
- 1856
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Name |
Maria Fagniani |
Gender |
Female |
Death |
2 Mar 1856 |
Person ID |
I132929 |
My Genealogy |
Last Modified |
17 Nov 2020 |
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Notes |
- Francis, first Marquis of Hertford, who had been active in Irish affairs, for example in 1765 he was constituted Viceroy of Ireland, and he frequently visited his estates. Under his patronage many new buildings were erected in Lisburn, and considerable improvements were made on the land so that the rent roll was more than doubled. His son, the second Marquis who was named after his father, also visited the Irish estates but during one of these visits his son, then the Earl of Yarmouth, married the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Queensbury by an Italian singer and dancer in a clandestine service in Southampton. This union, while it greatly augmented the Earl's coffers by some £500,000 on the death of the Duke in 1810 in return for giving his daughter a respected name and rank in society, was merely "one of convenience on both sides". But it exasperated and scandalised the second Marquis who viewed it as a "deplorable misalliance" As a result by his father's will, the third Marquis only received that property which legally could not be alienated from him. This included the Irish estates worth some £57,000 annually and estates in Warwickshire valued at £15,000 in Sudbourne at £10,000 and in Scotland at £3,000. In addition to these were houses and investments worth approximately £20,000 a year. Thus "not without truth was Lord Hertford considered one of the four wealthiest peers in the country" Yet, in spite of the fact therefore, that the largest part of his annual income was derived from his Irish estates, the Marquis never saw them. He was a profligate with a reputation of being "the most thoroughgoing rove in the kingdom" and spent almost all of his life on the continent.
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