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21-553: He was the son of Alexander Stewart of Ards by his wife Lady Mary, daughter of Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda . His uncle was Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry and he was first cousin to Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh ( Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs during the Napoleonic Wars and principal British diplomat at the Congress of Vienna ) and Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry . He

42-543: A moiety of the feudal barony of Hatch Beauchamp , in Somerset, by marriage to the heiress Cicely Beauchamp (d.1393). In 1755, according to Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford , "The Earl of Hertford, a man of unblemished morals, but rather too gentle and cautious to combat so presumptuous a court, was named Ambassador to Paris". However, due to the demands of the French, the journey to Paris was suspended. From 1751 to 1766 he

63-675: A kindly epitaph for her. In August 1765 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . In Dublin, leading representatives of the Protestant Ascendancy warmly anticipated his arrival. The Speaker of the Irish House of Commons , John Ponsonby , was satisfied that "the public as well as private character of Lord Hertford, together with the great property which he has in Ireland" were "the best securities which we can have for his good behaviour. There could not have been found

84-515: A person to govern us who in all respects would be so likely to use us well . . .". But with his eldest son, Francis, Viscount Beauchamp , as his chief secretary, Hertford was in Ireland for just one parliamentary session (October 1765–June 1766). He hastened to return to his court circle in London where he was appointed Lord Chamberlain 1766–82 (and again April–December 1783). In 1782, when she

105-525: The Newtownards and Comber estates in County Down in 1743 and lived at Mount Stewart , near Newtownards. His father also still was an alderman of Derry in 1760. His grandfather, Colonel William Stewart, had commanded one of the two companies of Protestant soldiers that Derry admitted into town when Mountjoy was sent to Derry by Tyrconnell before the start of the siege . Alexander's mother

126-507: The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland . Alexander Stewart (1746%E2%80%931831) Alexander Stewart (1746–1831), known as Alexander Stewart of Ards, was an Irish landowner and member of parliament . Alexander was born on 26 March 1746 in Ireland. He was the fifth son of Alexander Stewart and his wife Mary Cowan. His father's family was Ulster Scots and came from County Donegal . His father had bought

147-748: The Irish Parliament in 1800, sat for County Londonderry for one month and then exchanged it for the borough of Thomastown for which he sat until Irish Parliament was abolished due to the Acts of Union in 1801. Stewart also sat for the UK Parliament from 1814 to 1818. On 19 July 1814 he was elected for the Londonderry constituency of the UK Parliament to replace his nephew Sir Charles Stewart who had on 1 July 1814 been raised to

168-607: The King. In 1763 Hertford became Privy Councillor and, from October 1763 to June 1765, was a successful ambassador in Paris. He appointed David Hume as his Secretary, who wrote of him, "I do not believe there is in the World a man of more probity & Humanity, endowd with a very good Understanding, and adornd with very elegant Manners & Behaviour". He witnessed the sad last months of Madame de Pompadour , whom he admired, and wrote

189-766: The barony on the death of his father in 1732. The first few years after his father's death were spent in Italy and Paris. On his return to England, he took his seat , as 2nd Baron Conway , among the Peers in November 1739. Henry Seymour Conway , politician and soldier, was his younger brother. In August 1750 he was created Viscount Beauchamp and Earl of Hertford , both of which titles had earlier been created for and forfeited by his ancestor Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset , Lord Protector of England , following his attainder and execution in 1552. The Seymour family had inherited

210-413: The highest life or in the most domestic." (Walpole visited Forde's Farm on several occasions from his residence at Strawberry Hill , Twickenham.) Within two years of the tragedy, Lord Hertford had sold Forde's Farm to Mrs Charlotte Boyle Walsingham, and a further two years later, she had re-developed the estate, building a new mansion which she called Boyle Farm, a name still in use today. In July 1793 he

