William Ogilvie (1740–1832) was a Scottish-born scholar and tutor.
Life
Details of Ogilvie's early life are unclear. The ''
Dictionary of Irish Biography
The ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (DIB) is a biographical dictionary of notable Irish people and people not born in the country who had notable careers in Ireland, including both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.Banff, Scotland and attended
King's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Abredonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Univer ...
. He himself claimed to be related to "a baronetical family of Ogilvies".
Ogilvie was hired by Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster, to tutor her children after the death of her eldest in London. He was introduced to her by Dean Marley and was described as speaking with a harsh Scots voice, being dour, ungainly, often rude and frequently unshaven. Eccentric in his age this shy, reserved, rather grubby man believed that children were sensible immature people and had an excellent rapport with them.
He had a particular fondness for
Lord Edward FitzGerald
Lord Edward FitzGerald (15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798) was an Irish aristocrat who abandoned his prospects as a distinguished veteran of British service in the American War of Independence, and as an Irish Parliamentarian, to embrace the caus ...
, preparing him for his military career. After leaving the army Lord Edward was appointed commander in chief of the
United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...
just before the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Ogilvie visited him whilst he was in hiding from the authorities.
Ogilvie married Lady Emily, who continued to be known as the Dowager Duchess of Leinster, on 26 October 1774, months after the death of her husband, but their love affair had begun before his death in
Frescati House
Frescati House (sometimes misspelled 'Frascati') was a Georgian house and estate situated in Blackrock, Dublin. It was built in 1739 for the family of John Hely Hutchinson, the Provost of Trinity College.
During the eighteenth century, Blackr ...
. Ogilvie is known to be the biological father of Lord George Simon FitzGerald.
A further three children were born to them after their marriage:
*Cecilia Margaret Ogilvie (9 July 1775 – 1824); she married
Charles Lock
Charles Lock (1770 – 12 September 1804) was the British people, British Consul general, consul-general in Naples during the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799.
Family
Charles Lock was born in 1770 into a rich, though illegitimate family. He wa ...
on 12 July 1795. They had three daughters.
*Charlotte Ogilvie (born and died 1777)
*Emily Charlotte "Mimie" Ogilvie (May 1778–22 January 1832); she married
Charles George Beauclerk
Charles George Beauclerk (20 January 1774 – 25 December 1845) was an English politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Richmond from 1796 to 1798.
Background and education
He was the only son of Topham Beauclerk and ...
(son of Topham Beauclerk and his wife Diana Spencer; briefly an MP) on 29 April 1799. They had thirteen children.
Ogilvie purchased the
Ardglass
Ardglass () is a coastal fishing village, townland (of 321 acres) and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the historic barony of Lecale Lower. It is still a relatively important fishing harbour. It is situated on the B1 Ard ...
estate in
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...
from his stepson Rear Admiral Lord Charles FitzGerald, and he and Lady Emily lived there for part of their marriage in
Ardglass Castle
Ardglass Castle (also known as The Newark) is situated in Ardglass, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was originally a row of 15th century warehouses by the harbour. Large sections of the original building can still be seen within the modern clu ...
. He was elected to Parliament in 1781 and served until 1790. In 1782 he submitted a seventeen-article proposal for the union of Ireland and England, which was unsuccessful.
He spent his latter years rebuilding the town which was once a major trading port. He successfully established a harbour here in 1813 and built public baths making the town one of the most fashionable watering places in the north of Ireland. A firm believer in self-sufficiency, Ardglass had gardens laid out for residents to grow their own produce (
allotment
Allotment may refer to:
* Allotment (Dawes Act), an area of land held by the US Government for the benefit of an individual Native American, under the Dawes Act of 1887
* Allotment (finance), a method by which a company allocates over-subscribed ...
s).
He died in 1832 and his remains were interred in the Church of Ireland on Kildare Street in Ardglass. He died fondly remembered as "a man of character, a man of splendid determination, a man absolutely devoid of petty meanesses, and a man of exceptional tenderness".