Edward Wingfield, 2nd Viscount Powerscourt

Family and Education b. 23 Oct. 1729, 1st s. of Richard, 1st Visct. Powerscourt [I] by his 2nd w. Dorothy Beresford, da. of Hercules Rowley of Summer Hall, co. Meath. educ. Trinity, Dublin 1746; St. John’s, Camb. 1748; M. Temple 1746; I. Temple 1750. unm. suc. fa. 21 Oct. 1751.

Offices Held

Biography Henry Fox wrote to the Duke of Devonshire, 20 Nov. 1756:1 ‘I have set up Lord Powerscourt for Stockbridge. He was recommended to me some months ago by Lord Kildare, and I know his firm attachment to your Grace.’ In fact Fox returned him against the wishes of the Devonshire-Pitt Government.2 In a letter to the Duke of Bedford, 23 Nov., Fox says that Powerscourt ‘has a good estate in Hampshire as well as in Ireland’.3 On 19 May 1757 Lady Kildare wrote to her husband:4

Lord Powerscourt ... has made the best speech, Mr. Fox says, and the most to the purpose, he ever yet heard from so young a speaker. I am glad of it, for it justifies your opinion and mine of his understanding; which, you know, was contrary to that of most people. I am afraid he won’t marry Louisa [her sister]; they say he is looking out for a fortune. In the summer of 1760 Powerscourt was ‘in a very bad way’, and on 24 Oct. Lady Caroline Fox wrote to her sister, Lady Kildare:

I don’t like your account of Lord Powerscourt. Mr. Fox has had I think a melancholy letter from him, declining coming in for Stockbridge again. Pray ... assure him of my best wishes for the recovery of his health.5 He died 6 May 1764.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790 Author: Sir Lewis Namier Notes 1. Devonshire mss. 2. See HAY, George and STOCKBRIDGE constituency. 3. Bedford mss. 4. Leinster Corresp. i. 36. 5. Ibid. 287, 293, 299

Other References

• Burke, Bernard, Sir. A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire. London : Harrison 1869. page 910