William Brodrick, 8th

Viscount Midleton Viscount Midleton, of Midleton in the County Cork, County of Cork, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1717 for Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton, Alan Brodrick, 1st Baron Brodrick, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and form ...

(6 January 1830 – 18 April 1907), was an Irish peer, landowner and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician in both Houses of Parliament, entering first the

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

for two years.

Early life

Midleton was born on 6 January 1830. He was the eldest son of

first cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the lineal kinship, kinship system used in the English-s ...

s, Harriett Brodrick and Reverend William John Brodrick, 7th Viscount Midleton, the Dean of Exeter and Chaplain to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. His younger brother,

the Hon. ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of cert ...

George Charles Brodrick The Honourable George Charles Brodrick (5 May 1831 – 8 November 1903) was an Oxford historian and author who became Warden of Merton College, Oxford.'Brodrick, George Charles', '' The Concise Dictionary of National Biography'', Volume I: ...

, was for many years warden of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

. His paternal grandparents were the former Mary Woodward (a daughter of

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Richard Woodward) and

The Right Reverend The Right Reverend (abbreviated as The Rt Revd or The Rt Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian ministers and members of clergy. It is a variant of the more common st ...

the Hon. Charles Brodrick,

Archbishop of Cashel The Archbishop of Cashel () was an archiepiscopal title which took its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. Following the Reformation, there had been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church ...

(who was the third son of the 3rd Viscount Midleton). His paternal uncle,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

, was the 6th Viscount Midleton and his aunt, Mary, was the wife of the 2nd Earl of Bandon. His maternal grandparents were

George Brodrick, 4th Viscount Midleton George Brodrick, 4th Viscount Midleton (1 November 1754 – 12 August 1836) was an Anglo-Irish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1796, when he was raised to the peerage of Great Britain as Baron Brodrick to allow him to s ...

and the former Frances Pelham (a daughter of the 1st Earl of Chichester) and his maternal uncle,

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

, was the 5th Viscount Midleton. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

Career

Midleton contested the East Surrey parliamentary seat in

1865 Events January * January 4 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street, in New York City. * January 13 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Fort Fisher – Unio ...

but was unsuccessful. Midleton was returned to Parliament as one of two representatives for Surrey Mid in 1868. He served on two commissions, the Noxious Vapours Commission (1875) and the Sale of Exchange of Livings (1877) although his blindness limited his ability to do more in public life. Midleton's son later wrote of him:

My father, whose courage and self-denial were conspicuous, suffered from serious defects of sight and hearing, partly due to an accident, but mainly to his father and mother having been first cousins, from which source a disability affected several of my grandfather's family in different ways. The calamity of partial blindness came upon my father early in his married life, and deprived him of a rising practice at the Bar. Although he fought his way with splendid energy into Parliament, his infirmities robbed him of the full scope which his ability and untiring work would have commanded.

Hansard records 161 contributions, with a notable hiatus for the years 1898 to 1901.

Later life

He vacated his seat in the commons in 1905 when he succeeded his father in the viscountcy. For some time he was president of the National Protestant Church Union, and Midleton served as High Steward of

Kingston-upon-Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

from 1875 to 1893 and

Lord Lieutenant of Surrey This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Surrey. Since 1737, all Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Surrey. Lord Lieutenants of Surrey * William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton 1551–1553? * William Howa ...

between 1896 and 1905. He made considerable improvements to Peper Harow House.

Personal life

On 25 October 1853 Lord Midleton married the Hon. Augusta Mary Fremantle. She was the third daughter of Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe and the former Louisa Elizabeth Nugent (the eldest daughter of Field Marshal

Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet, (10 June 1757 – 11 March 1849) was a British Army officer. After serving as a junior officer in the American Revolutionary War, he fought with the Coldstream Guard ...

and Maria Skinner, a descendant of the Schuyler and

Van Cortlandt family The Van Cortlandt family was an influential political dynasty from the seventeenth-century Netherlands, Dutch origins of New York (state), New York through its period as an English colony, then after it became a state, and into the nineteenth cen ...

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

). They had three sons and five daughters: * Hon. Augusta Louisa Brodrick (d. 1934), who married Sir Cuthbert Peek, 2nd Baronet in 1884. * Evelyn Harriet Brodrick (1855–1856), who died in infancy. * William St John Fremantle Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton (1856–1942), who married Lady Hilda Charteris, a daughter of the 10th Earl of Wemyss. After her death in 1901, he married Madeleine Stanley, a daughter of the 1st Baron St Helier. * Hon. Helen Anna Brodrick (d. 1937), who married the Rt. Rev. Archibald Ean Campbell,

Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway The Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Scottish Episcopal Church Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway. Brief history When the dioceses of Glasgow and Galloway were combined in 1837, Michael Russell, the then ...

, in 1885. * Hon. Edith Mary Brodrick (d. 1944), who was a published author of books such as ''The Cloud of Witness'' and her autobiography ''Under Three Reigns''. She married Philip Lyttelton Gell of Hopton Hall, in 1889. * Hon. Albinia Lucy Brodrick, (–1955), who assumed the name

Gobnait Ní Bhruadair Gobnait Ní Bhruadair (born ''Albinia Lucy Brodrick''; 17 December 1861 – 16 January 1955) was an Irish republican and lifelong radical. She campaigned passionately for causes as diverse as the reform of nursing, protection and promotion of t ...

. She was an

Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

and radical activist.Frances Clarke, 'Brodrick, Albinia Lucy (Gobnaít Ní Bhruadair)' in ''Dictionary of Irish Biography''. * Hon. Laurence Alan Brodrick (1864–1915), who married Anne Gwendolyn Lloyd Wynne in 1896. Anne, a widow of Maj. Gen. Edward William Lloyd Wynne, was a daughter of Hugh Robert Hughes. * Lt.-Col. Hon. Arthur Grenville Brodrick (1868–1934), who married Lesley Venetia Clough-Taylor, only child of Lt.-Col. Edward Harrison Clough-Taylor of Firby Hall, in 1912. Her mother, Lady Elizabeth Campbell, was a daughter of

George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll George John Douglas Campbell, 8th and 1st Duke of Argyll (30 April 1823 – 24 April 1900; styled Marquess of Lorne until 1847), was a Scottish people, Scottish polymath and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal statesman. He made a significant geological ...

and Lady Elizabeth Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (eldest daughter of

George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, KG (8 August 178627 February 1861), styled Viscount Trentham until 1803, Earl Gower between 1803 and 1833 and Marquess of Stafford in 1833, was a British peer and Whig politic ...

). * Hon. Marian Cecilia Brodrick (1869–1932), who married Sir James Beethom Whitehead, a diplomat, and was the mother of seven children including Sir

Edgar Whitehead Sir Edgar Cuthbert Fremantle Whitehead, (8 February 1905 – 22 September 1971) was a Rhodesian politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1958 to 1962. He had a long and varied political career, serving ...

. Lady Midleton died on 1 June 1903 aged 75 at Peper Harow. Lord Midleton survived her by four years and died on 18 April 1907, aged 77 at Peper Harow."Viscount Midleton." Times ondon, England19 Apr. 1907: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2014. He was succeeded by his eldest son, St John, who was a prominent Conservative politician and was created Earl of Midleton in 1920. His probate was resworn in 1907 at a rounded (as to shillings and pence) .https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk Calendar of Probates and Administrations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Midleton, William Brodrick, 8th Viscount 1830 births 1907 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Brodrick, William Lord-lieutenants of Surrey Brodrick, William UK MPs who inherited peerages Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland