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THE

ANNUAL

BIOGRAPHY AND OBITUARY,

OF

1822.

PART I.

MEMOIRS OF CELEBRATED PERSONS, WHO HAVE DIED WITHIN THE YEARS 1821-1822.

No. I.

THE RIGHT HONORABLE ROBERT STEWART, K.G. MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY, VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH; LATE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

THE Right Honorable Robert Stewart, Marquis of Londonderry, Viscount Castlereagh, was the eldest son of the late Marquis, by his first wife, Lady Sarah Frances Seymour, sister to the late Marquis of Hertford. His Lordship's family, which was originally Scotch, first settled in Ireland in the reign of James I., who granted to his kinsman, the Duke of Lenox, and his relations, that large tract of land in the county of Donegal, lying between Loch Foil and Loch Swilly, forfeited during his reign and that of Queen Elizabeth. This the King divided into eight manors, and granted two of them to the Duke, and a third, by the name of the manor of Steward's Court, otherwise Ballylaun, together with the territory and precincts of Ballyreach, to John Stewart, Esq. (the ancestor of the Castle

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reagh family, and the Duke's relation,) and his heirs for ever, and which manor, together with the whole of the land annexed to it, descended in regular lineal succession to Robert, first Marquis of Londonderry, father of the illustrious subject of the present memoir. On this manor the said John Stewart erected the castle of Ballylawn, and settled it with Protestant inhabitants, whereby he became entitled to hold a court-baron, together with other ample privileges. The great-grandson of this John Stewart, and great-grandfather of the above Robert, the first Marquis, (who died in 1821,) was Colonel William Stewart, of Ballylawn Castle, who raised a troop of horse at his own expense, during the siege of the city of Londonderry by King James II., and was of essential service to the Protestants, by protecting those who were well affected to King William III., and checking the depredations of James's army, whose supplies he completely cut off on that side, and considerably cramped the operations of the siege. And we accordingly find, that in the parliament held in Dublin by King James, he was expressly attainted by name, and his estates declared forfeited, but which estates, however, descended unimpaired to his heir. This Colonel William Stewart married the daughter of William Stewart, of Fort Stewart, in the county of Donegal, and died leaving issue-1. Thomas, his heir; 2. Alexander; 3. Martha, who married John Kennedy, Esq., of Caltra, in the county of Down. Thomas, the elder, succeeded at Ballylawn castle, and served as a captain in his relation's, Lord Mountjoy's, regiment. This Thomas married Mary, the second daughter of Barnard Ward, Esq., ancestor of the Viscount Bangor, and dying without issue in 1740, was succeeded by his second brother, Alexander, (born in 1700,) who represented the city of Londonderry in parliament, and purchased the estate of Mount Stewart, in the county of Down, (formerly the Mount-Alexander estate,) from the Colville family. He married, June 30, 1737, his cousin Mary, only daughter of John Cowan, of Londonderry, Esq., died April 2. 1781, and was succeeded by his eldest son Robert. Robert Stewart, first Marquis of Londonderry, was born

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