Marcus Beresford, 7th Baron Decies

Marcus Hugh Tristram de la Poer Beresford, 7th Baron Decies (born 5 August 1948), is an Anglo-Irish hereditary peer.[1]

The Right Honourable

The Lord Decies
Born
Marcus Hugh Tristram de la Poer Beresford

(1948-08-05) 5 August 1948
EducationAiglon College
St Columba's College, Dublin
Alma materTrinity College Dublin
Spouses
Sarah Jane Gunnell
​
​
(m. 1970; div. 1974)​
    Edel Jeannette Hendron
    ​
    ​
    (after 1981)​
    Children4
    Parent(s)Arthur Beresford, 6th Baron Decies
    Diana Turner-Cain Galsworthy

    Early life

    Beresford is the only son of Arthur Beresford, 6th Baron Decies and Diana (née Turner-Cain) Galsworthy.[2] His mother, a widow of Maj. David W. A. Galsworthy, was a daughter of W/Cdr George Turner-Cain.[3] He has two sisters, Sarah Ann Vivien de la Poer Beresford and model Clare Antoinette Gabrielle de la Poer Beresford.[4][3]

    His paternal grandfather was John Beresford, 5th Baron Decies,[5] a Representative Peer for Ireland who married two American heiresses, his grandmother Helen Gould (daughter of American railroad executive George Jay Gould I),[6][7][8] and after her death, Elizabeth Wharton Drexel (a daughter of Joseph William Drexel, who had previously been married to Harry Lehr).[9] When asked how to pronounce his name, his grandfather Lord Decies told The Literary Digest: "With ci as in conscience it is dee-shees, and Beresford is berysford."[10]

    Education and career

    He was educated initially at Aiglon College, Chesières-Villars, Switzerland, and from 1962 to 1967 at St Columba's College, Dublin. He graduated from Trinity College Dublin, with a Master of Letters (M.Litt.). Beresford practiced as a solicitor and rose to be Chairman of A&L Goodbody, the leading Irish corporate law firm.[11] He was a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

    He succeeded to the title of 7th Baron Decies, of Decies, County Waterford in 1992.[3]

    Other activities

    Lord Decies was a Trustee of the Alfred Beit Foundation from 1999 to 2014 and chairman from 2008 to 2014. He is currently a Trustee of the Apollo Foundation.[12] He has also been involved in the world of education being a member of the Boards of Alexandra College in Dublin, Hewetson's School in Millicent, Ireland (of which he was chairman from 1992 to 1995),[13] and St Columba's College, Dublin, Ireland.

    Family

    He married, firstly, Sarah Jane Gunnell, daughter of Colonel Basil Gunnell on 11 April 1970. They divorced in 1974. He remarried in 1981 to Edel Jeannette Hendron. Since 1989 the couple have resided in Straffan, County Kildare,[14] and have four children:[3]

    • Hon. Louisa Katherine de la Poer Beresford (b. 1984)[3]
    • Hon. Robert Marcus Duncan de la Poer Beresford (b. 1988)[3]
    • Hon. David George Morley Hugh de la Poer Beresford (b. 1991)[3]
    • Hon. Jessica Laragh de la Poer Beresford (b. 1996)[3]

    Interests

    The couple are equine enthusiasts, and trained racehorses locally with Arthur Moore for many years.[15] His wife is a keen sportswoman who fly-fishes for Ireland and is involved with numerous charitable causes, including the Irish Haemophilia Society.

    He has an enduring interest in history stimulated by his ancestors, William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies (1743–1819), who was the Archbishop of Tuam, and General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, GCB, GCH, PC (1768–1854), who was a general in the British Army and a Marshal in the Portuguese Army; he fought alongside The Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War and held the office of Master-General of the Ordnance in 1828 in Wellington's first ministry. In 2019 the Irish Academic Press published his biography of the General.[16]

    Beresford is a member of both the Irish and British Commissions for Military History.[17][18] He is Chairman of the Trustees of the British Cemetery, Elvas, a member of the Friends of the Lines of Torres Vedras and the Waterford Historical Society.[19]

