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Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore
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Somerset Richard Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore GCMG PC (9 April 1835–6 April 1913), known as Viscount Corry from 1841 to 1845, was an Irish nobleman and Conservative politician.
ore was born in Bruton Street, London, the eldest son of Armar Lowry-Corry, 3rd Earl Belmore and Emily Louise Shepherd, and succeeded his father in the earldom in 1845, at the age of 10. He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, from where he graduated in 1856.
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Encyclopedia
Somerset Richard Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore GCMG PC (9 April 1835–6 April 1913), known as Viscount Corry from 1841 to 1845, was an Irish nobleman and Conservative politician.
Life
Belmore was born in Bruton Street, London, the eldest son of Armar Lowry-Corry, 3rd Earl Belmore and Emily Louise Shepherd, and succeeded his father in the earldom in 1845, at the age of 10. He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, from where he graduated in 1856. Lord Belmore was elected as a Representative Peer for Ireland and sat in the House of Lords from January 1857 until his death. He served under the Earl of Derby as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from July 1866 to August 1867, and was then appointed Governor of New South Wales, on 22 August 1867. He was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland on 17 September 1867.
Governor of New South Wales
Belmore became Governor and Commander-in-Chief of New South Wales on 8 January 1868 at a time when the position was not yet just a figurehead for the colonial government and he was still an imperial officer responsible to the British government. On 12 March 1868 he was attending a picnic with the visiting Prince Alfred at the Sydney beachside suburb of Clontarf when Henry James O'Farrell shot Alfred in the back and claimed to have intended to shoot Belmore as well. Although Belmore did not see the incident, he arranged for Alfred's transfer to hospital for treatment and passed on to the colonial government the Prince's request for clemency for O'Farrell, which was ignored. He worked effectively to calm the sectarian passions unleashed by the incident.
Belmore succeeded in having the Audit Act 1870 passed, which established the principle that government expenditure had to be authorised by appropriation through both houses of parliament, which had not been the practice until that time. He found the Sydney summers oppressive and therefore rented Throsby Park, near Moss Vale, as his country house. He resigned to protect his wife's health and to resume his parliamentary career, and left Sydney on 21 February 1872.
Later life
Belmore was a Justice of the Peace in County Fermanagh, County Tyrone and Kent. He served as a Lord Justice for Ireland on many occasions between 1885 and 1893 and was made Lord Lieutenant of County Tyrone in 1892. He was also a captain in the Fermanagh Militia and a major in the London Irish Royal Volunteers.
Marriage and children
Lord Belmore married Anne Elizabeth Honoria Gladstone, daughter of Captain John Neilson Gladstone, MP, the son of Sir John Gladstone, 1st Baronet, and Elizabeth Honoria Bateson, the daughter of Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Bt. and sister of Sir Thomas Bateson, 1st Baron Deramore, on 22 August, 1861 in St George's, Hanover Square, London, and had issue:
- Armar Lowry-Corry, 5th Earl Belmore
- Cecil Lowry-Corry, 6th Earl Belmore
- The Hon. Ernest Lowry-Corry (23 November 1874 - 11 March 1912), who was educated at Wellington College and died unmarried aged 37
- Lady Theresa Lowry-Corry (24 October 1862 - 18 March 1938), who was unmarried
- Lady Florence Lowry-Corry (31 March 1864 - 10 May 1943), who was married on 12 October 1893 to Lt. Col. John Henry Eden (who d. 1931), formerly one of HM Inspectors of Schools and a former major in the Yorkshire Regiment, and had issue
- Lady Madeline Lowry-Corry (6 November 1865 - 30 March 1898), who was unmarried
- Lady Mary Lowry-Corry (5 August 1867 - 5 October 1928), who was unmarried
- Lady Winifred Lowry-Corry (18 August 1876-?), who was unmarried
- Lady Edith Lowry-Corry (26 August 1878 - 25 October 1918), who was unmarried
- Lady Violet Lowry-Corry (15 June 1881-?), who was unmarried
- Lady Margaret Lowry-Corry (15 July 1883 - 1975), who was unmarried
- Lady Dorothy Lowry-Corry (6 June 1885-?), who was unmarried
- Lady Kathleen Lowry-Corry (28 July 1887 - 13 October 1972), who was married on 7 May 1919 to Brig. Gen. Thomas Ward CMG, of Brynhir, Criccieth, Caernarvonshire, formerly of the Queen's Bays, and had issue: (i) Honoria Kathleen Ward (b. 15 March 1920) and (ii) Lt. Richard Thomas Ward MC (b. 10 December 1921 - 20 September 1944) and was killed in action aged 22.
Lord Belmore died on 6 April 1913 aged 77 at Castle Coole, Enniskillen and was buried on 9 April 1913 in Derryvullen, County Fermanagh.
Honours
Belmore was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG) on 22 March 1872, later being promoted to Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in the New Year's Honours list 1 January 1890. Belmore Park, Central, near Sydney's Central railway station, Belmore Park, Goulburn and the Sydney suburb of Belmore are named after him.
Obituary extract
An interesting, more lively picture of the Earl is given in this extract from his obituary in 1913:
The Rt Hon. the Earl of Belmore ..., senior representative peer of Ireland, was born on 9 April 1835, and succeeded his father in 1845 .... [He] was a man of much intellectuality and was a ripe scholar. He received his education first at Eton and then at Cambridge. In 1861 he married a daughter of Capt. John Neilson Gladstone, RN, of Bowden Park, Chippenham, who was MP for Ipswich and Devizes. Capt. Gladstone was brother to William Ewart Gladstone, who, like the late Earl of Belmore, was in early life brought up in the principles of Evangelicalism, and whose strong Tory opinions gained him his first seat in parliament.
Unlike the distinguished statesman and scholar, Lord Belmore through the whole of his long life remained a consistent Conservative. For a short time, 1866-1867, he was Under Secretary for the Home Department, and so highly did he account this honour that he hardly ever spoke in public, whether on a religious or political platform, without a reference to the fact that he had been an Under Secretary. In 1867 he was made a member of the Privy Council, and was for four years Governor of New South Wales. In 1877 the Earl of Belmore acted as President of the Commission appointed to enquire into the affairs of Dublin University. A more admirable choice could not have been made.
Lord Belmore will also be remembered for the part that he took in defending the Irish landlords as a class than any other English statesman. He was for years a leader in the Irish Landowners' Convention. A man of deep religious convictions, he opposed the disestablishment of the Irish Church. At what were formerly the largely attended gatherings, known as the April meetings, Lord Belmore was a regular speaker. His religious sympathies were, however, far from being confined to the Episcopalian body. Protestants of all denominations had a friend and supporter in him, and in this respect the relatives, Lord James Butler, the late Earl of Carrick and Lord Belmore were conspicuous.
The late Earl was a literary man of some mark. His Parliamentary Memoirs of Fermanagh and Tyrone is a book that was the result of much research, and is highly thought about [sic]. The History of the Corry Family is a standard genealogical work, and was also written by the Earl of Belmore. On the fascinating subject of archaeology, Lord Belmore was an authority, and contributed many learned and instructive articles from time to time to the Ulster Journal of Archaeology.
His life was a stirring one, and he was successively a major in the London Irish RV and a captain in the Fermanagh Militia. He was Lord Lieutenant for the County of Tyrone, and took an active part in discharging his duties as a magistrate of that county. He acted on many occasions as one of the Lords Justices for Ireland, and in everything connected with Ireland he was deeply interested. The Royal Irish Academy elected him a member in
recognition of his contributions to literature, and there was no man in Ireland who was more thoroughly respected by all classes. ...'
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