Alexander Stewart (1746–1831), known as Alexander Stewart of Ards, was an Irish landowner and
member of parliament.
Birth and origins
Alexander was born on 26 March 1746 in Ireland. He was the fifth son of
Alexander Stewart and his wife Mary Cowan. His father's family was Ulster Scots and came from
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
. His father had bought the
Newtownards
Newtownards (; ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtow ...
and
Comber
Comber ( , , locally ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies south of Newtownards, at the northern end of Strangford Lough. It is situated in the townland of Town Parks, the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of Cas ...
estates in
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
in 1743 and lived at
Mount Stewart
Mount Stewart is a 19th-century house and garden in County Down, Northern Ireland, owned by the National Trust. Situated on the east shore of Strangford Lough, a few miles outside the town of Newtownards and near Greyabbey, it was the Iris ...
, near Newtownards. His father also still was an alderman of
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...
in 1760. His grandfather, Colonel William Stewart, had commanded one of the two companies of Protestant soldiers that Derry admitted into town when
Mountjoy was sent to Derry by
Tyrconnell
Tyrconnell (), also spelled Tirconnell and Tirconaill, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland. It is associated geographically with present-day County Donegal, which was officially named ''County Tirconaill'' between 1922 and 1927. At times it also i ...
before the start of the
siege
A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
. Alexander's mother was a daughter of John Cowan, alderman of Derry and sister of
Robert Cowan, Governor of Bombay. Her family also was Ulster Scots. His parents had married on 30 June 1737 in Dublin. He had six siblings,
who are listed in his father's article.
Ards House
In 1782, after his father's death in the preceding year, Alexander Stewart, probably using some money from the inheritance, bought the Ards House and some surrounding lands near it on the shores of
Sheephaven Bay
Sheephaven Bay or Sheep Haven () is a broad, shallow inlet on the north coast of County Donegal, Ireland. Bounded by the peninsulas of Rosguill to the east and Horn Head () to the west, the bay is relatively protected from the full force of the ...
near
Dunfanaghy
Dunfanaghy () is a small town, former fishing port, and commercial centre on the north coast of County Donegal, Ireland. It lies on Donegal's North West coast, specifically the west side of Sheephaven Bay, on the N56 road (the West Donegal Coas ...
, County Donegal, for £13,250 from William Wray and started to live there. He and his heirs were therefore known as the Stewarts of Ards. The Ards House was demolished in the early 1960s, but the wooded park in which it stood still exists and is known as the
Ards Forest Park
Ards Forest Park is a park in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland.
History and Location
The forest park is situated on the small Ards Peninsula. It sits on the shores of Sheephaven Bay on the northern coastline of County Donegal, Rep ...
.
Marriage
On 2 October 1791 Alexander Stewart of Ards, as he was now, married Mary Moore, daughter of
Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda
Field Marshal Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda, (29 June 1730 – 22 December 1822) was a British Army officer and politician. He bore the colours of his regiment at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746 during the Jacobite rising of 1745 ...
and granddaughter of
Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford
Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford (5 July 1718 – 14 June 1794) of Ragley Hall, Arrow, in Warwickshire, was a British courtier and politician who, briefly, was Viceroy of Ireland where he had substantial estates.
Background ...
.
[634, line 42](_blank)
/> Mary was the niece of Sarah Frances Seymour-Conway, the first wife of Alexander's eldest brother Robert, Lord Londonderry.
Alexander and Mary had among other children three sons who reached adulthood:
#Alexander Robert Stewart
Alexander Robert Stewart (12 September 1795 – 25 March 1850) was an Irish landowner and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of parliament.
He was the son of Alexander Stewart (1746–1831), Alexander Stewart of Ards by his wife Lady ...
(1795–1850), succeeded him
#Charles Moore (1799–1831), became a minister of a church, probably Presbyterian
#John Vandeleur (1802–1872) of Rock Hill (near Letterkenny)
Politics and later life
Stewart was appointed High Sheriff of Donegal
The High Sheriff of Donegal was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland, from the late 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Irish Free State and replaced by the office of Donega ...
for 1791–92.
Stewart sat as member of parliament (MP) in the Irish Parliament in 1800–1801. He was elected for the County Londonderry constituency of the Irish Parliament in 1800, sat for County Londonderry for one month and then exchanged it for the borough of Thomastown for which he sat until Irish Parliament was abolished due to the Acts of Union in 1801.
Stewart also sat for the UK Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
from 1814 to 1818. On 19 July 1814 he was elected for the Londonderry constituency of the UK Parliament to replace his nephew Sir Charles Stewart who had on 1 July 1814 been raised to the peerage as Baron Stewart. He thus served as "a family stopgap" who "supported the Earl of Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. Before becoming Prime Minister he had been Foreign Secretary, H ...
's Tories (British political party)">Tory
A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...
government silently". He sat for the constituency for four years until the 1818 United Kingdom general election, 1818 general election, when his son Alexander-Robert was elected, having come of age.
Alexander Stewart of Ards died in 1831.