Alexandrina Octavia Maria Dawson-Damer, Countess of Portarlington ( Lady Alexandrina Octavia Maria Vane; 29 July 1823 – 15 January 1874) was an Irish aristocrat who was the wife of

Henry Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington Henry John Reuben Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington (5 September 1822 – 1 March 1889) was an Irish peer. Early life Henry was born on 5 September 1822 as the eldest son of Hon. Henry Dawson-Damer, a Captain in the Royal Navy, and the f ...

and the daughter of

Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, (born Charles William Stewart; 1778–1854), was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish nobleman, a British soldier and a politician. He served in the French Revolutionary Wars, in the suppressi ...

Early life

Lady Alexandrina, who went by "Aline", was born on 29 July 1823 and was a godchild of

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russian Empire, Russia during the chaotic perio ...

. She was the second daughter of

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

nobleman

, and, his second wife, Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest. Among her siblings were

George Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry George Henry Robert Charles William Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry, KP (26 April 1821 – 6 November 1884), styled Viscount Seaham between 1823 and 1854 and known as The Earl Vane between 1854 and 1872, was a British aristocrat, busi ...

, Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane (wife of

John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, (2 June 18224 July 1883), styled Earl of Sunderland from 1822 to 1840 and Marquess of Blandford from 1840 to 1857, was a British Conservative cabinet minister, politician, peer, and noble ...

, grandparents of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

), and the politician

Lord Adolphus Vane-Tempest Lord Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest (2 July 1825 – 11 June 1864), known until 1854 as Lord Adolphus Vane, was a Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the fourth child (and second ...

. Her paternal grandparents were

Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry PC (Ire) (1739–1821), was a County Down landowner, Irish Volunteer, and member of the Irish Parliament who, exceptionally for an Ulster Scot and Presbyterian, rose within the ranks of Ireland's ...

and the former Lady Frances Pratt (a daughter of

Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (baptism, baptised 21 March 1714 – 18 April 1794) was an English lawyer, judge and Whig (British political faction), Whig politician who was first to hold the titl ...

). Her mother was the only daughter and heiress of

Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet (25 January 1771 – 1 August 1813) was a British politician. In early life his name was Henry Vane. He changed his name to Vane-Tempest when he inherited from his uncle John Tempest, Jr., in 1793. Early ...

, and Anne MacDonnell, ''

suo jure ''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...

'' 2nd Countess of Antrim.

Personal life

On 2 September 1847, Lady Alexandrina was married to

(1822–1889), the son of Capt. Hon. Henry Dawson-Damer, of

Milton Abbey Milton Abbey School is a private school for day and boarding pupils in the village of Milton Abbas, near Blandford Forum in Dorset, in South West England. It has 224 pupils , in five houses: Athelstan, Damer, Hambro, Hodgkinson and Tregonwell. T ...

, and the former Eliza Moriarty (a daughter of Capt. Edmund Joshua Moriarty and granddaughter of

Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton ( – 14 January 1787) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1754 to 1780. Biography He was the second son of Henry Luttrell, of Luttrellstown (whose family had he ...

). Lord Portarlington succeeded his unmarried

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent, as well as the parent of the cousins. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an un ...

as the 3rd

Earl of Portarlington Earl of Portarlington is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1785 for John Dawson, 2nd Viscount Carlow, who had earlier represented Portarlington in the Irish House of Commons. He was the son of William Dawson, 1st Viscount C ...

in 1845, therefore, upon their marriage, she became known as the Countess of Portarlington. Lord Portarlington was a

Representative peer In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those Peerage, 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 ...

for Ireland between 1855 and his death in 1889. They did not have any children.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 2, page 2384. Lady Portarlington converted to Catholicism in 1867 and died on 15 January 1874 at Emo Park, where she was also buried.

Notes

References

External links

Alexandrina Octavia Maria ('Aline', née Vane), Countess of Portarlington
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portarlington, Alexandrina Dawson-Damer, Countess Of 1823 births 1874 deaths Alexandrina Alexandrina Portarlington