Robert Craggs-Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent PC (1709 – 13 October 1788) was an Irish politician and poet. He was tersely described by Richard Glover as a jovial and voluptuous Irishman who had left popery for the Protestant religion, money and widows.

Background

The son of Michael Nugent and Mary, daughter of Robert Barnewall, 9th

Baron Trimlestown Baron Trimlestown, of Trimlestown in County Meath, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. History The title was created in 1461 for Sir Robert Barnewall, who was the younger brother of Nicholas Barnewall, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, ...

and Margaret Dongan, he was born at

Carlanstown Carlanstown () is a village and townland in County Meath, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, there were 664 people living in the village. Carlanstown is located approximately 4 km northeast of the larger town of Kells, County Meath on the N52 ...

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 ...

, in 1709. He succeeded his father in the Carlanstown property on 13 May 1739.

Political career

His wife's property included the borough of

St Mawes St Mawes ( kw, Lannvowsedh) is a village on the end of the Roseland Peninsula, in the eastern side of Falmouth harbour, on the south coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village, formerly two separate hamlets, lies on the east bank of the ...

in Cornwall, and Nugent sat for that constituency from 1741 to 1754, after which date he represented Bristol until 1774,Pages 88 to 91, Lewis Namier, '' The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957) when he returned to St Mawes. By 1782, he had become the longest continually-serving member of the Commons, and so became the

Father of the House Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously- ...

. In 1747 he succeeded Lord Doneraile as

Comptroller of the Household The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the British royal household, nominally the second-ranking member of the Lord Steward's department after the Treasurer of the Household. The Comptroller was an ''ex officio'' member of t ...

to the Prince of Wales. Nugent lent the Prince large sums of money, which were never repaid; the appointments and peerages he received later in life have been attributed to the wish of the Prince of Wales's son, George III, to compensate Nugent. Robert Craggs-Nugent, as he then was, served as a Lord of the Treasury from 1754 to 1759, and was made a Privy Counsellor on 15 December 1759. He was Vice-Treasurer of Ireland from 1759 to 1765,

First Lord of Trade The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. This is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th century, that evolved gradually into a governmen ...

from 1766 to 1768, and Vice-Treasurer of Ireland again from 1768 to 1782. In 1768 he was made a member of the

Irish Privy Council His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

. His support of the ministry was so useful that he was created in 1767 Baron Nugent and Viscount Clare, and in 1776

Earl Nugent Earl Nugent was a title the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 21 July 1776 for Robert Craggs-Nugent, 1st Viscount Clare, with remainder, failing heirs male of his body, to his son-in-law The 3rd Earl Temple and the heirs male of his body. Cra ...

, all Irish peerages. Apart from his political career, Lord Nugent was also the author of some poetical productions, several of which are preserved in the second volume of Dodsley's ''Collections'' (1748).

Family

Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund Craggs Nugent, by Francis Cotes

Lord Nugent married firstly, on 14 July 1730, Emilia (died in childbirth 16 August 1731), daughter of Peter Plunkett, 4th Earl of Fingall. They had one son, Edmund, who became a Lieutenant-Colonel and the father of two illegitimate sons (later

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

) Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet, and Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Edmund Nugent) before dying in 1771. Nugent married secondly, on 23 March 1736, Anna Knight (died 22 November 1756), widow of John Knight and daughter of James Craggs and sister of the Right Honourable James Craggs, the secretary of state. Nugent adopted the surname of Craggs-Nugent. She had already been widowed twice, but Robert, who was born a Roman Catholic, had abandoned his Church very early in life. He married thirdly, on 2 January 1757, Elizabeth Drax (died 29 January 1792), the widow of the fourth Earl of Berkeley, who brought him a large fortune and with whom he had two daughters. The earldom descended by special remainder to the earl's son-in-law, George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham, and so to his successors, the

dukes of Buckingham and Chandos Duke of Buckingham held with Duke of Chandos, referring to Buckingham, is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of Peerage of England, England, Peerage of Great Britain, Great Britain, and the Peerage of the United Kingdom ...

References

Attribution

External links

Robert Craggs Nugent
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Nugent, Robert Nugent, 1st Earl 1709 births 1788 deaths 18th-century Irish poets 18th-century Irish male writers Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism Earls Nugent Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Politicians from County Westmeath Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Bristol Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for St Mawes British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Presidents of the Board of Trade Robert Peers of Ireland created by George III Barons Nugent