Francis Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham

General Francis Nathaniel Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham KP, GCH, PC (11 June 1797 – 17 July 1876), styled Lord Francis Conyngham between 1816 and 1824 and Earl of Mount Charles between 1824 and 1832, was a British soldier, courtier and politician.

Background and education

Born in Dublin, Conyngham was the second son of General Henry Conyngham, 1st Marquess Conyngham, and Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Denison, and the brother of Henry Conyngham, Earl of Mount Charles and Albert Denison, 1st Baron Londesborough. He was educated at Eton. He became known as Lord Francis Conyngham in 1816 when his father was created Marquess Conyngham and gained the courtesy title of Earl of Mount Charles in 1824 on the early death of his unmarried elder brother.^[1]

Political career

Conyngham was returned to Parliament for Westbury in 1818, a seat he held until 1820,^[1][2] and later represented Donegal (succeeding his deceased elder brother the Earl of Mount Charles) between 1825 and 1831.^[1][3] He served under the Earl of Liverpool as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1823 and 1826 and under Liverpool, George Canning, Lord Goderich and the Duke of Wellington as a Lord of the Treasury between 1826 and 1830. In 1832 he succeeded his father in the marquessate and entered the House of Lords.^[1]

In July 1834 Lord Conyngham joined the Whig government of Lord Melbourne as Postmaster General, a post he retained until the government fell in December of the same year, and briefly held the same post under Melbourne again between April and May 1835.^[1] The latter month he was sworn of the Privy Council^[4] and appointed Lord Chamberlain of the Household. He remained in this position until 1839,^[1] when he was succeeded by his brother-in-law the Earl of Uxbridge.

Lord Conyngham was also Vice-Admiral of Ulster between 1849 and 1876 and Lord-Lieutenant of County Meath between 1869 and 1876. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Order in 1830^[1] and a Knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1833.^[5]

Military career

Conyngham was commissioned into the British Army in 1820. He became a Major-General in 1858, a Lieutenant-General in 1866 and a full General in 1874.^[1]

Courtier

In his youth Lord Conyngham was a Page of Honour to the Prince Regent (later George IV). Between 1820 and 1830 he was a Groom of the Bedchamber and Master of the Robes to George IV.^[1] At 5 a.m. on 20 June 1837, he and the Archbishop went to Kensington Palace to inform Princess Victoria that she was now Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Upon the death of William IV he told Princess Victoria that she was the new monarch, and was the first to address her "Your Majesty".

Family

Lord Conyngham married Lady Jane Paget, daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, on 23 April 1824. They had six children:

• George Henry Conyngham, 3rd Marquess Conyngham (1825–1882)
• Lady Jane Conyngham (1826–1900), married Francis Spencer, 2nd Baron Churchill and had issue.
• Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Conyngham (d. 1904), married George Finch-Hatton, 11th Earl of Winchilsea.
• Lady Cecilia Augusta Conyngham (d. 1877), married Sir Theodore Brinckman, 2nd Baronet and had issue.
• Lady Frances Caroline Martha Conyngham (1827–1898), married Gustavus Lambart and had issue.
• Lord Francis Nathaniel Conyngham (1832–1880), politician.

Lady Conyngham died at Folkestone, Kent, in January 1876, aged 77. Lord Conyngham only survived her by five months and died in London in July 1876, aged 79, after an operation for lithotomy. He was succeeded in the marquessate by his eldest son, George.^[1]

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Marquess Conyngham