Robert Cuninghame, 1st Baron Rossmore

General Robert Cuninghame, 1st Baron Rossmore, PC (Ire) (18 April 1726 – 6 August 1801) was an Irish British Army officer and politician.

The Lord Rossmore
Born18 April 1726
Died6 August 1801 (1801-08-07) (aged 75)
London
Allegiance Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/branchBritish Army
RankGeneral
Commands heldIreland
Battles/warsJacobite rising of 1745

Military career

Cuninghame was the son of Colonel David Cuninghame, and his wife Margaret Callander of Craigforth. He was a General in the Army who fought at an early age at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 with the 14th Foot. He later served as Commander-in-Chief of Ireland from 1793 to 1796.

Cuninghame sat as a Member of the Irish House of Commons for Tulsk from 1751 to 1761, for Armagh Borough from 1761 to 1768 and for Monaghan Borough from 1768 to 1796. Between 1788 and 1789 he represented East Grinstead in the British House of Commons.

Lord Rossmore later sat as an Irish Representative Peer in the House of Lords from January 1801 until his death in August 1801. He was childless and was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his wife's nephew Warner William Westenra, 2nd Baron Rossmore. Lady Rossmore died in 1824. His residence was Mount Kennedy, near Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow. Here he died rather suddenly, aged seventy-five, in August 1801, having been in excellent health and good spirits to the end.

Sir Jonah Barrington (1756-1834), the judge and memoirist, was apparently the originator of the colourful story that Lord Rossmore's death was heralded by the wailing of a banshee.

Family lineage

Cuninghame was a descendant of the Cuninghames of Drumquhassle[1] and married Elizabeth Murray, second daughter and co-heiress of Colonel John Murray, in 1754. Elizabeth brought him a large dowry, but the marriage, if not for love, is said to have been very happy. He was admitted to the Irish Privy Council in 1782 and in 1796 he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Rossmore, of Monaghan in the County of Monaghan,[2] with remainder to his wife's nephews Henry Alexander Jones (the son of Theophilus Jones and Anne Murray, eldest sister of Elizabeth; Henry Alexander Jones died childless before his uncle Lord Rossmore) and Warner William Westenra and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Westenra, sons of Henry Westenra and Harriet Murray, youngest sister of Elizabeth.

Notes

  1. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, ed. (1976). Burke's Irish Family Records. Burkes Peerage Ltd. p. 309.
  2. "No. 13944". The London Gazette. 25 October 1796. p. 1017.

References

  • Kidd, Charles; Williamson, David (1990). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. New York: St Martin's Press.
  • Mosley, Charles (1999). Burke's Peerage (106th ed.). London.
  • Mosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage (107th ed.). London.
Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by
Frederick Gore
St George Caulfeild
Member of Parliament for Tulsk
1751–1761
With: Frederick Gore
Succeeded by
William Caulfeild
John Bagwell
Preceded by
Edward Knatchbull
Marquess of Tavistock
Member of Parliament for Armagh Borough
1761–1768
With: Hon. John Ponsonby 1761
Hon. Barry Maxwell 1761–1768
Succeeded by
George Macartney
Philip Tisdall
Preceded by
William Henry Fortescue
Richard Power
Member of Parliament for Monaghan Borough
1768–1796
With: William Henry Fortescue 1768–1771
Henry Westenra 1771–1776
James Fortescue 1776–1777
Robert Dobson 1777–1783
Thomas James Fortescue 1783
Theophilus Jones 1783–1791
Cromwell Price 1791–1796
Succeeded by
Cromwell Price
Henry Westenra
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
George Medley
James Cuninghame
Member of Parliament for East Grinstead
1788–1789
With: George Medley
Succeeded by
George Medley
Richard Ford
Military offices
New regiment Colonel of the 124th Regiment of Foot
1762–1763
Regiment disbanded
Preceded by
Robert Anstruther
Colonel of the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot
1768–1775
Succeeded by
George West
Preceded by
Hon. William Keppel
Colonel of the 14th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot
1775–1787
Succeeded by
John Douglas
Preceded by
Sir Joseph Yorke
Colonel of the 5th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Dragoons
1787–1799
Regiment disbanded
Preceded by
George Warde
Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
1793–1796
Succeeded by
The Earl of Carhampton
Peerage of Ireland
New creation Baron Rossmore
1796–1801
Succeeded by
Warner William Westenra
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