William Handcock, 1st Viscount Castlemaine, PC (Ire) (28 August 1761 – 7 January 1839) was an Irish MP and supporter of Union with Great Britain.

Life

He was born in

Dublin, Ireland 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 cen ...

to Reverend Richard Handcock and Sarah Toler. In 1783, Handcock stood for Athlone 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 fra ...

and represented the constituency until the Act of Union in 1801. He was Constable and Governor of Athlone 1813–1839 and Governor of County Westmeath 1814–1831. Handcock was killed on the

Night of the Big Wind The Night of the Big Wind ( ga, Oíche na Gaoithe Móire) was a powerful European windstorm that swept across what was then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, beginning on the afternoon of 6 January 1839, causing severe damage to pr ...

in 1839 when the wind blew his bedroom shutters open at Moydrum Castle and hurled him “so violently upon his back that he instantly expired”. The

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n city of Castlemaine in the state of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

was named in his honour by his nephew Captain W. Wright.

Family and title

On 20 March 1782 he married Lady Florinda Trench (3 August 1766 – 9 February 1851), born in Twyford, Westmeath to

William Power Keating 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 prominent ...

and

Anne Gardiner, Countess 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 prominent ...

. William and Florinda had no children, and when Handcock was created

Baron Castlemaine Baron Castlemaine, of Moydrum in the County of Westmeath, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1812 for William Handcock, with remainder to his younger brother Richard Handcock. Handcock represented Athlone in Parliament a ...

, of

Moydrum Moydrum is a townland near Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland. The townland is in the civil parishs of St. Mary's and Ballyloughloe (Clonlonan). The townland stands to the east of the town. The Athlone to Mullingar Cycleway cuts through the ...

(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 ...

) on 21 December 1812 the title had a special ''remainder'' "failing heirs of his body to his brother". He was further created Viscount Castlemaine on 12 January 1822 but without a ''special remainder''. On his death the viscountcy became extinct. His barony passed to his brother, whose descendants still hold the title.

Arms

References

thepeerage.com
Accessed 12 March 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.'' (p. 85) London: Saunders and Otley, 1834
googlebooks
Accessed 12 March 2008 , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Castlemaine, William Handcock, 1st Viscount 1761 births 1839 deaths Irish MPs 1783–1790 Irish MPs 1790–1797 Irish MPs 1798–1800 Handcock, William Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Handcock, William Handcock, William Handcock, William UK MPs who were granted peerages Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by George III

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 ...

Life

Family and title

Arms

References

Further reading