Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Belmore (11 July 1774 – 18 April 1841), styled The Honourable from 1781 to 1797 and then known as Viscount Corry to 1802, 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 ...

nobleman and politician.

Politics and inheritance

Lowry-Corry was the only surviving son of

Armar Lowry-Corry, 1st Earl Belmore Armar Lowry-Corry, 1st Earl Belmore (7 April 1740 – 2 February 1802) was an Irish nobleman and politician. Background He was born Armar Lowry, the first son of Galbraith Lowry (later Lowry-Corry) MP, of Ahenis, County Tyrone by his wife Sara ...

, and his first wife Lady Margaret Butler. In 1798, he was elected to 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 ...

for Tyrone and represented the constituency until the Act of Union in 1801. Thereafter he was returned to the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 65 ...

for

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

, a seat he held until 1802, when he succeeded his father as earl. In 1819 Lord Belmore was appointed

Custos Rotulorum of Tyrone The Custos Rotulorum of Tyrone was the highest civil officer in County Tyrone, Ireland. The position was later combined with that of Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone. Incumbents *1661–1671 William Caulfeild, 1st Viscount Charlemont (also Custos Rotul ...

and elected as a

Representative Peer In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords. Until 1999, all members of the Peerage of England held the right t ...

for Ireland. He served as

Governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jama ...

from 1828 to 1832 and was also a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

in the Tyrone Militia. He inherited from his father the house at

Castle Coole Castle Coole (from ga, CúlLogainm
– Castle Coole – scanned record 2) is a

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 ...

, along with considerable debts. Nonetheless he furnished the house and its classical interiors designed by

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

in an exuberant

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

fashion between 1802 and 1825. Elaborate curtains and pelmets, pier glasses, "Grecian" couches and a magnificent state bed designed to accommodate

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten ye ...

on his state visit to Ireland in 1821 (although the king did not make it as far as Castle Coole, much to the disappointment of the earl) were all supplied by the

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

upholsterer John Preston at a total cost of around £35,000. Lord Belmore also commissioned

Sir Richard Morrison Sir Richard Morrison (1767 – 31 October 1849 / 1844Philip Smith (writer), ''An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of County Wicklow'' (Dublin: Wordwell Press / Government of Ireland, Department of the Environment, Heritage, and Local Gov ...

to build a new stable block in 1817.

Lord Belmore's yacht

Lord Belmore bought the captured ''James Madison'' and had her converted from schooner to brig rig. He also renamed her ''Osprey'', of Killybegs in

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

, armed her with fourteen 9-pounder

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color wh ...

s, and arranged for her to have a letter of marque.Letter of marqu

- accessed 3 December 2013. Around 1817, Lord Belmore used ''Osprey'' for a family cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean. Her captain was Lord Belmore's brother, Captain Armar Lowry-Corry, RN. The party included Belmore's wife, the Countess Juliana, their two sons, their lapdog Rosa, the family doctor, Dr. Robert Richardson, M.D. (Edinburgh), and the vicar, Mr. Holt.Mayes (2006), pp.188-9. They visited Malta, Sicily, Italy, the Ionian Islands, Greece, Rome, and Alexandria. They also sailed up the Nile as far as Luxor in three local boats. Lord Belmore apparently had two hobbies in Egypt. One was collecting antiquities. To that end he sponsored some of

Giovanni Battista Belzoni Giovanni Battista Belzoni (; 5 November 1778 – 3 December 1823), sometimes known as The Great Belzoni, was a prolific Italian explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities. He is known for his removal to England of the seven-ton ...

's excavations in Egypt with the result that tomb KV30, in the

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...

, is known as Lord Belmore's tomb. These excavations were the source of some of Lord Belmore's collection of Egyptian antiquities, such as the sarcophagus that is now in the British Museum. Lord Belmore's other hobby was carving his name on Egyptian antiquities. In his desire to commemorate his travels, Belmore carved his name into a stone at the top of the

Great Pyramid of Giza The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, ...

, the

Ramesseum The Ramesseum is the memorial temple (or mortuary temple) of Pharaoh Ramesses II ("Ramesses the Great", also spelled "Ramses" and "Rameses"). It is located in the Theban Necropolis in Upper Egypt, on the west of the River Nile, across from the m ...

(the mortuary temple of Ramses II), and on the side of the

Temple of Dendur The Temple of Dendur (Dendoor in the 19th century) is a Roman Egyptian religious structure originally located in Tuzis (later Dendur), Nubia about south of modern Aswan. Around 23 BCE, Emperor Augustus commissioned the temple dedicated to the E ...

, which is now in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York. Corry also carved his name on a pillar of the temple of Medinet Habu at Luxor. After Egypt, the family traveled to Palestine and visited Jerusalem. In 1819 when the family was done with their cruise, Belmore sold ''Osprey'' to the King of Naples and the family returned home.Lowry-Corry (1881), p.282.

Family

On 20 October 1800 Somerset married his

first 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 Juliana Butler (20 September 1783 –22 July 1861), second daughter of

Henry Butler, 2nd Earl of Carrick Henry Thomas Butler, 2nd Earl of Carrick (19 May 1746 – 20 July 1813), styled The Honourable from birth to 1748 and then as Viscount Ikerrin between 1748 and 1774, was an Irish peer and politician. He was the son of Somerset Butler, 1st Earl of ...

by his wife Sarah Taylor, second daughter and co-heiress of Edward Taylor, of Askeaton,

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Munster , subdivision ...

, and had issue: *

Armar Lowry-Corry, 3rd Earl Belmore Armar Lowry-Corry, 3rd Earl Belmore (28 December 1801 – 17 December 1845), styled Viscount Corry from 1802 to 1841, was an Irish nobleman and politician. Background and career Lowry-Corry was the eldest son of Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Be ...

*Hon.

Henry Thomas Lowry-Corry 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 Portuga ...

(9 March 1803 –5 March 1873), who was married on 18 March 1830 to Lady Harriet Anne Cooper (d. 25 March 1868), second daughter of

Cropley Ashley-Cooper, 6th Earl of Shaftesbury Cropley Ashley-Cooper, 6th Earl of Shaftesbury Bt (21 December 1768 – 2 June 1851), styled The Honourable Cropley Ashley-Cooper until 1811, was a British politician. He was the father of the social reformer Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of ...

, by his wife Lady Anne Spencer, fourth daughter of

George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough, (26 January 1739 – 29 January 1817), styled Marquess of Blandford until 1758, was a British courtier, nobleman, and politician from the Spencer family. He served as Lord Chamberlain between 1762 a ...

, and had issue *Lady Sarah Lowry-Corry (d.v.p. 1806) Lord Belmore died at

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

on 18 April 1841 aged sixty-six and was succeeded by his eldest son.

Notes

References

* * * * * * *

Politics and inheritance

Lord Belmore's yacht

Family

Notes

References

Further reading