the son of Peter Browne, 2nd Earl of Altamont, and his wife Elizabeth, née Kelly, heiress ...
(1756–1809)
*
Howe Peter Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo (1788–1845)
*
George John Browne, 3rd Marquess of Sligo (1820–1896)
*
John Thomas Browne, 4th Marquess of Sligo (1824–1903)
*
Henry Ulick Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo
Henry Ulick Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo (14 March 1831 – 24 February 1913), styled Lord Henry Browne until 1903, was an Irish peer.
Browne was the fourth son of Howe Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo, and Lady Hester Catherine de Burgh, daught ...
(1831–1913)
*
George Ulick Browne, 6th Marquess of Sligo (1856–1935)
*
Ulick de Burgh Browne, 7th Marquess of Sligo (1898–1941)
*
Arthur Howe Browne, 8th Marquess of Sligo (1867–1951)
*
Terence Morris Browne, 9th Marquess of Sligo (1873–1952)
*
Denis Edward Browne, 10th Marquess of Sligo (1908–1991)
*
Jeremy Ulick Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo (1939–2014)
*Sebastian Ulick Browne, 12th Marquess of Sligo (b. 1964)
The
heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
is the present holder's son Christopher Ulick Browne, Earl of Altamont (b. 1988)
Line of succession
* ''Peter Browne, 2nd Earl of Altamont (c. 1731–1780)''
** ''John Browne, 1st Marquess of Sligo (1756–1809)''
*** ''Howe Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo (1788–1845)''
**** ''Henry Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo (1831–1913)''
*****''Lord Alfred Eden Browne (1878–1918)''
******''Lord Ulick Browne (1915–1979)''
******* Sebastian Browne, 12th Marquess of Sligo (b. 1964)
********(1). Christopher Ulick Browne, Earl of Altamont (b. 1988)
****''Lord Richard Howe Brown (1834–1912)''
*****''Percy Howe Browne (1868–1940)''
******''Anthony Howe Browne (1905–1940)''
*******(2). Patrick Ulick Anthony Howe Browne (b. 1935)
********(3). Patrick Alexander Howe Browne (b. 1965)
********(4).
Anthony Howe Browne (b. 1967)
*********(5). son - Browne
*******(6). Michael John le Roy Browne (b. 1936)
********(7). Richard Howe Browne (b. 1962)
********(8). Jeremy Ulick Browne (b. 1963)
**
References
External links
Westport House website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sligo
Marquessates in the Peerage of Ireland
County Sligo
1800 establishments in Ireland
Marquess
Noble titles created in 1800