231-650: The peerage as Baron Stewart . He thus served as "a family stopgap" who "supported [ the Earl of Liverpool 's Tory ] government silently". He sat for the constituency for four years until the 1818 general election , when his son Alexander-Robert was elected, having come of age. Alexander Stewart of Ards died in 1831. Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford , KG , PC , PC (Ire) (5 July 1718 – 14 June 1794) of Ragley Hall , Arrow , in Warwickshire ,

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252-672: The shores of Sheephaven Bay near Dunfanaghy , County Donegal, for £13,250 from William Wray and started to live there. He and his heirs were therefore known as the Stewarts of Ards. The Ards House was demolished in the early 1960s, but the wooded park in which it stood still exists and is known as the Ards Forest Park . On 2 October 1791 Alexander Stewart of Ards, as he was now, married Mary Moore, daughter of Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda and granddaughter of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford . Mary

273-431: Was Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton (1663–1690), an illegitimate son of King Charles II . By his wife he had thirteen children: He is not known to have suffered himself from any mental abnormality, but a noted strain of eccentricity, even madness, appeared among his descendants: the debauched behaviour of his grandson, the 3rd Marquess, and the suicide of another grandson, Viscount Castlereagh , were both attributed to

294-622: Was Lord of the Bedchamber to George II and George III . In 1756 he was made a Knight of the Garter and, in 1757, Lord-Lieutenant and Guardian of the Rolls of the County of Warwick and City of Coventry . From 1759 to 1765, Hertford's household included Edward Despard , serving his wife as a page. Despard was to hang in London in 1803 as the ringleader of an alleged republican plot against

315-459: Was a British courtier and politician who, briefly, was Viceroy of Ireland where he had substantial estates. Hertford was born in Chelsea, London , the son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Baron Conway , and Charlotte Shorter, daughter of John Shorter of Bybrook. He was a descendant of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and first cousin of Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset . He succeeded to

336-549: Was a daughter of John Cowan, alderman of Derry and sister of Robert Cowan , Governor of Bombay. Her family also was Ulster Scots. His parents had married on 30 June 1737 in Dublin. He had six siblings, who are listed in his father's article . In 1782, after his father's death in the preceding year, Alexander Stewart, probably using some money from the inheritance, bought the Ards House and some surrounding lands near it on

357-409: Was also appointed High Sheriff of Donegal for 1831. On 28 July 1825 he married Lady Caroline Pratt, daughter of John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden . Her aunt Lady Frances Pratt was the second wife of the first Marquess of Londonderry and the mother of the third Marquess. Alexander Robert Stewart lived at the family estate of Ards House, Dunfanaghy , County Donegal . His family papers are in

378-567: Was created Marquess of Hertford , with the subsidiary title of Earl of Yarmouth . He enjoyed this elevation for almost a year until his death at the age of seventy-six, on 14 June 1794, at the house of his daughter, the Countess of Lincoln . He died as the result of an infection following a minor injury he received while riding. He was buried at Arrow , in Warwickshire . Lord Hertford married Lady Isabella Fitzroy , daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton , on 29 May 1741. Her grandfather

399-518: Was elected to Parliament for Londonderry at the 1818 general election , succeeding his father, and sat until the 1830 general election and "supported [ the Earl of Liverpool 's Tory ] government silently". He was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel of the disembodied Londonderry Militia in October 1822 following the death of his cousin Castlereagh, who had been Colonel of the regiment. He

420-413: Was only fifty-six, his wife died after having nursed their grandson at Forde's Farm , Thames Ditton , where she caught a violent cold. According to Walpole, "Lord Hertford's loss is beyond measure. She was not only the most affectionate wife, but the most useful one, and almost the only person I ever saw that never neglected or put off or forgot anything that was to be done. She was always proper, either in

441-539: Was the niece of Sarah Frances Seymour-Conway, the first wife of Alexander's eldest brother Robert, Lord Londonderry. Alexander and Mary had among other children three sons who reached adulthood: Stewart was appointed High Sheriff of Donegal for 1791–92. Stewart sat as member of parliament (MP) in the Irish Parliament in 1800–1801. He was elected for the County Londonderry constituency of

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