Robert Thomas Flower, 8th Viscount Ashbrook (1 April 1836 – 9 March 1919) 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 ...

aristocrat, Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, and inventor.

Biography

Early life

Robert Thomas Flower was born on 1 April 1836 at Castle Durrow, Durrow, County Laois,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

.The Peerage: Lt.-Col. Robert Thomas Flower, 8th Viscount Ashbrook
/ref>Christopher Winn, ''I Never Knew That About the Irish'', Random House, 201

/ref> His father was Henry Jeffrey Flower, 5th Viscount Ashbrook (1806–1871) and his mother, Frances Robinson (1803-1886). He had three sisters and two brothers, Henry Jeffrey Flower, 6th Viscount Ashbrook (1829–1882) and William Spencer Flower, 7th Viscount Ashbrook (1830–1906).Abandoned Ireland: Knocknatrina House
/ref>

Career

He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the service of the 4th Battalion in the

Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foot ...

. He invented an easy-to-use handloom for the unskilled and disabled, and a latch-hook needle that speeds up the weaving process. The techniques were used by Yvo Richard Vesey, 5th Viscount de Vesci (1881–1958), who opened a carpet factory and hired women to do the weaving. The carpets were sold at Harrods in London and at

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. They furnished the

Mansion House, Dublin The Mansion House ( ga, Teach an Ard-Mhéara) is a house on Dawson Street, Dublin, which has been the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin since 1715, and was also the meeting place of the Dáil Éireann from 1919 until 1922. Histor ...

, the grandstand at Ascot and . He became the 8th

Viscount Ashbrook Viscount Ashbrook is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1751 for Captain Henry Flower, 2nd Baron Castle Durrow. The title of Baron Castle Durrow, in the County of Kilkenny, had been created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1733 for ...

and the 9th Baron Castle-Durrow on 26 November 1906.

Personal life

He married Gertrude Sophia Hamilton, daughter of Reverend Sewell Hamilton, on 18 July 1866. They had five children: *Hon. Frances Mary Flower (married Henry Ernest White). *Hon. Eva Constance Gertrude Flower (unknown-1928). *Hon. Gertrude Flower (unknown-1956). * Llowarch Robert Flower, 9th Viscount Ashbrook (1870-1936). *Hon. Reginald Henry Flower (1871-1938). He resided at 22

Adelaide Crescent Adelaide Crescent is a mid-19th-century residential development in Hove, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. Conceived as an ambitious attempt to rival the large, high-class Kemp Town estate east of Brighton, the c ...

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

, East Sussex in the 1860s.Judy Middleton, ''The Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade'', Brighton & Hove Libraries, 2002, Vol. 1, p. 15 From 1869 onwards, he resided at Knocknatrina House in County Laois, Ireland. He died on 9 March 1919.

References

1836 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Irish people People from County Laois Irish expatriates in England Irish inventors People from Hove Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment officers {{inventor-stub