Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry, (16 July 1852 – 8 February 1915), styled Viscount Castlereagh between 1872 and 1884, was a British

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

politician, landowner and benefactor, who served in various capacities in the Conservative administrations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After succeeding his father in the marquessate in 1884, he was

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 King ...

between 1886 and 1889. He later held office as

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

between 1900 and 1902 and as

President of the Board of Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the Ca ...

between 1902 and 1905. A supporter of the Protestant causes in

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

, he was an opponent of Irish Home Rule and one of the instigators of the formal alliance between the Conservative Party and the

Liberal Unionists The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...

in 1893.

Background and education

Born Charles Vane-Tempest in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, ''The Dictionary of National Biography''. he was the eldest son of

George Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry 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, busin ...

, by Mary Cornelia, only daughter of Sir John Edwards, 1st Baronet, who lived primarily at Plas Machynlleth. He was the grandson of the third Marquess and the great-nephew of the second Marquess, better known as the statesman Lord Castlereagh. To mark his 21st birthday, the people of

Machynlleth Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a pop ...

erected a clock tower in the centre of the town. George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough and his brother Lord Randolph Churchill were his first cousins. He was educated at Eton,thepeerage.com Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry
/ref> the National University of Ireland and Christ Church, Oxford. He became known by the courtesy title of Viscount Castlereagh when his father succeeded to the marquessate of Londonderry in 1872. In 1885, he assumed the original and additional surname of Stewart by Royal licence.

Political career

Marquess of Londonderry Vanity Fair 6 February 1896

He was returned to parliament as one of two representatives for Down in 1878, a seat he held until 1884, when he succeeded his father in the marquessate and entered the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. After the Conservatives came to power in 1886 under

Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...

, Lord Londonderry was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed

. This was a time of difficulties in Ireland. Gladstone's

first Home Rule Bill The Government of Ireland Bill 1886, commonly known as the First Home Rule Bill, was the first major attempt made by a British government to enact a law creating home rule for part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was intr ...

had just been rejected by parliament and national feelings ran high in Ireland. According to the '' Dictionary of National Biography'', Londonderry "... filled the viceroyalty with tact and courage, so that when he left

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

in 1889 the discontent had abated and some measure of prosperity had been restored." He was appointed a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

in 1888 and admitted to the Irish Privy Council in 1892. He opposed Gladstone's second Home Rule Bill in 1893 and presided over the meeting which led to the formal political alliance between the Conservatives and the

. From 1895 to 1897, Londonderry was Chairman of the London School Board. He returned to the government in April 1900, when Salisbury made him

, and became a member of the cabinet in November of that year. After

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...

became prime minister in August 1902, Londonderry became

. In this role he oversaw the Education Act 1902. Between 1903 and 1905, he was also Lord President of the Council. The Unionists fell in December 1905, and Londonderry subsequently focused mostly on Irish affairs. He was one of the "scuttlers" (as Leo Maxse termed them) who did not vote against the

Parliament Act 1911 The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...

. As president of the Ulster Unionist council, he opposed the

third Home Rule Bill The Government of Ireland Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5 c. 90), also known as the Home Rule Act, and before enactment as the Third Home Rule Bill, was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to provide home rule (self-governm ...

proposed by the Liberal government in 1912 and was the second signatory to the Ulster Covenant after Sir Edward Carson.

Other public appointments

Lord Londonderry was Lord-Lieutenant of Belfast from 1900 to 1904 and Lord-Lieutenant of Down from 1902 to 1915, a Deputy Lieutenant of

Montgomeryshire , HQ= Montgomery , Government= Montgomeryshire County Council (1889–1974)Montgomeryshire District Council (1974–1996) , Origin= , Status= , Start= , End= ...

and County Durham and a Justice of the Peace for County Durham. On 24 June 1869, just before his 17th birthday, he was commissioned as Major in the 2nd (Seaham) Durham Artillery Volunteer Corps a part-time unit commanded by his father and recruited mainly from the family's Seaham Colliery. (On the same day his 15-year-old younger brother was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant; their uncle also served in the unit.)''Army List'', various dates. He succeeded his father in command in 1876 and was still in command of the unit when it transferred to the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

in 1908 as the 3rd Northumbrian (County of Durham) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, of which he became Honorary Colonel on 7 December 1910. He was also appointed to the Honorary Colonelcy of the 3rd (

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

) Battalion of the

Royal Irish Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County D ...

on 26 March 1902. As a large coal owner in County Durham, he played a major role there. In 1910, he was Mayor of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, and he received an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

( D.C.L., 1901) from the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

in recognition of his public services. He was a great benefactor, patron of agriculture and race-horse owner.

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

was a guest at Londonderry's County Durham seat Wynyard Park on five occasions. In 1903 Londonderry was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(GCVO) when Edward VII visited Ireland.

Family

He married Lady Theresa Susey Helen Talbot, daughter of

Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury Charles John Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury, 19th Earl of Waterford, 4th Earl Talbot, PC (13 April 1830 – 11 May 1877), styled Viscount of Ingestre between 1849 and 1868, was a British Conservative politician. He served as Captain o ...

, at the private chapel of Alton Hall in 1875. Like her husband, she was a leading Unionist campaigner, and President of the Ulster Women's Unionist Council. They had two sons and one daughter. The second son, Lord Charles Stewart Reginald Vane-Tempest-Stewart, died in October 1899, aged 19. The daughter, Lady Helen Mary Theresa, married the 6th Earl of Ilchester. Londonderry died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

Wynyard Park, County Durham Wynyard Park, sometimes known as Wynyard Hall, is a large English country house near Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham. The house was the English family seat of the Vane-Tempest-Stewart family, Marquesses of Londonderry, an Anglo-Irish aristocra ...

, in February 1915, aged 62, with his wife at his bedside. In a letter dated 13 February 1915 (at Durham County Record Office, in the Londonderry Archive) written from Wynyard Park, the grieving Lady Londonderry wrote to her grandson Robin, Lord Stewart, at his school, as follows: "I was so glad to get your darling little letter...You can imagine what it is for me to lose Darling Pa Pa" was Robin's name for his grandfather- you are so understanding you will know, and you will remember what companions he and I always were. I am so glad that the last time you saw him we had those two happy dinners when you and Maureen obin's sistermade us laugh so and you saw how bright he was. He caught a little cold, but we did not think anything about it, and afterwards I sent for the doctor and he went to bed and then took pneumonia. On Sunday at lunch time I saw that he was very very ill and he died at 9.30 on Monday morning. I never left him all the time and until the very last he heard my voice. He moved and opened his eyes even after the doctors thought he was insensible...I should so have loved you to have been in the Chapel Wednesday night and Thursday. The services were most beautiful and we had all darling Pa's favourite hymns as you will see from the enclosed leaflets...I want you so much never to forget Darling Pa...I am going to direct this letter to you for the last time in your old name" obin had now become Viscount Castlereagh, and ceased using his former courtesy title of Lord Stewart The 6th Marquess of Londonderry was succeeded by his elder and only surviving son, Charles. The Marchioness of Londonderry died in March 1919.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Londonderry, Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess Of 1852 births 1915 deaths People from Machynlleth Knights of the Garter Lord-Lieutenants of Belfast Lord-Lieutenants of Down Lord Presidents of the Council Lords Lieutenant of Ireland Irish unionists British Secretaries of State for Education United Kingdom Postmasters General Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Charles Castlereagh, Viscount Castlereagh, Viscount Londonderry, M6 Deputy Lieutenants of Durham English justices of the peace People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Deaths from pneumonia in England Members of the London School Board Charles 6 Presidents of the Irish Football Association