Frances Stewart, Marchioness Of Londonderry
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Frances Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry (''née'' Pratt; 15 April 1751 – 18 January 1833), was an English aristocrat and mistress of a large landed and politically connected household in late Georgian Ireland. From her husband's mansion 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 ...
,
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 the 1790s her circle of friends and acquaintances extended to figures engaged in the democratic politics of the
United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association, formed in the wake of the French Revolution, to secure Representative democracy, representative government in Ireland. Despairing of constitutional reform, and in defiance both of British ...
. Correspondence with her stepson,
Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh ( ) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an Kingdom of Ireland, Ir ...
(British Foreign Secretary at the
Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
), and with the English peer and politician John Petty, record major political and social developments of her era.


Whig family and Irish marriage

The future Lady Londonderry was born in England circa 1751, the daughter of
Charles Pratt Charles Pratt (October 2, 1830 – May 4, 1891) was an American businessman. Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and he established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. He then lived with his growing fam ...
and Elizabeth Jeffreys. Her father (later 1st Earl Camden) was a lawyer with an established interest in
constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...
and
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...
, and a Whig politician with a popular reputation. In 1770, King George III had demanded and secured his dismissal as
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...
for his openly expressed sympathies with
John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English Radicalism (historical), radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlese ...
and the
American colonists The colonial history of the United States covers the period of European colonization of the Americas, European colonization of North America from the late 15th century until the unifying of the Thirteen Colonies, Thirteen British Colonies a ...
. As a young woman, his daughter reportedly moved in her own dissident and enlightened circle: "that strange
masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
band known as 'society.'" In 1775, she married the widowed Robert Stewart, Earl (1796), and later Marquess (1816), of Londonderry. Stewart was one of the principal landowners 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 ...
but, as a
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
within Ireland's otherwise
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
Ascendancy, he was popularly identified with the cause of reform. It was a reputation he burnished both as a member of the
Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...
in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
(1769–1776), and during the
American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
as an officer in the Irish Volunteer movement. A few years after her marriage Lady Frances was a subject of wild rumour. During a visit to one of her father’s estates, she is supposed to have been robbed in the park and to have come home "quite naked." Many things were said at the time, including intimations of madness. After this incident she appeared to retire into "the bosom of her family", yet her correspondence reveals a continuing and lively interest in education and in public affairs. It was a quality admired by her county neighbour, herself the centre of a circle of politically engaged women: Elizabeth Rawdon, the dowager Countess of Moira had, like Lady Frances's father, been open in her sympathy for the American cause.


'Republican countess'

There is evidence that, in time, stronger Whig convictions and more liberal interests placed Lady Frances privately at odds with her husband, as well as with her brother,
John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden (11 February 17598 October 1840), styled Viscount Bayham from 1786 to 1794 and known as the 2nd Earl Camden from 1794 to 1812, was a British politician. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the revol ...
. During the United Irish risings in the early summer of 1798 Camden was
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...
and was served, as Chief Secretary, by Lady Frances's stepson,
Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh ( ) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an Kingdom of Ireland, Ir ...
. She was a friend of Jane Greg, reputedly "the head of the United Irish">nowiki/> United IrishFemale Societies" in Belfast, and in the view of
General Lake Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake (27 July 1744 – 20 February 1808) was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India. Background He was ...
responsible for "very great mischief" in that disaffected town. Such was the content of Lady Frances’s letters to his sister that
Samuel Greg Samuel Greg (26 March 1758 – 4 June 1834) was an Irish-born businessman and industrialist of the Industrial Revolution and a pioneer of the factory system. Born in Belfast, Ireland, he moved to England and built Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, C ...
, a cotton merchant in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, was anxious lest their discovery bring suspicion upon him, as "the only Irish gentleman in the town". In one of these she appears to reflect on the precariousness of her position. The sister and step-mother of the Crown's principal officers in Ireland, Lady Frances writes to her militant friend "not to be surprised" if she hears that "a certain republican countess" (a title that, without firm democratic conviction, might have been shared with Margaret King and other women in Lady Moira's aristocratic circle) has been denounced. In September 1797. Lady Frances tried to intercede with her brother for the life of William Orr, who was condemned for administering the United Irish test to two soldiers. For the United Irishwomen Mary Ann McCracken the gesture was proof that Lady Frances was "equal in firmness and energy of character to her husband".


