Constituency Dates
Stockbridge 8 Dec. 1756 – 1761
Family and Education
b. 23 Oct. 1729, 1st s. of Richard, 1st Visct. Powerscourt [I] by his 2nd w. Dorothy Beresford, da. of Hercules Rowley of Summer Hall, co. Meath. educ. Trinity, Dublin 1746; St. John’s, Camb. 1748; M. Temple 1746; I. Temple 1750. unm. suc. fa. 21 Oct. 1751.
Address
Main residence: Powerscourt, co. Wicklow.
biography text

Henry Fox wrote to the Duke of Devonshire, 20 Nov. 1756:1Devonshire mss. ‘I have set up Lord Powerscourt for Stockbridge. He was recommended to me some months ago by Lord Kildare, and I know his firm attachment to your Grace.’ In fact Fox returned him against the wishes of the Devonshire-Pitt Government.2See HAY, George and STOCKBRIDGE constituency. In a letter to the Duke of Bedford, 23 Nov., Fox says that Powerscourt ‘has a good estate in Hampshire as well as in Ireland’.3Bedford mss. On 19 May 1757 Lady Kildare wrote to her husband:4Leinster Corresp. i. 36.

Lord Powerscourt ... has made the best speech, Mr. Fox says, and the most to the purpose, he ever yet heard from so young a speaker. I am glad of it, for it justifies your opinion and mine of his understanding; which, you know, was contrary to that of most people. I am afraid he won’t marry Louisa [her sister]; they say he is looking out for a fortune.

In the summer of 1760 Powerscourt was ‘in a very bad way’, and on 24 Oct. Lady Caroline Fox wrote to her sister, Lady Kildare:

I don’t like your account of Lord Powerscourt. Mr. Fox has had I think a melancholy letter from him, declining coming in for Stockbridge again. Pray ... assure him of my best wishes for the recovery of his health.5Ibid. 287, 293, 299.

He died 6 May 1764.

Author
L.B.N.
Volume
Commons 1754-1790
Notes
  • 1. Devonshire mss.
  • 2. See HAY, George and STOCKBRIDGE constituency.
  • 3. Bedford mss.
  • 4. Leinster Corresp. i. 36.
  • 5. Ibid. 287, 293, 299.