Ulick de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde

Political and diplomatic career

In 1825, at the age of 24, Clanricarde was created Marquess of Clanricarde in the Peerage of Ireland, 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, 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.

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 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. In 1831, he was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick. He served as president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland from 1844 to 1863.

Great Hunger

Clanricarde was a substantial landowner in County Galway, with his Norman-descended family having their seat at Portumna Castle. During the years of the Great Famine, his record was mixed. A supporter of the Whigs and a sitting member of the first Russell ministry, his principal aim was upholding the interests of the Protestant Ascendancy.

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.

Family

Lord Clanricarde married Harriet Canning (13 April 1804 – 8 January 1876), daughter of Prime Minister George Canning and his wife Joan Canning, 1st Viscountess Canning, on 4 April 1825 at Gloucester Lodge in Brompton. The couple had seven children:

Lady Elizabeth Joanna de Burgh (22 February 1826 – 26 February 1854); married the 4th Earl of Harewood

Ulick Canning de Burgh, Lord Dunkellin (12 July 1827 – 16 August 1867)

Lady Emily Charlotte de Burgh (19 October 1828 – 10 October 1912); married the 9th Earl of Cork

Lady Catherine de Burgh (c. 1830 – 8 April 1895); married John Weyland, and together they had a son.

Lady Margaret Anne de Burgh (c. 1831 – 31 March 1888); married the 1st Baron Allendale

Hubert George de Burgh-Canning, 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde (30 November 1832 – 12 April 1916)

Lady Harriet Augusta de Burgh (c. 1834 – 18 January 1901); married Thomas Frederick Charles Vernon-Wentworth, maternal grandson of the 1st Marquess of Ailesbury. They had a son and a daughter.

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