Edith Maud Rawdon-Hastings, 10th Countess of Loudoun (10 December 1833 – 23 January 1874) was a Scottish peer. She died aged 40 after caring for
Rowallan Castle
Rowallan Castle (Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal an Rubha Àlainn'') is an ancient castle located in Scotland. The castle stands on the banks of the Carmel Water, which may at one time have run much closer to the low eminence upon which the original ...
. Sir
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...
designed an
Eleanor Cross style monument to her which was erected in
Ashby de la Zouch
Ashby-de-la-Zouch (), also spelled Ashby de la Zouch, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire borders. Its population at the 2021 census was ...
.
Early life
Rawdon-Hastings was the second child and eldest daughter of
George Rawdon-Hastings, 2nd Marquess of Hastings
George Augustus Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 2nd Marquess of Hastings (4 February 1808 – 13 January 1844), styled Lord Rawdon from birth until 1817 and Earl of Rawdon from 1817 to 1826, was a British peer and courtier.
Early life
Rawdon was born ...
, the British peer and courtier, and his wife
Barbara ''née'' Yelverton, 20th Baroness Grey de Ruthyn.
Her elder brother was
Paulyn Rawdon-Hastings, 3rd Marquess of Hastings
Paulyn Reginald Serlo Rawdon-Hastings, 3rd Marquess of Hastings (2 June 1832 - 17 January 1851), styled Earl of Rawdon from birth until 1844, was a British peer and officer in the British Army.
Early life
Rawdon-Hastings was the eldest child of ...
, who died unmarried. Among her younger siblings were
Lady Bertha Rawdon-Hastings (wife of Augustus Wykeham Clifton), Lady Victoria Rawdon-Hastings,
Henry Rawdon-Hastings (who married Lady Florence Paget, daughter of
Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey
Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey (6 July 1797 – 7 February 1869), styled Lord Paget 1812 and 1815 and Earl of Uxbridge from 1815 to 1854, was a British peer and Whig politician. He served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household between 1 ...
), and Lady Frances Rawdon-Hastings (wife of
Charles Marsham, 4th Earl of Romney
Charles Marsham, 4th Earl of Romney (7 March 1841 – 21 August 1905), styled Viscount Marsham from 1845 to 1874, was a British Conservative politician.
Early life
Romney was the son of Charles Marsham, 3rd Earl of Romney and his wife Lady Marg ...
). Fifteen months after her father's death in 1844, her mother married
Capt. Hastings Henry, nephew of the
Duke of Leinster
Duke of Leinster (; ) is a title and the premier dukedom in the Peerage of Ireland. The subsidiary titles of the Duke of Leinster are: Marquess of Kildare (1761), Earl of Kildare (1316), Earl of Offaly (1761), Viscount Leinster, of Taplow in th ...
, who
took the name of Yelverton by royal license in 1849. From her mother's second marriage, she had a younger half-sister, Hon. Barbara Yelverton, who later married
John Yarde-Buller, 2nd Baron Churston
John Yarde-Buller, 2nd Baron Churston (26 October 1846 – 19 April 1910) was a British peer and soldier.
The elder son of the Hon. John Yarde-Buller (eldest son of John Yarde-Buller, 1st Baron Churston) and of Charlotte, a daughter of Edward S ...
.
His mother, who inherited the barony when only seven months old, was the only child of
Henry Yelverton, 19th Baron Grey de Ruthyn (a friend of
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
) and the former Anna Maria Kellam. Her paternal grandparents were
Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings
Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings (9 December 175428 November 1826), styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762, Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783, The Lord Rawdon from 1783 to 1793 and The Earl of Moira bet ...
and his wife,
Flora Mure-Campbell, 6th Countess of Loudoun.
Career
She was greatly attached to the old
Mure family mansion of
Rowallan Castle
Rowallan Castle (Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal an Rubha Àlainn'') is an ancient castle located in Scotland. The castle stands on the banks of the Carmel Water, which may at one time have run much closer to the low eminence upon which the original ...
near
Kilmaurs
Kilmaurs () is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland which lies just outside of the largest settlement in East Ayrshire, Kilmarnock. It lies on the Carmel Water, southwest of Glasgow. Population recorded for the village in the 2001 Census record ...
in Ayrshire, and funded restorations of it.
[Adamson, Archibald R. (1875), ''Rambles Round Kilmarnock''. Pub. T. Stevenson, Kilmarnock. p. 150.]
