Nathaniel Clements, 2nd Earl of Leitrim

Nathaniel Clements, 2nd Earl of Leitrim, KP PC (Ire) (9 May 1768 – 31 December 1854), styled The Honourable from 1783 to 1795, and then Viscount Clements to 1804, was an Irish nobleman and politician.

The Earl of Leitrim
Lord Lieutenant of Leitrim
In office
1831–1854
Preceded byNew constituency
Succeeded byEdward King Tenison
Member of Parliament for County Leitrim
In office
1801–1804
Preceded byNew constituency
Succeeded byPeter La Touche II
Henry John Clements
Personal details
Born
Nathaniel Clements

(1768-05-09)9 May 1768
Dublin, Ireland
Died31 December 1854(1854-12-31) (aged 86)
Political partyWhig
Spouse
Mary Bermingham
(m. 1800; died 1840)
RelationsJohn Townshend, 1st Earl Sydney (nephew)
Children8
Parent(s)Robert Clements, 1st Earl of Leitrim
Lady Elizabeth Skeffington
Alma materOriel College, Oxford

Early life

Clements was born in Dublin on 9 May 1768.[1] He was the eldest son of Robert Clements, 1st Earl of Leitrim and the former Lady Elizabeth Skeffington. His younger brother was Lt.-Col. Hon. Robert Clotworthy Clements (who died unmarried in 1828); his sisters were Lady Elizabeth Clements, Lady Louisa Clements, and Lady Caroline Elizabeth Letitia Clements (the second wife of John Townshend, 2nd Viscount Sydney). His paternal grandparents were the Rt. Hon. Nathaniel Clements and the former Hannah Gore (a daughter of the Very Rev. William Gore, Dean of Down).[2] His mother was the eldest daughter of Clotworthy Skeffington, 1st Earl of Massereene.[1]

He was educated at a private school in Portarlington and Oriel College, Oxford, graduating in 1788. Two years later he was elected to the Irish House of Commons as Whig member for Roscommon as well as Carrick, but chose to sit for the latter. In 1798, as Viscount Clements, he was returned for both Cavan Borough and County Leitrim. He represented the latter constituency until the Act of Union in 1801, and was then elected for Leitrim at Westminster until 1804.[3]

Career

He was appointed Custos Rotulorum of Leitrim in 1795 and Custos Rotulorum of Donegal in 1804. Having served as High Sheriff of Leitrim in 1796, Clements that same year became Colonel of the Donegal Regiment until its disbandment in 1802. Two years later, he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Leitrim, but subsequently failed in his attempts to be elected to the House of Lords as an Irish representative peer. In 1831, as well as becoming Lord Lieutenant of Leitrim for life, Lord Leitrim was created Baron Clements in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[1]

Three years later he was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick, and later that year he became a member of the Irish Privy Council.[4]

Personal life

On 24 July 1800, he was married to Mary Bermingham (d. 1840), eldest daughter and co-heiress of William Bermingham of Ross Hill and Mary (née Ruttledge) Bermingham (eldest daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Ruttledge).[1] Together, they were the parents of:[1]

Lady Leitrim died on 5 February 1840. Lord Leitrim died in 1854 aged 86 at his residence of Killadoon in County Kildare. His eldest son having predeceased him in 1839, he was succeeded in the earldom by his younger son, William Sydney Clements.[1]

References

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