Robert Maxwell, 1st Earl of Farnham

Robert Maxwell, 1st Earl of Farnham (b.c.1720 - d. 16 November 1779), of Farnham in County Cavan was an Irish peer and a Member of both the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland.

Farnham was the son of John Maxwell, 1st Baron Farnham and Judith Barry, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was elected to the Irish House of Commons in 1743, and crossing to England also became Member of Parliament for Taunton at a ruinously expensive by-election in 1754, his father putting up £3,000 which had to be more than matched from the government's "secret service" funds to secure his election. He afterwards described the campaign, in a letter to Lord George Sackville, as "a great deal of smoaking, some drinking, and kissing some hundreds of women; but it was to good purpose... I may venture to say that I have now near 150 majority".

He succeeded as 2nd Baron Farnham on the 6 August 1759. He was created Viscount Farnham on the 10 September 1760, and Earl of Farnham on the 13 May 1763. He also became a Privy Councillor in Ireland on the 19 September 1760. He remained in the British House of Commons until 1768, being re-elected in 1761 and supporting the governments of Lord Bute and George Grenville, though there is no record of his ever having spoken in the House.

He married twice, firstly in 1759 to Henrietta Cantillon, Countess Dowager of Stafford (died 1761), daughter of Philip Cantillon. They had two children, John (died 1777) and Henrietta (died 1852). He married secondly in 1771 to Sarah, daughter of Pole Cosby.

On his death the Earldom and the Viscountcy titles became extinct, whilst the Barony passed to his brother, Barry Maxwell.

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). "Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage" (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. (ISBN 033338847X)
* Lewis Namier, "The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III" (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1961)
* Lewis Namier & John Brooke, "The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790" (London: HMSO, 1964)
*
* [http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/mm4ae/maxwell03.htm Maxwell family genealogy, part 03] . showing the Maxwell of Calderwood, Maxwell of Farnham (co. Cavan), and Maxwell of Finnebrogue families.

External links

* [http://www.cavanmuseum.ie/Farnham.html Cavan County Museum - The Farnham Gallery]
* [http://homepage.eircom.net/~cavanno1/FarnhamEstate.htm Farnham Estate]