Ulick de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde

{{Short description|British politician and diplomat (1802–74)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}

{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Most Honourable

| name = The Marquess of Clanricarde

| honorific-suffix = KP PC

| image = Ulick de Burgh.png

| caption = The Marquess of Clanricarde

| order1 = Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal

| term_start1 = {{start date|df=y|1858|2|3}}

| term_end1 = {{end date|df=y|1858|2|21}}

| monarch1 = Victoria

| primeminister1 = The Viscount Palmerston

| predecessor1 = The Earl of Harrowby

| successor1 = The Earl of Hardwicke

| order2 = Postmaster General

| term_start2 = {{start date|df=y|1846|7|7}}

| term_end2 = {{end date|df=y|1852|2|21}}

| primeminister2 = Lord John Russell

| predecessor2 = The Earl of St Germans

| successor2 = The Earl of Hardwicke

| order3 = British Ambassador to Russia

| term_start3 = 1838

| term_end3 = 1840

| primeminister3 = The Viscount Melbourne

| predecessor3 = The Earl of Durham

| successor3 = The Lord Stuart de Rothesay

| order4 = Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard

| term_start4 = {{start date|df=y|1830|12|1}}

| term_end4 = {{end date|df=y|1834|7|16}}

| monarch4 = William IV

| primeminister4 = The Earl Grey

| predecessor4 = The Earl of Macclesfield

| successor4 = The Earl of Gosford

| order5 = Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

| term_start5 = {{start date|df=y|1826|1|2}}

| term_end5 = {{end date|df=y|1826|8|17}}

| monarch5 = George IV

| primeminister5 = The Earl of Liverpool

| predecessor5 = {{Ubl| The Lord Howard de Walden | Lord Francis Conyngham }}

| alongside5 = The Lord Howard de Walden

| successor5 = The Lord Howard de Walden

{{collapsed infobox section begin |Honorary Appointments

|titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes

| office = Lord Lieutenant of Galway

| term_start = 1831

| term_end = 1874

| predecessor = Office created

| successor = The Lord Clonbrock

| office1 = Vice-Admiral of Connaught

| term_start1 = 1841

| term_end1 = 1847 {{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}

{{collapsed infobox section begin |Parliamentary Offices

|titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes

| office2 = Member of the House of Lords

| status2 = Lord Temporal

| term_label2 = Hereditary Peerage (Baron Somerhill)

| term_start2 = 13 December 1826

| term_end2 = 10 April 1874

| predecessor2 = New Creation

| successor2 = Hubert de Burgh-Canning {{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}

| birth_name = Ulick John de Burgh

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1802|12|20}}

| birth_place = Belmont, Hampshire

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1874|4|10|1802|12|20}}

| death_place = Stratton Street, Piccadilly, London

| nationality = British

| party = {{hlist| Tory | Whig }}

| education = Eton College

| alma_mater = Christ Church, Oxford

| spouse = {{marriage|Hon. Harriet Canning|4 April 1825}}

| children = 7

| parents = {{Ubl| The 13th Earl of Clanricarde | Elizabeth Burke }}

| module = {{Infobox military person

| embed = yes

| allegiance = {{flagicon|UK|military}} United Kingdom

| branch = {{army|UK}}

| unit =

| serviceyears = 1831–1874

| rank = Colonel

| commands = Galway Militia

| battles = }}

}}

Ulick John de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KP|PC}} ({{IPAc-en|lang|'|j|uː|l|ɪ|k|_|d|ə|ˈ|b|əːr|...|k|l|æ|n|'|r|ɪ|k|ɑːr|d}} {{respell|YOO|lik|_|də|BUR|_..._|klan|RIK|ard}}; 20 December 1802 – 10 April 1874), styled Lord Dunkellin ({{IPAc-en|d|ʌ|n|'|k|ɛ|l|ɪ|n}} {{respell|dun|KEL|in}}) until 1808 and the Earl of Clanricarde from 1808 until 1825, was a British Whig politician who served as British Ambassador to Russia (1838–40), Postmaster General (1846–52) and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal (1858).

