Francis Mathew, 1st Earl Landaff (September 1738 – 30 July 1806) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

politician and peer.

Biography

Mathew was the only son and heir of Thomas and Mary Mathew. His father's family had settled in Ireland from Wales a generation before. He had one sister, Catherine, who married firstly Philip Roe, and secondly

John Scott, 1st Earl of Clonmell John Scott, 1st Earl of Clonmell PC (Ire) KC SL (8 June 1739 – 23 May 1798), known as The Lord Earlsfort between 1784 and 1789 and as The Viscount Clonmell between 1789 and 1793, was an Irish barrister and judge. Sometimes known as "Copper ...

. She died in 1771. Mathew served 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 the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

as the Member of Parliament for

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

between 1768 and 1783. In 1769 he was High Sheriff of Tipperary. On 12 October 1783 he was raised to the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

as Baron Landaff, of Thomastown in the County of Tipperary, and assumed his seat in the

Irish House of Lords The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until the end of 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of Englan ...

.''Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage''
Volume 3 (1830), p.447. On 4 December 1793 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount Landaff. From 1794 to 1797, Lord Landaff was Colonel of the

14th Regiment of Foot 14 (fourteen) is the natural number following 13 and preceding 15. Mathematics Fourteen is the seventh composite number. Properties 14 is the third distinct semiprime, being the third of the form 2 \times q (where q is a higher prime). ...

. On 22 November 1797 he was made Earl Landaff. Following the implementation of the

Acts of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in personal union) to create the United Kingdom of G ...

, he was elected as one of the 28 original

Irish representative peer This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords after the Kingdom of Ireland was brought into union with the Kingdom of Great Britain. No new members were added to the House after ...

s and took his seat in the British

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. Between 1769 and his death he also held the position of Custos Rotulorum of Tipperary. Lord Landaff married three times. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son from his first marriage, Francis Mathew. Another son was the politician,

Montague James Mathew Lieutenant General Montague James Mathew (18 August 1773 – 19 March 1819) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician, a member of the Irish House of Commons for Ballynakill until 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom for Count ...

. Francis married first 6 September 1764 to Ellis Smyth, daughter of James Smyth Esq. of Tinny Park, of Co. Wicklow. She died in 1781. Children included: # Francis James Mathew (1768-1833) marriage childless with Gertrude Cecilia La Touche. # Montague James Mathew (1773-1819) died unmarried. Francis married secondly in June 1784 to Catherine Skeffington, daughter of Clotworthy Skeffington, 1st Earl of Massereene. She died in 1796. Children included: # George Toby Skeffington Mathew, died unmarried in 1832. # Elizabeth Skeffington Mathew, survived all her brothers and died unmarried in 1842, bequeathing the property to her cousin the Comte de Jarnac and Vicomte de Chabot (1780-1875), whose mother was Elizabeth Smyth, sister of Ellis, Countess of Llandaff. Francis's third and final marriage was to the younger daughter of Jeremiah Coghlan of Co. Waterford. The marriage was childless.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Landaff, Francis Mathew, 1st Earl 1738 births 1806 deaths 1

Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...

Peers of Ireland created by George III High sheriffs of Tipperary Irish MPs 1769–1776 Irish MPs 1776–1783 Members of the Irish House of Lords Irish representative peers West Yorkshire Regiment officers Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Tipperary constituencies