Henry Rawdon-Hastings, 4th Marquess of Hastings

Rawdon-Hastings was the second son of George Rawdon-Hastings, 2nd Marquess of Hastings, the British peer and courtier, and his wife Barbara née Yelverton, 20th Baroness Grey de Ruthyn.[1] His father died when Henry was only two years old, and Henry succeeded to his father's titles upon the early death of his older brother Paulyn seven years later, when Henry was aged nine. Later, in 1858, Henry inherited his mother's barony at the age of sixteen.[2]

In 1860, The Times noted that Rawdon-Hastings was one of only three to hold peerages in all three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland (as Earl of Moira).[3]

Lady Florence Paget by Camille Silvy.

In 1862 Lord Hastings became engaged to Alice March Phillipps de Lisle, but they never married (she later married the Hon. Arthur Strutt, younger son of Lord Belper).

On 16 July 1864 he married Lady Florence Paget, the only daughter of Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey.[4] The marriage created a scandal as the bride had been engaged to Henry Chaplin.[5]

He died in 1868, aged only 26, with no children. The Marquessate of Hastings became extinct, while the Earldom of Loudoun passed to his eldest sister Lady Edith and his English baronies fell into abeyance between Lady Edith and their three other sisters – all would go to Edith except their mother's, which passed to the second sister, Lady Bertha.[1]

After his death, his widow, Florence, Marchioness of Hastings would marry Sir George Chetwynd, 4th Baronet on 9 July 1870.[6]

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Rawdon-Hastings, 4th Marquess of Hastings