George Thomas John Nugent, 1st Marquess of Westmeath (17 July 1785 – 5 May 1871), styled Lord Delvin between 1792 and 1814 and known as The Earl of Westmeath between 1814 and 1821, 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 establis ...

peer.

Background

Nugent was born in Clonyn,

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...

, the only surviving son of

George Frederick Nugent, 7th Earl of Westmeath George Frederick Nugent, 7th Earl of Westmeath PC (18 November 1760 – 30 December 1814), styled Lord Delvin until 1792, was an Irish peer. He gained notoriety in his own lifetime, due to his unhappy first marriage to Maryanne Jeffries, which e ...

, and Maryanne, daughter of

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

James St John Jeffereyes James St John Jeffereyes (1734 – 14 September 1780), also recorded as St John Jeffreys, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, landowner and politician. Jeffereyes was the son of the diplomat James Jeffreys and Anne Brodrick, and the grandson of Sir Ja ...

and Arabella Fitzgibbon. His parents divorced in 1796 after his father's discovery of his mother's affair with

Augustus Cavendish-Bradshaw Hon. Augustus Cavendish Bradshaw (17 February 1768 – 11 November 1832), of Putney, Surrey and High Elms, near Watford, Hertfordshire, was an English politician, best remembered today for his role as co-respondent in the Westmeath divorce case ...

, which also resulted in a celebrated action for

criminal conversation At common law, criminal conversation, often abbreviated as ''crim. con.'', is a tort arising from adultery. "Conversation" is an old euphemism for sexual intercourse that is obsolete except as part of this term. It is similar to breach of p ...

. Both his parents were quickly remarried, his mother to her lover, and his father to Lady Elizabeth Moore, daughter of

Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda Field Marshal Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda (29 June 1730 – 22 December 1822), styled Viscount Moore from 1752 until 28 October 1758 and then Earl of Drogheda until 2 July 1791, was an Irish peer and later a British peer, and mili ...

Career

Lord Westmeath succeeded his father in the earldom in 1814. In 1822, he was created Marquess of Westmeath 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 ...

. As these were Irish peerages they did not entitle him to an automatic seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. However, in 1831 he was elected an

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 ...

. The same year he was also appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Westmeath, a post he held until his death.

Family

Lord Westmeath was married three times. He married firstly Lady Emily Anne Bennet Elizabeth Cecil, daughter of

James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury, (4 September 1748 – 13 June 1823), styled Viscount Cranborne until 1780 and known as The Earl of Salisbury between 1780 and 1789, was a British nobleman and politician. Background Salisbury was the so ...

, and Lady Emily Mary Hill, on 29 May 1812. They had two children: *William Henry Wellington Brydges Nugent, Lord Delvin (24 November 1818 – 16 November 1819) *Lady Rosa Emily Mary Anne Nugent (1814–1883), married

Fulke Greville-Nugent, 1st Baron Greville Colonel Fulke Southwell Greville-Nugent, 1st Baron Greville (17 February 1821 – 25 January 1883), known as Fulke Greville until 1866, was an Irish Liberal politician. Early life Greville was the second son of Algernon Greville, Esq., of North L ...

. Lord Westmeath and Lady Emily

divorced Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

in 1827, having separated, been reconciled and then entered a second legal separation. Her unsuccessful efforts to obtain custody of her daughter later led her to campaign for reform of the law together with the prominent writer and feminist Caroline Norton. He married, secondly, Maria Jervis on 18 February 1858. They divorced in 1862. He married, lastly, Elizabeth Charlotte Verner, daughter of David Verner and niece of

Sir William Verner, 1st Baronet Sir William Verner, 1st Baronet, KCH (25 October 1782 – 20 January 1871), was a British soldier who served in the Napoleonic wars, was wounded at the Battle of Waterloo and resigned as a colonel. He served as a politician, including 36 years ...

, on 12 July 1864. He also had an illegitimate daughter, Eliza Nugent (c. 1806 - 14 September 1877), who married Alfred Harley, 6th Earl of Oxford and Mortimer. Through his other illegitimate daughter, Cecilia Henrietta Nugent (1849-1886), who married Willem Boissevain (1849-1925) he is an ancestor of Annemarie, Duchess of Parma. Lord Westmeath died in May 1871, aged 85, when the marquessate became extinct. His two half-brothers, Robert and Thomas, had predeceased him, without issue. He was succeeded in his remaining titles by his kinsman, Anthony Nugent, of the junior branch of the family which had the title

Baron Nugent of Riverston Baron Nugent of Riverston, in County Westmeath, is a title of the Jacobite peerage in the Peerage of Ireland of complex status. The title was created on 3 April 1689 by James II after his deposition from the throne for Thomas Nugent, Lord Chief ...

. The Marchioness of Westmeath died in September 1882.

References

Dukes of Buckingham
Retrieved 11 February 2009

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Westmeath, George Nugent, 1st Marquess of Coldstream Guards officers Irish representative peers Marquesses in the Peerage of Ireland People educated at Eton College 1785 births 1871 deaths 19th-century Irish people Lord-Lieutenants of Westmeath People from County Westmeath Irish abolitionists Earls of Westmeath