Richard Le Poer Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty, 1st Marquess of Heusden (19 May 1767 – 24 November 1837), styled The Honourable from 1797 to 1803 and then Viscount Dunlo to 1805, was an
Anglo-Irish peer, 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
The Dutch nobility is a small elite social class constisting of individuals or families recognized as noble, and with or without a title of nobility in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The existence of nobility was established in the Constitutio ...
, and a diplomat. He was an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
, and later
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
, Member of Parliament and a supporter of
Pitt. Additionally he was appointed
Postmaster General
A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...
of Ireland, and later, of the United Kingdom.
Background and education
Clancarty was the son of
William Trench, 1st Earl of Clancarty
William Power Keating Trench, 1st Earl of Clancarty (23 June 1741 – 27 April 1805) was an Irish aristocrat and politician and later United Kingdom statesman at the time of the Act of Union. His family, through his son Richard, became prominen ...
and Anne, daughter of Charles Gardiner and his seat was
Garbally Court in
Ballinasloe
Ballinasloe ( ; ) is a town in the easternmost part of County Galway in Connacht. Located at an ancient crossing point on the River Suck, evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of Bronze Age sites. Built around a 12th-ce ...
,
East County Galway where he was associated with the
Great October Fair. His brother was
Power Le Poer Trench (1770–1839), archbishop of
Tuam
Tuam ( ; ga, Tuaim , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. Humans have lived in the area since the Bronz ...
. He was educated at
Kimbolton School and
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...
.
Political career
Trench represented
Newtown Limavady 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 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...
from 1796 to 1798. He sat further for
Galway County from 1798 to a short time before the
Act of Union, when he was replaced by
"Humanity Dick" Martin.
He was credited with resolving various border disputes in Holland, Germany and Italy at the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...
, 1814–1815, and in his role as Ambassador to the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. For his service as ambassador to
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
, he was awarded the hereditary title of
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 ...
in the
peerage of The Netherlands on 8 July 1815 by
William I of the Netherlands
William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who went ...
, following the defeat of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
in Brabant, in that same province's southern reaches. Trench was elected one of the 28 representative peers of Ireland on 16 December 1808. His seat in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
became hereditary when he was created Baron Trench (4 August 1815) and Viscount Clancarty (created 8 December 1823), 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 in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great ...
, his older peerages being Irish peerages. He was a
Commissioner for the Affairs of India
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a Regulatory agency, commission or an individual who has been given a Wiktionary: commission, commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, th ...
and
Custos Rotulorum of County Galway.
In the same Royal Decree that awarded the Marquessate of Heusden, K.B. of 8 July 1815, numbers 13 en 14, another Irishman,
Arthur Wellesley was granted the Netherlands' Kingdom hereditary nobility-title
Prince of Waterloo
Prince of Waterloo (Dutch: ''Prins van Waterloo'', French: ''Prince de Waterloo'') is a title in the Dutch and Belgian nobility, held by the Duke of Wellington. The title was created by King William I of the Netherlands for Field Marshal Arthur We ...
, following his recent exploits at
Waterloo in modern-day
Kingdom of Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the ...
.
Postmaster General
Between 1807 and 1809 Trench was one of the joint
Postmasters General of Ireland
The Postmasters General of Ireland, held by two people simultaneously, was a new appointment set up as part of the establishment of the Irish Post Office independent from that of Great Britain, by the Act 23, 24 George III in 1784. The post las ...
and he was appointed
Postmaster General of the United Kingdom
The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom was a Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the Telegraph Act 1868 established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain electr ...
being one of the last joint holders of that office from 1814 to 1816.
Family
On 6 February 1796 he married Henrietta Margaret Staples, daughter of John Staples and Harriet Conolly. They had the following children:
#Lady Lucy Le Poer Trench (d. 1839), married Robert Maxwell
#Lady Louisa Augusta Anne Le Poer Trench (b. 23 December 1796, d. 7 February 1881), married Reverend William Le Poer Trench
#
Lady Harriet Margaret Le Poer Trench (b. 13 October 1799, d. 1885), married
Thomas Kavanagh "the MacMurrough", a descendant of
Art mac Art MacMurrough-Kavanagh
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wh ...
#Lady Emily Florinda Le Poer Trench (b. 7 November 1800), married Giovanni Cossiria
#Lady Frances Power Le Poer Trench (b. 22 January 1802, d. 28 December 1804)
#
William Thomas Le Poer Trench, 3rd Earl of Clancarty (b 21 September 1803, d. 26 April 1872), married
Lady Sarah Juliana Butler, daughter of
Somerset Richard Butler, 3rd Earl of Carrick
#Hon. Richard John Le Poer Trench (b. 1805)
#Commander Hon. Frederick Robert Le Poer Trench (b. 23 July 1808, d. April 1867), married Catherine Maria Thompson
Ancestry
References
*Urban, Sylvanus. "The Earl of Clancarty." ''The Gentleman's Magazine.'' Obituary Vol. IX, January to June, London: William Pickering; John Bowyer Nickols and Son, 1838. (pp. 93–94
googlebooksRetrieved 17 October 2008
*Lodge, Edmund. ''The Peerage of the British Empire As at Present Existing: Arranged and Printed from the Personal Communications of the Nobility, by Edmund Lodge, to Which Is Added a View of the Baronetage of the Three Kingdoms.'' London: Saunders and Otley, 1834. (p. 96
googlebooksAccessed 9 March 2008
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clancarty, Richard Le Poer Trench, 2nd Earl Of
1767 births
1837 deaths
18th-century Irish politicians
19th-century Irish politicians
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Diplomatic peers
Dutch nobility
Irish MPs 1790–1797
Irish MPs 1798–1800
Irish representative peers
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Marquess of Heusden
Masters of the Mint
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Galway constituencies (1801–1922)
People from Ballinasloe
Politicians from County Galway
UK MPs 1801–1802
UK MPs 1802–1806
UK MPs 1806–1807
UK MPs 1807–1812
UK MPs who inherited peerages
UK MPs who were granted peerages
United Kingdom Postmasters General
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Netherlands
Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Londonderry constituencies
Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Galway constituencies
Presidents of the Board of Trade
Earls of Clancarty
Peers of the United Kingdom created by George IV
T