1798, the execution of James Porter

After the northern rebellion in June 1798, during which Mount Stewart was briefly occupied, Lady Frances sought reprieve for James Porter. Porter, the local Presbyterian minister, had been close to the Stewarts: once a frequent visitor to the house, he had entertained Lady Frances and her daughters with his lectures on natural and experimental philosophy. In 1790, when Castlereagh was still reputedly a Presbyterian and friend of reform, Porter had been his election agent. With her young sister, Lady Elizabeth (then dying of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
), she was overwhelmed by Porter's wife and their seven children when they appeared at the house pleading for his life. One of Porter's sons was later to recount that when Londonderry discovered his wife composing a letter to General Nugent, he insisted she add a postscript: "L does not allow me to interfere in Mr Porter's case. I cannot, therefore, and beg not to be mentioned. I only send the letter to gratify the humour", and that with a smile that filed his mother with "much horror", Londonderry then handed her the letter. Londonderry was content that other offenders—among them
David Bailie Warden David Bailie Warden (1772-1845) was a republican insurgent in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and, in later exile, a United States consul in Paris. While in American service Warden protested the corruption of diplomatic service by the "avaricious" s ...
who commanded north Down rebels in the field, and the Reverend Thomas Ledlie Birch who had urged them on to "drive the bloodhounds of King George the German king beyond the seas"—should be allowed American exile. But James Porter, convicted on uncertain evidence of having helped insurgents "relieve" a post-rider of "a vital military despatch", he was to see hang in front of his own church at Greyabbey. Porter's offence may have been to have lampooned Londonderry in his popular satire of the landed interest, ''Billy'' ''Bluff.'' (The master of Mount Stewart is recognisable as the inarticulate tyrant "Lord Mountmumble"). But It is also possible that Londonderry, aware that his wife had continued to send for Porter's offending paper, the ''Northern Star,'' and had corresponded with Greg, believed the minister to have been an original source of her wayward, and potentially compromising, political sympathies. (He might also have had cause to suspect an earlier tutor to the family, Arthur McMahon, who became a United Irish colonel in Antrim).


Later years

Lady Frances was a friend of John Petty, Earl Wycombe, son of the former British Prime Minister Lord Shelbourne in whose ministry her father had served. A disaffected Whig MP, from 1797 he had repaired to his father's estates in Ireland where his political associations were such that Dublin Castle threatened to arrest him if he did not leave the country. In 1803, he is reported to have visited the rebel arms depot in
Thomas Street, Dublin Thomas Street () is a street in The Liberties in central Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. History The street is named after the canon regular, Augustinian Abbey of St. Thomas, founded in 1175, near the later St. Catherine's Church, Dublin ...
, shortly before
Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...
's abortive rising in July. Petty's correspondence with Lady Frances, which he maintained until his death in 1809, reveals that she continued to entertain criticism of government policy in Ireland, including the Act of Union that her step son helped push though the Irish Parliament in 1800; of the Anglican church establishment and the tithes it levied atop rack rents; of “ British tyranny in navigation”, and of religion ("a bad substitute for common sense"). While continuing to take a keen interest in political affairs and corresponding regularly with Castlereagh throughout his war-time service as War, and subsequently as Foreign, Secretary, Lady Frances also immersed herself in local projects. In 1809 she was engaged with the building of a primary school near Mount Stewart for 200 children. After her husband's death in 1821 Lady Frances returned to England. She died in Hastings, Sussex, on 18 January 1833. She was preceded in death by six of her eleven children.


Children

She had eleven children with Lord Londonderry, three sons and eight daughters: # Charles William (1778-1854), succeeded his father as 3rd Marquess # Frances Ann (1777–1810), married Lord Charles Fitzroy # Elizabeth Mary (1779–1798) # Caroline (1781–1860), married Col. Thomas Wood MP # Alexander John (1783–1800) # Georgiana (1785–1804), married the politician
George Canning, 1st Baron Garvagh George Canning, 1st Baron Garvagh FRS (15 November 1778 – 20 August 1840) was an Anglo-Irish Member of Parliament. Garvagh was the son of Paul Canning and the grandson of Stratford Canning of Garvagh in County Londonderry. Prime Minister ...
. # Selina Sarah Juliana (1786–1871), married David Guardi Ker MP for Downpatrick # Matilda Charlotte (1787–1842), married Edward Michael Ward. # Emily Jane (1789–1865), married
Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge Field Marshal Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge, (30 March 1785 – 24 September 1856) was a British Army officer and politician. After serving in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo Campaign he became Secretary at War in Wellington's ...
# Thomas Henry (1790–1810) # Octavia (1792–1819), married
Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough (8 September 1790 – 22 December 1871), was a British Tory politician. He was four times President of the Board of Control and also served as Governor-General of India between 1842 and 1844. Background an ...


References


Bibliography

* * * (later events) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Frances, Marchioness 1751 births 1833 deaths Irish marchionesses Daughters of British earls 18th-century Irish women