Background and education

Born at Belmont, Hampshire, Clanricarde was the son of General The 13th Earl of Clanricarde and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Burke, 1st Baronet. Henry, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde, was his uncle. He succeeded in the earldom in July 1808 at the age of five, on the death of his father. He was educated at Eton College. The young 14th Earl of Clanricarde was a member of the Anglican Church, like his father, although his mother was a Catholic.

Lord Clanricarde was an active Freemason as a young man. While studying as an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford, he was initiated into the Apollo University Lodge No. 711 (later No. 357) of the United Grand Lodge of England on 15 November 1820.{{cite web |url=http://freemasonry.london.museum/it/wp-content/resources/frs_freemasons_complete_jan2012.pdf |title=Alphabetical List of Fellows of the Royal Society who were Freemasons |work=The Library and Museum of Freemasonry |date=19 November 2017 |access-date=26 May 2018 |archive-date=27 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527023352/http://freemasonry.london.museum/it/wp-content/resources/frs_freemasons_complete_jan2012.pdf |url-status=dead }}

Political and diplomatic career

File:Clanricarde1.JPG

In 1825, at the age of 24, Clanricarde was created Marquess of Clanricarde in the Peerage of Ireland,{{London Gazette |issue= 18182 |date= 8 October 1825 |page= 1813 }} a revival of the title which had become extinct on his uncle's death in 1797. The following year he was made Baron Somerhill, of Somerhill in the County of Kent, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom,{{London Gazette |issue= 18259 |date= 17 June 1826 |page= 1478 }} which entitled him to a seat in the House of Lords. In January 1826 the Earl of Liverpool appointed him as Joint Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (alongside Lord Howard de Walden), a post he held until August of the same year. He was sworn of the Privy Council in December 1830.{{London Gazette |issue= 18753 |date= 3 December 1830 |page= 2537 }}

Between 1838 and 1840, Lord Clanricarde served as British Ambassador to Russia. In 1846, he was appointed Postmaster General, with a seat in the cabinet, by Lord John Russell, an office he retained until the government fell in 1852. He held his last ministerial post when he was briefly Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal under Lord Palmerston for a few weeks in February 1858. Apart from his political career, he was also Lord-Lieutenant of County Galway between 1831 and 1874, Colonel of the Galway Militia from 1831 and Vice-Admiral of Connaught from 1841 until 1847.{{cite book |last=Cokayne |first=G. E. |author-link=George Edward Cokayne |title=The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant |title-link=The Complete Peerage |publisher=George Bell & Sons |year=1889 |edition=1st |volume=2 |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/completepeerage02cokahrish/mode/2up?view=theater 261] |language=en}} In 1831, he was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick.

{{London Gazette

|issue=18863

|date=21 October 1831

|page=2167

}}

Great Hunger

Lord Clanricarde was a substantial landowner in County Galway, with his Norman-descended family having their seat at Portumna Castle.{{cite web |url=http://irishworkhousecentre.ie/landlord-during-the-workhouse-years/ |title=Landlord during the Workhouse Years|work=IrishWorkhouseCentre.ie |date=19 November 2017 }} During the years of the Great Hunger in Ireland, his record was mixed. A supporter of the British Whigs and a sitting member of the Russell Ministry, his principal aim was upholding the interests of the Anglo-Irish landowning class.

Although he did not initiate mass clearances of destitute tenants from the estates, as Lord Palmerston and Lord Lansdowne were notoriously known for, there were more small-scale displacements over a longer period of time. Clanricarde was the Crown's Lord Lieutenant of Galway during the Famine and did not condemn the large-scale evictions by his fellow Galway landowners, John Gerrard (and his wife Marcella Netterville) at Ballinlass, Christopher St George at Connemara and Patrick Blake at Tully.

