Hamilton John Agmondesham Cuffe, 5th Earl of Desart, (30 August 1848 – 4 November 1934) was an Irish peer and barrister.

Early life

Cuffe was the second son of

John Cuffe, 3rd Earl of Desart John Otway O'Conner Cuffe, 3rd Earl of Desart (12 October 1818 – 1 April 1865), styled Viscount Castlecuffe until 1820, was an Irish Conservative politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies between March an ...

and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Campbell. He had an older sister, Lady Alice Mary Cuffe, and brother, William Cuffe, and a younger brother, Captain Otway Cuffe. His older sister married

John Henniker-Major, 5th Baron Henniker John Major Henniker-Major, 5th Baron Henniker VD DL (7 November 1842 – 27 June 1902), was a British peer and Conservative politician. Background and education Henniker was the son of John Henniker-Major, 4th Baron Henniker, and was educated ...

and was the mother of twelve children. His paternal grandparents were

John Cuffe, 2nd Earl of Desart John Otway Cuffe, 2nd Earl of Desart (20 February 1788 – 23 November 1820) was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer. Early life Born on 20 February 1788, Cuffe was the son of Lady Anne Browne, daughter of Peter Browne, 2nd Earl of Altamont and ...

, and Catherine, daughter of Maurice O'Connor. His mother was the third daughter of

John Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor John Frederick Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor (8 November 1790 – 7 November 1860) was a British peer and MP. He was born the son of John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor and Lady Caroline Howard and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, gradua ...

(a son of

John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor, FRS FSA (ca. 1753 – 1 June 1821), was a Welsh art-collector and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1777 to 1796. Biography John Campbell was born ca. 1753, the son of Pryse Campbell of Stackpole ...

) and Lady Elizabeth Thynne, daughter of

Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath KG (25 January 1765 – 27 March 1837), styled Viscount Weymouth from 1789 until 1796, was a British peer. Life Early life Thynne was the eldest son of Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath, and Lady Elizab ...

Career

In his early life, he was a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, before becoming a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

in 1872. In 1877, he was appointed as a secretary to the Judicature Committee and as a solicitor to The Treasury a year later. In 1894, he was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

and as

Treasury Solicitor The Government Legal Department (previously called the Treasury Solicitor's Department) is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Service. The department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor. This office go ...

that year, as well as Queen's Proctor and

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

. From 1917 to 1918, he participated as an Unionist delegate to the

Irish Convention The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the ''Irish question'' and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wid ...

. In 1920, he was also appointed

Lord Lieutenant of Kilkenny This is a list of people who have served as the Lord Lieutenant of Kilkenny. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated on 23 August ...

, a post he held until the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

was formed in 1922, when all lord lieutenancies of

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 ...

(bar those of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

) were abolished.

Peerage

In 1898, he inherited the earldom of Desart from his elder brother,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

(who died without

heirs male In inheritance, a hereditary successor is a person who inherits an indivisible title or office after the death of the previous title holder. The hereditary line of succession may be limited to heirs of the body, or may pass also to collateral l ...

) and was promoted as a

Knight commander of the order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

. In 1909, Desart was created Baron Desart in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...

, which enabled him to sit 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 ...

(his other titles being 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 ...

, which did not entitle him to a seat). In 1913, he was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and appointed a

Knight of the Order of St Patrick The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a dormant British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by King George III at the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, The 3rd Earl Temple (later cre ...

in 1919.

Personal life

On 19 July 1876, Lord Desart had married his second

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

, Lady Margaret Joan Lascelles (1853–1927), the second daughter of

Henry Lascelles, 4th Earl of Harewood Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal ...

by his first wife, Lady Elizabeth Joanna de Burgh, daughter of

Ulick de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde Ulick John de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde (; ; ; ; ; ; 20 December 1802 – 10 April 1874), styled Lord Dunkellin (; ) until 1808 and The Earl of Clanricarde from 1808 until 1825, was a British Whig politician who served as British Amb ...

. They had two daughters: * Lady Joan Elizabeth Mary Cuffe (1877–1951), who married Sir Harry Lloyd-Verney. They had issue; three sons and one daughter, Joan Verena Verney (who died aged 30), mother of the 10th Viscount Boyne (1931–1995). * Lady Sybil Marjorie Cuffe (1879–1943), who married (1) 30 April 1901 William Bayard Cutting Jr. (1878-1910), son of

William Bayard Cutting William Bayard Cutting (January 12, 1850 – March 1, 1912), a member of New York's merchant aristocracy, was an attorney, financier, real estate developer, sugar beet refiner and philanthropist. Cutting and his brother Fulton started the sugar ...

and then secretary to the US embassy to the Court of St. James's, by whom she had one daughter

Iris Origo Dame Iris Margaret Origo, Marchesa Origo, DBE (née Cutting; 15 August 1902 – 28 June 1988) was an English-born biographer and writer. She lived in Italy and devoted much of her life to improving the Tuscan estate at La Foce, near Montepulcia ...

(1902–1988); (2) 23 April 1918 (div 1926) Geoffrey Scott (1884–1929),

Bernard Berenson Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large h ...

's secretary and an architectural historian, by whom she had no issue; (3) 8 December 1926

Percy Lubbock Percy Lubbock, CBE (4 June 1879 – 1 August 1965) was an English man of letters, known as an essayist, critic and biographer. His controversial book ''The Craft of Fiction'' gained influence in the 1920s. Life Percy Lubbock was the son of the ...

(1879–1965), nephew of

John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, 4th Baronet, (30 April 183428 May 1913), known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was an English banker, Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath. Lubbock worked in his fam ...

. Lady Sybil Lubbock died 31 December 1943, and was survived by her third husband, her daughter

and two surviving granddaughters. As Desart was the last male descendant of the 1st Earl and died without male heirs in 1934, his titles became extinct.

References

External links

Hamilton John Agmondesham Cuffe, 5th Earl of Desart
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Desart, Hamilton Cuffe, 5th Earl Of 1848 births 1934 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights of St Patrick Lawyers awarded knighthoods Lord-Lieutenants of Kilkenny Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Senate of Southern Ireland Directors of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales) Royal Navy officers Irish barristers Earls of Desart Peers created by Edward VII