Thomas Montgomery, 5th Earl of Mount Alexander

Thomas Montgomery, 5th Earl of Mount Alexander

"Henry the third Earl of Mount Alexander and fifth Viscount was succeeded by his son Hugh, to whom he left in his will £20, as he had made ample provision for him before his death. To his second son Thomas be left all his personal property and. £997 owed to him by Lord Howth. Hugh was a good-looking proper man who devoted himself to farming. He married Elinor Barnwell in 1703. They had five children who all died, in childhood. Hugh, the fourth Earl and sixth Viscount, died in l744 and was buried in Howth.

He was succeeded by his brother Thomas, seventh Viscount and fifth and last Earl. He had bean a witty and nimble boy, He married in 1725 a Hugenot - the young widow of Philip Grueber, a London merchant. She had been Marie Angelique de la Cherois, daughter of Daniel de la Cherois of Lisburn. Much of Thomas Montgomery’s time in the early years of the marriage was spent in Dublin on supposed business connected with lawsuits. His wife became suspicious of the frequent and long visits. The last seventeen years of his life were spent in the Manor House in Donaghadee.

He died in 1760 at Hillsborough Castle, being the 80 years of age. The Countess survived her husband and when she died the remnants of the great estate went to her cousins Samuel de la Cherois of Donaghadee and Nicholas Crommelin of Carrowdore Castle."

REF:Comber History