Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet

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Sir Henry Vane-Tempest

Sir Henry was immensely wealthy from his landholdings in the northeast of England and their associated collieries. He married Catherine Macdonnell, the Countess of Antrim, in April 1799, and produced Frances Ann (b. 1800), his only legitimate daughter and heiress. Sir Henry died on 1st August 1813 leaving Frances Anne, aged 13, as one of the richest girls in the country.

Wynyard, Co. Durham. Photo ©David Wilkinson Governesses at Wynyard brought her up as a lonely child, with her father absent for long periods and her mother regretting her martial choice. In London she was made a Ward of Chancery, with her mother and aunt as joint guardians.

Frances Anne was an attractive young lady and eventually wished to marry Charles Stewart (1778-1854), the brilliant diplomat and soldier, who became the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. Charles Stewart was half brother to Viscount Castlereagh, the Foreign Secretary and diplomat at the Congress of Vienna. The proposed marriage caused family ruptures and it required the Lord Chancellor to settle the issue but they were married on 3rd April 1819. Her capital established the financial stability of the Londonderrys and in recognition they later became the Vane-Tempest-Stewarts by petition to Queen Victoria in 1888.

An unflattering description of Sir Harry is quoted by Fairfax-Blakeborough from Raike's Diary:

"Saturday, May 21st, 1837. Lord and Lady Londonderry have left Paris for London. Her father Sir Harry Vane-Tempest, from whom she inherited all the Wynyard property, was one of the handsomest men of his time, but one of the hardest livers. He married the Countess of Antrim, and heiress to the Glenarm property in Ireland, which, added to his own income, rendered him one of the richest commoners in England. He was a very expensive man, fond of hunting, cock fighting, and the Turf, but not addicted to play. He once attracted great notoriety in Hyde Park on a Sunday by riding as a hack a celebrated racehorse who in the preceding week had won for him the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster, of immense value. He was a good natured man though not of a refined manner, as may be inferred from the bet he once made with Harvey Aston, that he would knock down the first man that came into the stand at Newmarket. In those days there still existed among the men of fashion some vestige of the wild outrages of the Mohawks, as they were justly termed. Sir Harry Vane Tempest's most fatal passion was the bottle, which he carried to a great extent. I once passed a week with them at Wynyard, and though the dinner hour was not then unusually late, he would seldom be induced to get up from the table till five or six in the morning, and then he would not always retire to rest, but sometimes would put on his morning dress and walk over the estate with his bailiff. This irregular life soon wore out a naturally strong constitution, and he died at Wynyard of a fit in 1813, when he could not have been more than 40. His estates and collieries, which are of immense value, are now the property of Lord Londonderry. Lady Antrim, after the death of Sir Harry Vane married a Mr. Phelps, a man of no family, but celebrated for his singing talents, to whom she became attached. She was very proud of her descent from the Lord of the Isles, and said that when Lady Frances, her daughter, was an infant at Glenarm, every year Glengarry, the head of the Scottish clan, came over in a boat to do homage to the child of his sovereign liege."

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Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet (25 January 1771 – 1 August 1813) was a British politician. Vane-Tempest was the son and heir of Rev. Sir Henry Vane, 1st Baronet and his wife, Frances, née Tempest. He was Member of Parliament for the City of Durham from 1794 to 1800, replacing his uncle John Tempest from whom he inherited the Tempest estates in County Durham (notably Wynyard and Brancepeth) upon condition he adopt the name and arms of Tempest. He accepted the Chiltern Hundreds in 1800 before returning to Parliament as representative for the County Durham from 1807 until his death from apoplexy in 1813.[1] He was appointed High Sheriff of Antrim in 1805.[2] Vane-Tempest inherited his father's baronetcy in 1794. On 25 April 1799, he married Anne MacDonnell, 2nd Countess of Antrim and they had one child, Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest (1800–1865), who married Lord Charles Stewart (later Marquess of Londonderry). On his death, the baronetcy became extinct. He is buried at Long Newton. Vane-Tempest was a renowned sportsman of his day, owning the celebrated racehorse Hambletonian. In a famous match with Mr. Cookson's Diamond over the Beacon Course at Newmarket in 1799, Hambletonian won by a neck, Sir Henry having wagered 3,000 guineas on the outcome. The aftermath is the subject of George Stubbs' painting "Hambletonian Rubbing Down". [edit]References

^ Robert Surtees, History of Durham, Vol I, Appendix , p.cli ^ Reports from Commissioners - Ireland. vol. XVII. The House of Commons. 1826. pp. 106. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs [self-published source?][better source needed] Leigh Rayment's List of Baronets [self-published source?][better source needed] [edit]External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Henry Vane-Tempest