Sir William Hutcheson Poë, 1st Baronet (20 September 1848 – 30 November 1934) was an Irish soldier and politician.

Early life

He was born the younger son of William T. Poë in

Donaghadee Donaghadee ( , ) is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northeast coast of the Ards Peninsula, about east of Belfast and about six miles (10 km) south east of Bangor, County Down, Bangor. It is in the Civil paris ...

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 ...

. His younger brother was Sir

Edmund Poë Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral Sir Edmund Samuel Poë, (11 September 1849 – 1 April 1921) was an Irish Royal Navy officer who went on to be East Indies Station, Commander-in-Chief, East Indies station. Early life Poë was born on September 1 ...

, who would become an Admiral in the Royal Navy. An older brother, George Leslie Poë, became a Royal Navy Captain.

Military career

William Poë joined the

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

in 1867. From 1878 to 1881, he commanded the Royal Marine detachment on

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overs ...

. He served in the

Mahdist War The Mahdist War (; 1881–1899) was fought between the Mahdist Sudanese, led by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam (the "Guided One"), and the forces of the Khedivate of Egypt, initially, and later th ...

with the rank of major in 1884 and was wounded at the Second Battle of El Teb on February 29 1884. He commanding a unit of the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps in the Relief of Khartoum in 1885. However, he was hit in the thigh by a bullet at the Battle of Metammeh on the 19 January, requiring the leg to be amputated Subsequently he served in the Naval Intelligence Department and was prompted to lieutenant-colonel. He retired from the Royal Marines in 1888.

Later career

After leaving military service, Poë settled in Ireland, living at Heywood House,

Ballinakill Ballinakill () is a small village in County Laois, Ireland on the R432 regional road between Abbeyleix, Ballyragget and Castlecomer, County Kilkenny. As of the 2016 census, there were 445 people living in Ballinakill. History In 1606, Sir Th ...

. In Ireland, he owned 10,000 acres of land in

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

and 1,500 acres in Queen's County. He was a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Queen's County and was appointed High Sheriff of Queen's County for 1891 and

High Sheriff of Tyrone The High Sheriff of Tyrone is the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Tyrone. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his jud ...

for 1893. In the 1895 general election, he stood as the

Irish Unionist Alliance The Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA), also known as the Irish Unionist Party, Irish Unionists or simply the Unionists, was a unionist political party founded in Ireland in 1891 from a merger of the Irish Conservative Party and the Irish Loyal and ...

candidate for the Queen's County Ossory division, but lost badly to the incumbent, Eugene Crean. He was a member of the

Land Conference The Land Conference was a successful conciliatory negotiation held in the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland between 20 December 1902 and 4 January 1903. In a short period it produced a unanimously agreed report recommending an amiable solution to t ...

in 1902. In 1906, the

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 ...

made him a member of a commission to report on the state of Irish railways. He was created a baronet on 2 July 1912 by

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served in Egypt from 1915 to 1916; from 1916 to 1919, he served was with the Red Cross in France. After the war, he was the last

Lord Lieutenant of Queen's County This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Queen's County. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated on 23 August ...

from 1920 to 1922, a position that ceased to exist when the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

became independent. Following the

Partition of Ireland The Partition of Ireland () was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (the area today known as the R ...

, he was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

member of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

from 1922 to 1924. He was nominated to the Seanad by the President of the Executive Council in 1922 for 12 years. He resigned from the Seanad on 9 December 1924, on age and health grounds.

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde (; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician, and diplomat who served as the first president of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a l ...

was elected at a by-election to replace him.

Interests

During his lifetime, Poë collected art. One of the works he owned, a portrait of John Musters by

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

, is now in the collection of the United States

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

In 1904, Poë became a governor of the

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...

. In 1931, he donated a 1690s painting by Jan Weenix to the gallery. One of Poë's recreations was grouse shooting, though he was obliged to do this while seated on a pony due to the loss of his leg.

Family

In 1886, Poë married Mary Adelaide Domvile, only surviving daughter of Sir William Compton Domvile, 3rd Baronet. They had one daughter, Isabel-May (b. 1893), and one son, Hugo (1889–1959), who became the 2nd and last Baronet.

Legacy

In 1906, Poë commissioned

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

and

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British Horticulture, horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United Sta ...

to develop the gardens around Heywood House. The house was destroyed by fire in the 1950s, but the gardens still exist. They have been described as "one of the most beautiful formal gardens in Ireland".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poe, William Hutcheson 1848 births 1934 deaths People from Donaghadee Independent members of Seanad Éireann Members of the 1922 Seanad Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British Army personnel of World War I High sheriffs of Queen's County High sheriffs of Tyrone Irish officers in the British Army Lord-lieutenants of Queen's County