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George Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry

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The Most Honourable
The Marquess of Londonderry
KP
The Marquess of Londonderry
Lord-Lieutenant of County Durham
In office
1880–1884
MonarchVictoria
Preceded byThe Earl of Durham
Succeeded byThe Earl of Durham
Personal details
Born26 April 1821
Died6 November 1884(1884-11-06) (aged 63)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Mary Edwards
​
(m. 1846)​
Children6, including Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry
Parent(s)Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry
Lady Frances Vane-Tempest
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford

George Henry Robert Charles William Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry, KP (26 April 1821 – 6 November 1884), styled Viscount Seaham between 1823 and 1854 and known as The Earl Vane between 1854 and 1872, was a British aristocrat, businessman, diplomat and Conservative politician.

Background and education

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Pictured with his mother Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry by Thomas Lawrence, 1828.

Born George Vane, he was the second son of Charles Vane, 1st Baron Stewart, but his eldest son by his second wife, the former Frances Vane-Tempest, daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet. His father, born Charles Stewart, was the second surviving son of Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry, and had changed his surname in 1819 on marrying his second wife. The eldest surviving son of the 1st Marquess, and therefore George Vane's uncle, was the statesman Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, who had succeeded as 2nd Marquess only 20 days before George's birth.

The 2nd Marquess died the next year, and George's father succeeded as 3rd Marquess; George thereby became Lord George Vane. His half-brother (by his father's first wife, and therefore not affected by the surname change), Frederick Stewart, became Viscount Castlereagh by courtesy; he later succeeded as 4th Marquess.

In 1823, the 3rd Marquess was created Earl Vane and Viscount Seaham, with remainder to his sons by his second wife. As the eldest of those sons, Vane became heir apparent to those peerages, and became Viscount Seaham by courtesy.

Lord Seaham was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.

Political and diplomatic career

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Viscount Seaham entered the 1st Life Guards, purchasing a lieutenancy on 7 February 1845,[1] and retiring on 5 May 1848.[2] He was then appointed a Major in the part-time Montgomeryshire Yeomanry on 15 June 1848.[3]

He was returned to parliament for Durham North in 1847, a seat he held until 1854.

That year he succeeded his father as Earl Vane and entered the House of Lords.[4] In 1867 he was sent on a special mission as Envoy Extraordinary to Russia to Emperor Alexander II, to invest the emperor with the Order of the Garter.[5]

When his half-brother, Frederick Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry, died childless in 1872, Earl Vane inherited the marquessate and family estates. Two years later George Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess, was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick. In 1880 he became Lord-Lieutenant of County Durham, a post he held until his death four years later.

He was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the 2nd (Seaham) Durham Artillery Volunteer Corps on 26 March 1864. This was a part-time unit largely recruited from his family's Seaham Colliery, and his younger brother and later two of his sons also became officers in the unit. The Marquess of Londonderry was succeeded in the command in 1876 by his eldest son.[6][7]

Business interests

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Lord Londonderry managed his father-in-law's estates (see below), which included some of the slate quarries around Corris, Gwynedd, Wales. He was one of the original promoters of the Corris Railway, created to carry the slate from the quarries to the markets. He sat on the board of the Cambrian Railways, latterly as chairman. He owned lead mines at Van near Llanidloes and was a supporter of the Van Railway, which connected the mines to the Cambrian Railways mainline at Caersws.[8]

He owned 50,000 acres with most of his holdings in Durham and County Down.[9]

Family

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Lord Londonderry married Mary Cornelia Edwards, daughter of Sir John Edwards, 1st Baronet, on 3 August 1846. They set up home at Plas Machynlleth, the Edwards family seat,[10] and had six children:

Lord Londonderry died in November 1884, aged 63. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles.

The Dowager Marchioness of Londonderry, as she became upon her husband's death, remained in residence at Plas Machynlleth, where she entertained Princess Alexandra, Princess of Wales, in 1897.[12] The Dowager Lady Londonderry died in September 1906.

The 6th Marquess left Machynlleth on succeeding to the marquessate, but Lord Herbert Vane-Tempest remained resident at the Plas. He also served as Chairman of the Cambrian Railways, until he was killed in the Abermule train collision. In August 1945, the 7th Marquess of Londonderry gave the vacant Plas and grounds to the townspeople.[13]

Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane (1822–1899), sister of the 5th Marquess, married The 7th Duke of Marlborough. She was the mother of Lord Randolph Churchill and grandmother of Winston Churchill. On Lord Herbert's death without issue, a trust set up by his grandmother Frances Anne passed to Winston Churchill, who was his first cousin once removed. This enabled Churchill to purchase Chartwell.

Ancestry

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References

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  1. ^ "No. 20440". The London Gazette. 7 February 1845. p. 358.
  2. ^ "No. 20853". The London Gazette. 5 May 1848. p. 1746.
  3. ^ Arthur Sleigh, The Royal Militia and Yeomanry Cavalry Army List, April 1850, London: British Army Despatch Press, 1850/Uckfield: Naval and Military Press, 1991, ISBN 978-1-84342-410-9, p. 23.
  4. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)
  5. ^ "No. 23291". The London Gazette. 13 August 1867. p. 4541.
  6. ^ Army List.
  7. ^ Ian F.W. Beckett, Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908, Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, ISBN 0 85936 271 X, p. 62.
  8. ^ Chapman, Nigel A. (April 2007). The Van Mines (PDF). The Northern Mine Research Society. p. 8.
  9. ^ "The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland; a list of all owners of three thousand acres and upwards ... Also, one thousand three hundred owners of two thousand acres and upwards in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, their acreage and income from land culled from the modern Domesday book". 13 March 1883.
  10. ^ "The Late Marchioness of Londonderry". Montgomeryshire Express. 25 September 1906. p. 3.
  11. ^ Viscountess Allendale portraits
  12. ^ "Magnificent jewels and noble jewels". Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  13. ^ "News in Brief: Lord Londonderry's Offer". The Times. 11 August 1945. Retrieved 18 October 2024 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for North Durham
1847–1854
With: Robert Duncombe Shafto 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Durham
1880–1884 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Earl Vane
1854–1884 		Succeeded by
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Marquess of Londonderry
1872–1884 		Succeeded by
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