BERESFORD, John Henry de la Poer, earl of Tyrone (1844-1895), of Curraghmore, co. Waterford

Tyrone was heir to an estate of 66,684 acres, almost two thirds of which lay in County Waterford. Upon becoming 4^th marquess of Waterford in 1859, his father had reasserted his family’s political influence in the county, and, shortly after reaching his majority, Tyrone was elected unopposed at the 1865 general election for County Waterford. A Conservative, he was the youngest member of the house.1Freeman’s Journal, 29 Dec. 1865. For the lavish celebration which attended his coming of age, see The Times, 16 Oct. 1865. His military duties having prevented him from canvassing the constituency, Tyrone promised constituents that he would make good his lack of political experience ‘by attending to the business of the House, watching its proceedings’ and making himself ‘acquainted with the interests of the country’. As a ‘very promising and amiable young nobleman’, Tyrone was quickly embraced by the Conservative leadership, and attended a parliamentary dinner given by Benjamin Disraeli at his residence in Grosvenor-gate in February 1866. At his election, he had argued that ‘the same latitude should be given both to my Catholic and Protestant fellow countrymen, and that any oath objectionable to the consciences of my Catholic brethren should be done away with’.2Freeman’s Journal, 22 July 1865, 12 Feb. 1866. Nevertheless, in March 1866 he followed Disraeli’s lead on the parliamentary oaths bill and opposed any alteration to the Roman Catholic oath.3Freeman’s Journal, 22 July 1865, 19 Mar. 1866; Hansard, 8 Mar. 1866, vol. 181, cc.1712-20, 15 Mar. 1866, vol. 182, cc.289-314; A. Shields, The Irish Conservative Party 1852-1868. Land, Politics and Religion (2007), 195-6. Tyrone is not known to have spoken in the Commons, but was said to have ‘studied his political catechism well’, and always given his vote ‘in support of Toryism’.4Freeman’s Journal, 12 Nov. 1866. He took an orthodox position on reforms to Irish land law, the church establishment and education, and, unsurprisingly, voted against the Liberal reform bill in April and June 1866. He opposed the abolition of church rates and voted against Berkeley’s motion for the adoption of the ballot in July 1866. That August, he supported the continuation of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, a measure designed to facilitate the arrest of Fenian suspects in Ireland.

Tyrone succeeded to his father’s title in November 1866, and took his place in the Lords by virtue of his British title of Baron Tyrone of Haverfordwest. In 1880, he came forward as a leading opponent of the Land League, and became Chairman of Irish Land Committee and a prominent member of the Landowners’ Convention of Dublin. From this time onwards, Lord Waterford made numerous contributions to the Lords’ debates, chiefly concerning the amendment of Irish land law, of which he was said to have had a ‘wonderful knowledge’, Irish local government, and the drainage and improvement of agricultural holdings. As a platform speaker he was ‘one of those who hit straight from the shoulder’, his style ‘argumentative, clear, and eloquent’, his speeches ‘full of dash and freshness, and always sensible and to the point’. An energetic and determined opponent of Home Rule and a vice-president of the Irish Unionist Alliance, he took up residence in London in order to help to orchestrate parliamentary opposition to the Liberals’ Irish policy. His last parliamentary speech, in 1893, was made in trenchant opposition to Gladstone’s government of Ireland bill, which he represented as a threat to imperial unity that carried with it ‘the risk of separation and civil war’ in Ireland.5Pall Mall Gazette, 26 Oct 1895; Belfast News-letter, 24 Oct. 1895; Hansard, 7 Sept. 1893, vol. 17, cc.429-36. In spite of his strong attachment to the Union, John Morley considered him likeable and possessed of ‘a thoroughly able, direct, frank, masculine mind, and with a good deal of liberality and breadth of apprehension’. He was, Morley concluded, ‘a man of strong, clear sense, and of hearty straight ways’.6CP, xii (pt. II), 424.

It was thought that Lord Waterford might have held high rank in a Conservative government, but for a severe injury to his spine sustained in a hunting accident in Leicestershire in 1885.7Belfast News-letter, 24 Oct. 1895; Freeman’s Journal, 24 Oct. 1895. Henceforth he suffered almost constant pain and insomnia, in consequence of which he was allowed to remain seated when addressing the Lords. He committed suicide during a period of ‘temporary insanity’ brought on by his condition, by shooting himself with a revolver at his home at Curraghmore, co. Waterford, 23 Oct. 1895. He was buried at Clonegam and his will was proved at £88,467. He was succeeded by his son, Henry, a military officer, who, though a staunch Conservative, was not active in politics.8CP, xii (pt. II), 424-5.