    Arms
    Coat of arms of Marcus Beresford, 7th Baron Decies
    Crest
    A Dragon's Head erased Azure transfixed in the neck with a broken Tilting Spear Or the Point broken off Argent transfixing the upper jaw charged with a Mullet for difference.
    Escutcheon
    Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Argent semée of Cross Crosslets fitchée three Fleurs-de-lis within a Bordure engrailed all Sable (Beresford); 2nd and 3rd, Argent a Chief indented Sable (de la Poer); a Mullet Argent for difference.
    Supporters
    On either side an Angel proper vested Argent crined and winged Or each holding in the exterior hand a Sword erect of the first pommelled and hilted of the second and charged on the breast with a Mullet for difference.
    Motto
    NIL NISI CRUCE
    Nothing without the Cross.

    Bibliography

    Journals

    • "Ireland in French strategy 1691-1789", Post Graduate thesis (M.Litt.)
    • "François Thurot and the French attack at Carrickfergus, 1759-60", The Irish Sword, X (41), 255-74.
    • "Ireland in French Strategy during the American War of Independence, 1776-83", The Irish Sword, XII (49), 285-97 and XIII (50), 20-29.
    • "William Carr Beresford and the capture of the Cape Colony and the expedition to the River Plate 1805-1806", The Irish Sword XXIX (P. 240 – 262)
    • "Francois Thurot, the Irish connection", Journal of the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society, LXXVIII (1973), 143-50.
    • "The Peninsular romance of Lieutenant Waldron Kelly and Ana Ludovina de Aguilar", The Irish Sword, XXXII (129) 2020, 299–316.

    Books

    • "Marshal William Carr Beresford: ‘The ablest man I have yet seen with the army’ (ISBN 9781788550321) 2019

    References
    1. Armourial coat-of-arms
    2. "DECIES". The Daily Telegraph. 11 November 1992. p. 24. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
    3. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 1063.
    4. "Miss Beresford to Wed". The New York Times. 23 February 1986. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
    5. "LORD DECIES DIES IN ENGLAND AT 77; Soldier, Sportsman, Friend of Taxpayer--Married Gould Heiress Here in 1911". The New York Times. 2 February 1944. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
    6. "LADY DECIES DIES AT 38 IN LONDON; Former Helen Vivien Gould Was Principal in Brilliant International Wedding of 1911.WAS NOTED AS HOSTESS Her Entertaining Was a Feature of British Capital--Husband Is Distinguished Irish Peer. LADY DECIES DIES AT 38 IN LONDON". The New York Times. 3 February 1931. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
    7. "LORD DECIES DUE HERE.; Widower of Former Vivien Gould Arrives Today on Mauretania". The New York Times. 3 March 1931. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
    8. Photo, Times Wide World (4 February 1931). "FUNERAL TOMORROW FOR LADY DECIES; Body of Former Helen Vivien Gould, Who Died Yesterday in London, to Be Cremated". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
    9. TIMES, Wireless to THE NEW YORK (12 May 1936). "DECIES TO MARRY MRS. HARRY LEHR; Widow of New York Leader of Society to Become Bride of Irish Peer on May 23. ANNOUNCEMENT IN PARIS Bride-Elect Member of Drexel Family -- Wrote Book, 'King Lehr and Gilded Age.'". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
    10. Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.
    11. He won the Law Society's Patrick O'Connor Memorial Prize
    12. "Index of /". apollofoundation.org. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
    13. "Home". www.hewetson.ie. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
    14. Straffan Lodge, originally dating from the 1700s, was where the internationally acclaimed Irish artist Francis Bacon lived from 1909 to 1926; a previous owner, Robert Guinness of the Guinness banking family, bought the property in 1968 and lived there for 20 years.
    15. including Marcus du Berlais, which placed second and third in the 2004 and 2005 Grand Nationals, and the mare Fag an Bealach.
    16. Marshal William Carr Beresford
    17. "The Military History Society of Ireland". www.mhsi.ie. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
    18. "British Commission for Military History". Retrieved 11 May 2022.
    19. "The Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society, Ireland". www.waterford-history.org. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
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