Major William Charles Yelverton, 4th Viscount Avonmore (27 September 1824 – 1 April 1883, Biarritz) was an Irish nobleman and soldier. He was the son of Barry John Yelverton, 3rd Viscount Avonmore and Cecilia O'Keeffe. Major William Charles Yelverton gained the rank of Major in the service of the Royal Artillery. He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Medjidie 5th class.
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He married, firstly, Maria Theresa Longworth (died 1881) on 15 August 1857 in Rostrevor, County Down, Ireland. The marriage was dissolved. The union was childless.
He married, secondly, Emily Marianne Ashworth, daughter of Maj.-Gen. Sir Charles Ashworth and Mary Anne Rooke, on 26 June 1858 in Trinity Chapel, Edinburgh, Scotland; Emily Ashworth, at the time of the marriage, was the widow of Edward Forbes, the naturalist.
The validity of his first marriage was tested in the Yelverton case, a 19th century Irish law case, which eventually resulted in a change to the law on mixed religion marriages in Ireland.[1]
Under a Statute of King George II (19 Geo. 2. c. 13), any marriage between a Catholic (Popish) and a Protestant or a marriage between two Protestants celebrated by a Catholic priest was null and void. Between 21 February 1861 and 4 March 1861, the trial of Thelwall v. Yelverton found that even though Major Yelverton was a Protestant, and Miss Longworth a Roman Catholic, and that they had been married by a Roman Catholic priest, the marriage was valid. In March 1861 he was suspended from all military duties. On 28 July 1864 on appeal, the decision of Thelwall v. Yelverton was reversed, and the House of Lords decided that William's first marriage was illegal, and therefore his second marriage was valid.
Major William and Mrs. Emily Marianne Ashworth had four children:
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Barry John Yelverton |
Viscount Avonmore 1870–1883 |
Succeeded by Barry Nugent Yelverton |