On the other hand, Clanricarde highlighted, in his correspondence with Russell and the Whig administration in Ireland, the plight of starving tenants. He advocated a paternalistic state intervention, rather than a purely laissez-faire approach. He suggested state-sponsored public works and land drainage and sought to have corn depots set up in Loughrea and Portumna to distribute food. He donated some monies to local relief committees. Clanricarde also financially assisted the emigration of poor tenants; this issue is controversial due to the fact that it still meant the displacement of the native population from the land, but supporters argue that it would have at least saved more lives (Charles Trevelyan opposed such programmes). Lord Clanricarde did not initiate any private work schemes on the estates under his control for tenants, like some neighbouring landlords, nor did he improve agriculture on the estates.{{Cite ODNB|last=McDowell|first=R. B.|title=Burgh, Ulick John de, first marquess of Clanricarde (1802–1874), politician|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-37245|access-date=2021-12-21|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37245|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8}}

Family

Lord Clanricarde married Harriet Canning (13 April 1804 – 8 January 1876), daughter of Prime Minister George Canning, on 4 April 1825 at Gloucester Lodge in Brompton. The couple had seven children:

Lord Clanricarde died at Stratton Street, Piccadilly, London, in April 1874, aged 71, and was succeeded in the marquessate by his second but only surviving son, Hubert. The Marchioness of Clanricarde died in January 1876, aged 71.

Honours and Arms

=Honours=

class="wikitable"

! style="width:15%;" |Country

! style="width:10%;" |Date

! style="width:65%;" |Appointment

! style="width:5%;" |Ribbon

! style="width:5%;" |Post-nominals

| {{Flagu|United Kingdom}}1830–1874Privy Council (United Kingdom)PC
| {{Flagu|United Kingdom}}1831–1874Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick85pxKP

=Arms=

{{Infobox COA wide

|title =

|image = File:Burke (Clanricarde).png

|notes =

|crest = A Cat-a-Mountain sejant guardant proper, collared and chained Or.

|escutcheon = Or, a cross gules in the first quarter a lion rampant sable.

|motto = UNG ROY, UNG FOY, UNG LOY (One king, one faith, one law)

|supporters = Two Cats-a-Mountain sejant guardant proper, collared and chained Or.{{Cite book |last1=Burke |first1=John |author-link1=John Burke (genealogist) |last2=Burke |first2=Bernard |author-link2=Bernard Burke|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y11BAAAAYAAJ&dq=de+burgh+heraldry+a+cruce+salus&pg=PP202 |title=Encyclopædia of Heraldry: Or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms |date=1844 |publisher=H. G. Bohn |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Burke |url=http://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk |title=The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time |date=1884 |publisher=Harrison & Sons |location=London |others=University of California Libraries}}

|bannerimage =

|banner =

|symbolism =

|orders = Order of St Patrick }}

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel

| collapsed=yes |align=center

| title=

| boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;

| boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;

| boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;

| boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;

| 1= 1. Ulick de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde

| 2= 2. John de Burgh, 13th Earl of Clanricarde

| 3= 3. Elizabeth Burke

| 4= 4. John Smith de Burgh, 11th Earl of Clanricarde | 5= 5. Hester Amelia Vincent

| 6= 6. Sir Thomas Burke, 1st Bt | 7= 7.

| 8= 8. Michael Burke, 10th Earl of Clanricarde | 9= 9. Anne Smith

| 10= 10. Sir Henry Vincent, 6th Baronet | 11= 11. Elizabeth Sherman

| 12= 12. | 13= 13.

| 14= 14. | 15= 15.

}}

See also

References

=Citations=

{{reflist}}

=Bibliography=

  • {{Cite ODNB|last=McDowell|first=R. B.|title=Burgh, Ulick John de, first marquess of Clanricarde (1802–1874), politician|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-37245|access-date=2021-12-21|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37245|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8}}
  • {{Cite book |last1=Burke |first1=John |author-link1=John Burke (genealogist) |last2=Burke |first2=Bernard |author-link2=Bernard Burke|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y11BAAAAYAAJ&dq=de+burgh+heraldry+a+cruce+salus&pg=PP202 |title=Encyclopædia of Heraldry: Or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms |date=1844 |publisher=H. G. Bohn |language=en}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Burke |url=http://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk |title=The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time |date=1884 |publisher=Harrison & Sons |location=London |others=University of California Libraries |language=en}}