Richard Le Poer Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty, 1st Marquess of Heusden (19 May 1767 – 24 November 1837), styled The Honourable from 1797 to 1803 and then Viscount Dunlo to 1805, was an Anglo-Irish peer, a

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

in the

Dutch nobility The Dutch nobility is a small elite social class constisting of individuals or families recognized as noble, and with or without a title of nobility in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The existence of nobility was established in the Constitutio ...

, and a diplomat. He was an Irish, and later British, Member of Parliament and a supporter of Pitt. Additionally he was appointed

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 ...

of Ireland, and later, of the United Kingdom.

Background and education

Clancarty was the son of William Trench, 1st Earl of Clancarty and Anne, daughter of Charles Gardiner and his seat was Garbally Court in

Ballinasloe Ballinasloe ( ; ) is a town in the easternmost part of County Galway in Connacht. Located at an ancient crossing point on the River Suck, evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of Bronze Age sites. Built around a 12th-ce ...

, East County Galway where he was associated with the Great October Fair. His brother was Power Le Poer Trench (1770–1839), archbishop of Tuam. He was educated at Kimbolton School and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

Political career

Trench represented Newtown Limavady in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

from 1796 to 1798. He sat further for Galway County from 1798 to a short time before the Act of Union, when he was replaced by "Humanity Dick" Martin. He was credited with resolving various border disputes in Holland, Germany and Italy at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...

, 1814–1815, and in his role as Ambassador to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. For his service as ambassador to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, he was awarded the hereditary title of Marquess of Heusden in the peerage of The Netherlands on 8 July 1815 by

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who went ...

, following the defeat of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

in Brabant, in that same province's southern reaches. Trench was elected one of the 28 representative peers of Ireland on 16 December 1808. His seat in 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 Westminst ...

became hereditary when he was created Baron Trench (4 August 1815) and Viscount Clancarty (created 8 December 1823), in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great ...

, his older peerages being Irish peerages. He was a Commissioner for the Affairs of India and Custos Rotulorum of County Galway. In the same Royal Decree that awarded the Marquessate of Heusden, K.B. of 8 July 1815, numbers 13 en 14, another Irishman, Arthur Wellesley was granted the Netherlands' Kingdom hereditary nobility-title Prince of Waterloo, following his recent exploits at Waterloo in modern-day

Kingdom of Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the ...

Postmaster General

Between 1807 and 1809 Trench was one of the joint Postmasters General of Ireland and he was appointed Postmaster General of the United Kingdom being one of the last joint holders of that office from 1814 to 1816.

Family

On 6 February 1796 he married Henrietta Margaret Staples, daughter of John Staples and Harriet Conolly. They had the following children: #Lady Lucy Le Poer Trench (d. 1839), married Robert Maxwell #Lady Louisa Augusta Anne Le Poer Trench (b. 23 December 1796, d. 7 February 1881), married Reverend William Le Poer Trench # Lady Harriet Margaret Le Poer Trench (b. 13 October 1799, d. 1885), married Thomas Kavanagh "the MacMurrough", a descendant of

Art mac Art MacMurrough-Kavanagh Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wh ...

#Lady Emily Florinda Le Poer Trench (b. 7 November 1800), married Giovanni Cossiria #Lady Frances Power Le Poer Trench (b. 22 January 1802, d. 28 December 1804) # William Thomas Le Poer Trench, 3rd Earl of Clancarty (b 21 September 1803, d. 26 April 1872), married Lady Sarah Juliana Butler, daughter of Somerset Richard Butler, 3rd Earl of Carrick #Hon. Richard John Le Poer Trench (b. 1805) #Commander Hon. Frederick Robert Le Poer Trench (b. 23 July 1808, d. April 1867), married Catherine Maria Thompson

Ancestry

References

*Urban, Sylvanus. "The Earl of Clancarty." ''The Gentleman's Magazine.'' Obituary Vol. IX, January to June, London: William Pickering; John Bowyer Nickols and Son, 1838. (pp. 93–94
googlebooks
Retrieved 17 October 2008 *Lodge, Edmund. ''The Peerage of the British Empire As at Present Existing: Arranged and Printed from the Personal Communications of the Nobility, by Edmund Lodge, to Which Is Added a View of the Baronetage of the Three Kingdoms.'' London: Saunders and Otley, 1834. (p. 96
googlebooks
Accessed 9 March 2008

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clancarty, Richard Le Poer Trench, 2nd Earl Of 1767 births 1837 deaths 18th-century Irish politicians 19th-century Irish politicians Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Diplomatic peers Dutch nobility Irish MPs 1790–1797 Irish MPs 1798–1800 Irish representative peers Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Marquess of Heusden Masters of the Mint Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Galway constituencies (1801–1922) People from Ballinasloe Politicians from County Galway UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs who inherited peerages UK MPs who were granted peerages United Kingdom Postmasters General

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Netherlands Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Londonderry constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Galway constituencies Presidents of the Board of Trade Earls of Clancarty Peers of the United Kingdom created by George IV T