Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 6th Marquess of Lansdowne

Lieutenant-Colonel Henry William Edmund Petty-Fitzmaurice, 6th Marquess of Lansdowne, DSO, MVO (14 January 1872 – 5 March 1936), styled Earl of Kerry until 1927, was a British soldier and politician.

The Marquess of Lansdowne
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
3 June 1927 – 5 March 1936
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byThe 5th Marquess of Lansdowne
Succeeded byThe 7th Marquess of Lansdowne
Senator
In office
11 December 1922 – 5 June 1929
Member of Parliament
for West Derbyshire
In office
15 April 1908 – 25 November 1918
Preceded byVictor Cavendish
Succeeded byCharles White
Personal details
Born(1872-01-14)14 January 1872
London, England
Died5 March 1936(1936-03-05) (aged 64)
London, England
NationalityIrish
Political party
Spouse
Elizabeth Hope
(m. 1904)
Children5
Parents

Background

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Lansdowne was the son of Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, and his wife, Maud, daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn and Lady Louisa Russell.

Military career

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Lord Kerry was originally commissioned into a volunteer battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, but transferred to the regular army as a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 14 August 1895, and was promoted to lieutenant on 2 March 1898.[1] He served in South Africa during the Second Boer War, where he was from 25 January 1900 an extra aide-de-camp to Lord Roberts, the commander in chief of British Forces in South Africa.[2] For his service in the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). On the formation of the Irish Guards in 1900, he transferred to that regiment while still in South Africa, and was promoted captain on 6 October 1900. He resigned in 1906 with the rank of major. He returned to the Army during World War I, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Political career

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Lansdowne was Liberal Unionist and later Conservative member of parliament (MP) for West Derbyshire from 1908 to 1918. He was a member of the Senate of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1929, to which he was nominated by the executive council.[3][4] He succeeded his father as Marquess of Lansdowne in 1927, with a seat in the British House of Lords, meaning that he had the unusual distinction of serving in the national legislatures of two different countries at the same time.

Family

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Derreen House and Garden

He married Elizabeth Caroline Hope, on 16 February 1904, granddaughter of George William Hope and Sir John Leslie, 1st Baronet. They had five children:

He died in Marylebone, aged 64.

References

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  1. ^ Hart′s Army list, 1901
  2. ^ "No. 27174". The London Gazette. 16 March 1900. p. 1794.
  3. ^ "Members of the First Seanad: Biographies – Petty-Fitzmaurice, Henry". Houses of the Oireachtas. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  4. ^ "Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  5. ^ "Lambton". Telegraph Announcements. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for West Derbyshire
19081918
Succeeded by
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Marquess of Lansdowne
1927–1936
Succeeded by