Sir Aubrey (Hunt) de Vere, 2nd Baronet (28 August 1788 – 5 July 1846) p. 2. was an

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 ...

poet and landowner.

Biography

De Vere was the son of Sir Vere Hunt, 1st Baronet and Eleanor Pery, daughter of

William Pery, 1st Baron Glentworth William Cecil Pery, 1st Baron Glentworth (26 July 1721 – 4 July 1794) was an 18th-century Anglican bishop in Ireland. Biography He was born on 26 July 1721, the son of Reverend Stackpole Pery and Jane Twigg, daughter of William Twigg, Archd ...

and his first wife Jane Walcott. He was educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

, where he was a childhood 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

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. He married Mary Spring Rice, the daughter of Stephen Edward Rice and Catherine Spring, and sister of

Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon, (8 February 17907 February 1866) was a British Whig politician, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1835 to 1839. Background Spring Rice was born into a notable Anglo-Irish famil ...

, in 1807. He succeeded to his father's title in 1818. He and Mary had five sons, including the third and fourth baronets, Aubrey and Stephen de Vere, and the poet Aubrey Thomas de Vere, and three daughters, two of whom died in infancy. The Hunt/de Vere family estate for 300 years (1657–1957), including the period of the de Vere Baronetcy of Curragh, is the present-day Curraghchase Forest Park, in

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

. De Vere spent most of his life on the estate and was closely involved in its management. He suffered much trouble from his ownership of the island of

Lundy Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It forms part of the district of Torridge in the county of Devon. About long and wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, frequently changing hands between the British crown and ...

, which his father, who was a notoriously poor businessman, had unwisely purchased in 1802, and which became a heavy drain on the family's finances. Sir Vere was never able to find a purchaser for Lundy, and it took his son until 1834 (or 1830) to dispose of it. Sir Aubrey stood for election in the 1820 General Election and came in third with 2921 votes. He changed his surname from Hunt to de Vere on 15 March 1832, in reference to his

Earl of Oxford Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, first created for Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, Aubrey de Vere by the Empress Matilda in 1141. De Vere family, His family was to hold the title for more than five and a half cen ...

ancestors, dating back to

Aubrey de Vere I Aubrey (Albericus) de Vere (died circa 1112-1113) was a tenant-in-chief in England of William the Conqueror in 1086, as well as a tenant of Geoffrey de Montbray, bishop of Coutances and of Count Alan, lord of Richmond. A much later source named ...

, a tenant-in-chief in England of

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

in 1086. He served as High Sheriff of County Limerick in 1811. Sir Aubrey was a poet.

Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ...

called his

sonnets A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

the most perfect of the age. These and his drama, ''Mary Tudor: An Historical Drama'', were published by his son the poet Mr. Aubrey Thomas de Vere in 1875 and 1884.

Works

De Vere produced numerous works over his lifetime. The most notable are: ''Ode to the Duchess of Angouleme'' (1815), ''Julian the Apostate: A Dramatic Poem'' (1822), ''The Duke of Mercia: An Historical Drama''

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometers, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is i ...

''The Lamentation of Ireland, and Other Poems'' (1823), ''A Song of Faith: Devout Exercises and Sonnets'' and his most famous work, ''Mary Tudor: An Historical Drama''.‘The Poems of the De Veres’, ''Dublin University Magazine'', XXI, 122 (Feb. 1843), pp.190-204.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Vere, Sir Aubrey 1788 births 1846 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 19th-century Anglo-Irish people 2

Aubrey Aubrey () is a traditionally male English language, English name. It was quite common in the Middle Ages, but had lost favour for a time before experiencing a resurgence of popularity in the 19th century. In the United States, following the 1973 ...

High sheriffs of County Limerick Irish poets People educated at Harrow School Writers from County Limerick Sonneteers Nobility from County Limerick