Nicholas Le Poer Trench, 9th Earl of Clancarty, 8th Marquess of Heusden (born 1 May 1952), is an Anglo-Irish peer, as well as a

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

in the Dutch nobility. Lord Clancarty serves as an

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

Crossbench A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

hereditary peer in the British House of Lords. His

earldom Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant " chieftain", particula ...

is 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 ...

. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

. He also studied at Ashford Grammar School, Plymouth Polytechnic, University of Colorado, Denver, USA, and Sheffield University.

Family

Lord Clancarty was born in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

, on 1 May 1952, the only son of Power Edward Ford Le Poer Trench, second son of the fifth Earl from his second marriage. He is married to the journalist Victoria Lambert and has one daughter with her.

Membership of House of Lords

In 1995 he succeeded to the titles on the death of his childless uncle, Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty. He took his seat in the House of Lords at this time as Viscount Clancarty, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, because titles in the

did not entitle their holders to sit even before 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 ...

removed the majority of the hereditary peers. Under the terms of that Act, Clancarty lost his automatic right to a seat; he was unsuccessful in the election by the Crossbench hereditary peers of 28 of their number to continue to sit after the Act came into force, finishing 37th in a field of 79 candidates. He was an unsuccessful candidate in four

by-elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

caused by the deaths of sitting hereditary peers, being runner-up on two occasions. In 2010 he returned to the House after winning the by-election to replace the 4th Viscount Colville of Culross. Besides being a British and an Irish peer, he also belongs to the Dutch nobility as

Marquess of Heusden Marquess of Heusden (Dutch: ''Markies van Heusden'') is a high-ranking Dutch title of nobility retained by the Earl of Clancarty. The 2nd Earl of Clancarty, an Anglo-Irish peer, was credited with resolving various border disputes in the Nether ...

. Besides H.M. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, who is also Marquess of Veere and Vlissingen, Lord Clancarty is the only marquess in Dutch nobility.

Career

Clancarty is a self-employed artist, freelance writer, and translator.

References

External links

*
Official biography at House of LordsNick Trench blogProfile at TheyWorkForYou.comTwitter page
1952 births Living people People educated at Westminster School, London Hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act Nicholas Marquess of Heusden Crossbench hereditary peers Earls of Clancarty {{Ireland-earl-stub