Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 3.djvu/432

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412 CONYNGHAM 15 Jan. 1 8 16 he was cr. VISCOUNT SLANE, EARL OF MOUNT CHARLES and MARQUESS CONYNGHAM [LJ.^and 17 July 1821, was cr. BARON MINSTER OF MINSTER ABBEY,(^) co. Kent [U.K.]. During almost the whole reign of George IV, 1821 to 1830, he was Lord Steward of the Household, and as such. Judge of the Marshalsea Court and of the Court of the King's Palace; P. C. 10 Dec. 1821. Constable of Windsor Castle 1829 till his death. He m., 5 July 1794, at St. Martin's-in-the- Fields (spec, lie), Elizabeth, ist da. of Joseph Denison, Banker, of St. Mary Axe, London, and of Denbies, in Dorking, Surrey, by his 2nd wife, Elizabeth, da. of William Butler, Merchant, of Lisbon. He d., after a lingering illness, aged 66, in Hamilton Place, Midx., 28 Dec. 1832, and was bur. 4 Jan. 1833, at Patrixbourne, Kent.^^) Will pr. June 1833. His widow, who was sister and eventually sole h. of William Joseph Denison, of Seamer, in the East Riding of co. York, and who, in her husband's lifetime, had been notorious as mistressC^) of George IV, d. 11 Oct. 1861, (*) See note sub Charles, Earl Cadogan [1800]. C') This was one of the '■'■Coronation Peerages" (19 July 1821) of George IV, for a list of which see vol. ii, Appendix F. As to the choice of this title, see note sub John, Earl of Enniskillen [1803]. (■=) He voted in the Pari. [I.] for the Union, and in that of the U.K. generally with the Tories, though he supported Cath. emancipation. The account of him in Sketches of Irish political character, 1 799, though written by a political opponent, is favourable. "To the advantage of a good voice, but with some tendency to a lisp, he adds a pronunciation perfectly accurate . . . His language is precise, and unites elegance with force . . . His rnanner is warm and spirited ... In reasoning he is condensed and argumentative, pointed and powerful. His speeches are full of instruction; apposite, solid, well digested. He has ever been a steady supporter of administration, and has always deserved the thanks of the minister, though, perhaps not always, those of his country." V.G. (■*) She succeeded Isabella, Lady Hertford, in that position, who had ousted from it Frances, Lady Jersey. It is said that she had received jewels worth ^^80,000 from the King. Anyhow, Greville, in his Memoirs, states (1821) "she comports herself entirely as Mistress of the Household," "lives in one of the houses in Marlborough Row," "has presents of enormous value," and (1829) "the wealth Lady C. must have accumulated by savings and presents must be enormous; the King continues to heap all kinds of presents upon her, and she lives at his expense. They [i.e. the Mar- quess and herself] do not possess a servant; all [such] have situations in the King's household from which they receive their pay, while they continue in the service of the Conynghams. They dine every day, while in London, at St. James's, and when they give a dinner, it is cooked at St. James's, and brought up to Hamilton Place." G.E.C. "It is said that two waggon loads of jewellery, plate, fife, were sent away from the Castle [at Windsor] by Lady Conyngham during the last months of the King's illness. All the time she professed the greatest distress, and prayed with unction for his recovery: — First she packed and then she prayed And then she packed again." {Mrs. Fitzherbert and George III, by W. H. Wilkins, 1905, vol. ii, p. 2I0). Lord Houghton writes from Rome, 28 Feb. 1 834, " One of the latest converts to Protestant