Robert King, 1st Viscount Lorton

Robert Edward King, 1st Viscount Lorton (12 August 1773- 20 November 1854), elected a representative peer in 1823, was an Irish peer.

General Hon. Robert Edward King, born in London at his parents's town house, was the third child and second son of Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston by his wife the heiress Caroline Fitzgerald. [."Col. Richard Fitzgerald M.P". Interestingly, he was killed in a duel in 1776 by his daughter's father-in-law the Earl of Kingston. [http://www.irishmidlandsancestry.com/content/laois/people/fitzgerald_richard.htm] ] His mother's fortune (via her own mother) had made the Kings perhaps the richest family in Ireland for some time. [Claire Tomalin. "The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft." (Penguin, 1992). See pp. 67, and pp. 66-71 for the family history.]

On 9 December 1799, he married his first cousin Lady Frances Parsons, daughter of Laurence Parsons-Harman, 1st Earl of Rosse and Lady Jane King (herself a daughter of the first Earl of Kingston). They had several children together, including two sons and five daughters. The elder son succeeded to the earldom, after three cousins died childless or unmarried. The younger son founded the line of King-Harman, producing a family historian of the King family and their estates.

candal 1798

After a period of service in the army beginning 1792, Robert King achieved some notoriety when he was tried in April 1798 at the Cork Assizes for the murder of his illegitimate cousin (or maternal half-uncle) Colonel Henry Gerald FitzGerald, for seducing his sister. He was acquitted as no witnesses came forward. (His father was likewise acquitted by the Irish House of Lords). There was considerable sympathy for the King family, because Fitzgerald was raised by the Kings; his actions were thus severally discreditable, being viewed as gross ingratitude, a breach of family trust, incest, as well as simply dishonourable behavior. For details of the story, Claire Tomalin's account in her biography of Mary Wollstonecraft is as good as any. [Claire Tomalin. "The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft." (Penguin, 1992). See pp. 294-295 for Mary King's tragic history.] Other accounts can be found online. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20030629/ai_n12741688] [http://www.gla.ac.uk:443/publications/newsletter/details.cfm?category=catwork&id=1592&issue=250] Tomalin believes Henry FitzGerald to have been an illegitimate son of Richard Fitzgerald MP (father of Caroline, and grandfather of Viscount Lorton); other accounts claim that he was in fact the illegitimate son of Caroline's half-brother Gerald Fitzgerald). [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20030629/ai_n12741688]

This scandal did not affect Robert King's career; he was an MP for Boyle between 1798 and 1800 and his family's political influence probably bought him not only his seat but also his Irish peerage. In military life, he had distinguished himself in battle, and he was promoted to Major-General in 1808, Lieutenant-General in 1813, and finally General in 1830. Although successful in his chosen career, he appears to have made little mark in military history, compared to other Anglo-Irish noblemen such as Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington or Eyre Coote, or the earlier Lord Cornwallis.

Honours

Robert King had already been created Baron Erris of Boyle, Co Roscommon [Ireland] on 29 December 1800 in the Peerage of Ireland, and was raised to become 1st Viscount Lorton of Boyle, Co Roscommon [Ireland] on 28 May 1806. He was elected a representative peer in 1823 and was made Lord-Lieutenant of County Roscommon between 1831 and 1854, a purely ceremonial honour but an important one. He died on 20 November 1854 at Rockingham Castle, Co Roscommon. His elder son, the second Viscount, succeeded to the Earldom of Kingston on the death of his cousin in 1869. The titles have remained united ever since.

His younger son, Lawrence (later King-Harman), inherited the Rockingham and Newcastle estates. The Rockingham estate was inherited by Edward Robert King-Harman, an MP and, earlier in his life, adventurer. His daughter, Frances, married Rt Hon Sir Thomas Stafford, 1st Baronet, a physician and member of the Irish Privy Counsel. Their granddaughter, Joan, Lady Dunn is the representative of the Rockingham branch of the family.

The Newcastle estates were inherited by Lawrence's younger son, the ancestor of Tony King-Harman, the historian of the King family referred to above.

External links

* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p1280.htm#i12800 General Robert Edward King, 1st Viscount Lorton] , in Darryl Lundy's thepeerage.com (peerage database). Retrieved 6 July 2007.

References