In 1866, Rawdon-Hastings drew a picture which she called "Skeleton Ball". This picture is now in the
Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...
.
Personal life
On 30 April 1853, she married
Charles Clifton. The couple took the surname of Abney-Hastings, as a condition of inheriting from a second cousin
Sir Charles Abney-Hastings, 2nd Bt, a natural grandson of the 10th Earl of Huntingdon (brother of Lady Edith's grandmother).
, . They had six children:
* Lady Flora Paulyna Hetty Barbara Abney Hastings (1854–1887), who married
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk, (27 December 184711 February 1917), styled Lord Maltravers until 1856 and Earl of Arundel and Surrey between 1856 and 1860, was a British Unionist politician and philanthropist. He served as Postmas ...
.
*
Charles Edward Hastings Clifton, 11th Earl of Loudoun (1855–1920), who married the Hon. Alice Fitzalan-Howard, daughter of
Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop
Edward George Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop PC (né Howard; 20 June 18181 December 1883), styled Lord Edward Howard between 1842 and 1869, was a British Liberal politician. He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under ...
(himself the second son of
Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk, (12 August 179118 February 1856), styled Earl of Surrey between 1815 and 1842, was a British Whig politician and peer.
Background
Norfolk was the son of Bernard Edward Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk, ...
), in 1880.
* Hon. Paulyn Francis Cuthbert Rawdon-Hastings (1856–1907), a Major who married Lady Maud Grimston, daughter of
James Grimston, 2nd Earl of Verulam
James Walter Grimston, 2nd Earl of Verulam (20 February 1809 – 27 July 1895), known as Viscount Grimston from 1815 to 1845, was a British peer and Conservative politician. He was the eldest son of James Walter Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam, a ...
, whose children include
Edith Abney-Hastings, 12th Countess of Loudoun.
*
Gilbert Theophilus Clifton Clifton-Hastings-Campbell, 3rd Baron Donington (1859–1927), who married Maud Kemble Hamilton, daughter of
Sir Charles Hamilton, 1st Baronet
Sir Charles Edward James Louis William John Hamilton, 1st Baronet (28 May 1845 – 15 Nov 1928) was an English businessman and Conservative politician.
Hamilton was the son of John Hamilton of Liverpool and his wife Jessy Kemble. He was a Directo ...
.
* Hon. Henry Cecil Plantagenet Clifton (b. 1860), who married Maharaja
Duleep Singh
Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh (6 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), also spelled Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last ''Maharaja'' of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son ...
's companion and was subsequently ostracised when the party went in exile.
* Lady Egidia Sophia Frederica Christina Clifton (1870–1892), who died young.
Edith died on 23 January 1874 and was buried in the churchyard at
Castle Donington
Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport.
Etymology
The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another su ...
, except for her right hand, which – at her own request – was buried in the parkland of her home at
Donington Hall
Donington Hall is a country house set in parkland near Castle Donington village, North West Leicestershire. The Hall and Estate was purchased in April 2021 by MotorSport Vision, which also operates the neighbouring Donington Park racing cir ...
. After she died, the Loudoun monument was erected in
Ashby Ashby may refer to:
People
* Ashby (surname)
* Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby (1267–1314), governor of Rockingham Castle and steward of Rockingham Forest, England
* Walter Ashby Plecker (1861–1947), American physician and public ...
. The octagonal monument by Sir
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...
is based on the
Eleanor crosses and is now a Grade II*
listed structure
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
After Edith's death, her widowed husband was created
Baron Donington
Baron Donington, of Donington Park in the County of Leicester, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 4 May 1880 for Charles Frederick Abney-Hastings. Born Charles Frederick Clifton, he was the widower of Edith Mary ...
.
Descendants
Through her son Paulyn, she was a grandmother of
Edith Abney-Hastings, later 12th Countess of Loudoun.
Through her son Gilbert, she was a grandmother of four granddaughters, including Hon. Selina Clifton-Hastings-Campbell, who married
Sir Edward McTaggart-Stewart, 2nd Baronet.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loudoun, Edith Rawdon-Hastings, 10th Countess of
1833 births
1874 deaths
People from Kilmaurs
Nobility from East Ayrshire
Earls of Loudoun
Hereditary women peers
Scottish countesses
Daughters of British marquesses
Edith
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning ''wiktionary:strife, strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English language, Englis ...
19th-century Scottish people
19th-century Scottish women
Barons Hastings
Barons Botreaux
Barons Hungerford