Thomas Cholmondeley, 1st Baron Delamere
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
peer and Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
.
Background
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Cheshire
Cheshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Cheshire is a former United Kingdom Parliamentiary constituency for the county of Cheshire. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832.As a county...
. On his father's side he descended from a younger brother of Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Earl of Leinster
Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Earl of Leinster
Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Earl of Leinster was an English Royalist and supporter of Charles I during the English Civil War....
and Hugh Cholmondeley
Hugh Cholmondeley (soldier)
Sir Hugh Cholmondeley was an English soldier.Cholmondeley was the second son of Richard Cholmondeley and Elizabeth Brereton...
, father of Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Viscount Cholmondeley
Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Viscount Cholmondeley
Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Viscount Cholmondeley was an English peer.Cholmondeley was the son of Hugh Cholmondeley and Mary Bodvile. Sir Hugh Cholmondeley of Cholmondeley was his grandfather and Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Earl of Leinster, his uncle...
, from whom the Marquesses of Cholmondeley
Marquess of Cholmondeley
Marquess of Cholmondeley is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for George Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley. Each Marquess of Cholmondeley is a descendant of Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
descend. His mother was Dorothy Cowper. Delamere was an indirect descendant of Sir Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
.
The Cholmondeleys were long established at their seat at Vale Royal Abbey
Vale Royal Abbey
Vale Royal Abbey is a medieval abbey, and later country house, located in Whitegate, between Northwich and Winsford in Cheshire, England.The abbey was founded in 1270 by Edward I for monks of the austere Cistercian order...
, Cheshire which had been in the family since 1615.
Career
Cholmondeley served as High Sheriff of CheshireHigh Sheriff of Cheshire
The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions...
in 1792 and then in 1796 was elected to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
for his father's old seat of Cheshire, which he retained until 1812. In 1821 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Delamere of Vale Royal in the County of Chester. The current baron, the 5th Baron Delamere, paints a picture of his early-19th century ancestor with deft, harsh strokes:
- "[The 1st Baron Delamere] was an idiot who decided it would be impressive to have a peerage. He thought he had a bargain when he paid 5,000 for it. The only problem was that the going rate was 1,200. Before he came along we had been content to be shire knights in Cheshire, when William the Conqueror gave us the whole county."
Family
On 17 December 1810, Cholmondeley married Henrietta Elizabeth Williams-Wynn, daughter of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet, and Charlotte Grenville. That union produced six children and numerous grandchildren:- HughHugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron DelamereHugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere , styled The Honourable from 1821 until 1855, was a British peer and politician.-Personal:...
(3 October 1811 – 1 August 1887) married Sarah Hay-Drummund, and later married Augusta Emily Seymour. - Thomas (4 January 1817 – 10 August 1817)
- Thomas Grenville (4 August 1818 – 9 February 1883) married Katherine Lucy Sykes, and later married Violet Maud Parker
- Henry Pitt (15 June 1820 – 14 April 1905) married Mary Leigh
-
-
- Francis Grenville (1850–1937).
- Lionel BernersLionel Berners CholmondeleyLionel Berners Cholmondeley was a younger brother of a British peer who became an Anglican minister, rector of St. Barnabas Church at Ushigome in Shinjuku, Tokyo . He was a Christian missionary in Japan and chaplain of the British Embassy in Tokyo...
(1858–1945). - Edward Chandos (1860–1957).
- Henry Reginald (1862–1947).
- Charles Fiennes (1863–1959).
- Alice Margarette (18__–1937).
- Mary Louisa (18__–1947).
- Rose Evelyn (18__ –1907).
- Eleanor Caroline (18__–1947).
- Henrietta Charlotte (3 June 1823 – 13 August 1874).
- Charles Watkin Neville (27 May 1826 – 18 March 1844). -- unmarried
-
Although history accords primary attention to the eldest male who becomes heir to the Delamere title, it is worth noting that other Cholmondeley progeny were not undistinguished. For example, the marriage of the baron's third son, Henry, produced nine grandchildren; and of these, Lionel would become chaplain to the British Embassy in Tokyo and would write the first English-language history of the isolated Bonin Islands, including notes of changes which evolved after annexation by Meiji
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in 1875.
Cholmondeley died at age 88 in October 1855. He was succeeded in the land, estates and title by his eldest son Hugh Cholmondeley
Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere
Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere , styled The Honourable from 1821 until 1855, was a British peer and politician.-Personal:...
.