William Sydney Clements, 3rd Earl of Leitrim (15 October 1806 – 2 April 1878) was an Anglo-Irish nobleman and landlord.
Born in Dublin, he was educated at Sandhurst and was commissioned an Ensign in the 43rd Foot in 1824. In 1831 he was promoted Captain, having served in Portugal between 1826 and 1827, and that same year he was appointed an aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1835 he transferred to the 51st Foot. In 1839, on the death of his elder brother, he became known as Viscount Clements, and also succeeded him as a Member of Parliament for County Leitrim, a seat he held until 1847.
On his father's death in 1854, Clements succeeded him as 3rd Earl. In 1855 he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel and subsequently retired from the British Army. Over the next two decades, his overbearing behaviour as a landlord brought him much hatred from his tenants, Catholic and Protestant alike, whom he evicted with equal enthusiasm. He was deeply opposed to Gladstone's Irish Land Act of 1870, and was one of eight peers to protest against the legislation when it reached the House of Lords. Amongst those he also quarrelled with were the Presbyterian minister of Milford, County Donegal, and even the Lord Lieutenant himself, the Earl of Carlisle, who removed him from his position as a justice of the peace for Counties Leitrim, Donegal and Galway.
In April 1878, after surviving various attempts on his life, Lord Leitrim was murdered along with his clerk and driver while on his way to his residence in Milford. He was buried in Dublin during scenes of great agitation, and despite the offer of a large reward, his assassins (Thomas and Patrick McGranaghan) were never apprehended. Other historians name them as Michael McElwee and Neil Sheils from Fanad.[1] A monument with a cross was set up at Kindrum in 1960 honoring McElwee, Shiels, and Michael Heraghty as the men whose actions,"Ended the tyranny of landlordism".[2]
<<Dolan, photos on pages 116-117.>>
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Robert Clements, Viscount Clements Samuel White |
Member of Parliament for Leitrim 1839 – 1847 With: Samuel White |
Succeeded by Edward King Tenison Charles Skeffington Clements |
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
| Preceded by Nathaniel Clements |
Earl of Leitrim 1854 – 1878 |
Succeeded by Robert Bermingham Clements |