Henry Villiers-Stuart

Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart (13 September 1827 – 12 October 1895), was a British soldier, politician, clergyman and author.

Parentage

He was the son of Henry Villiers-Stuart, 1st and last Baron Stuart de Decies, son of Lord Henry Stuart and his wife, Lady Gertrude Amelia, daughter of George Mason-Villiers, 2nd Earl Grandison. His paternal great-grandfather was John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, son of Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. Henry Villiers-Stuart had a younger sister, Pauline, later Lady Wheeler Cuffe (died 5 July 1895).

His mother was Theresia Pauline (née Ott), an Austrian Roman Catholic from Vienna. His parents married on 12 January 1826 in a Roman Catholic service at St James's, Spanish Place, London, and also under Scottish law, but there was uncertainty over whether Theresia was free to marry. Theresia's married name became Villiers-Stuart, and, as a result of her marriage, she was styled as Baroness Stuart de Decies on 10 March 1839. She died on 7 August 1867 at Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany and was interred at Villierstown, County Waterford, Ireland.

Career

Villiers-Stuart was educated at University College, Durham and served in the Austrian Imperial Army from 1844–46 and in the British Army from 1846-47.

He was ordained in the Church of England and served as Vicar of Bulkington, Warwickshire from 1852–55, and of Napton from 1855–71, when he resigned Holy Orders to pursue a political career and was successfully returned to Parliament for County Waterford in 1873.

His father died the following year and he then resigned his seat so that he could pursue his claim to the barony of Stuart de Decies. However, Stuart-Villiers was unable to satisfactorily claim that his parents were legally married and was not allowed to assume the title. He was again elected to the House of Commons for County Waterford in 1880, a seat he held until 1885. After the British intervention in Egypt in 1882 he was sent by the British government to report on the conditions of the people in that country, and produced several books on the topic, including Egypt after the War, which received the special recognition of Lord Dufferin, and his reports were published as a parliamentary blue-book.

Villiers-Stuart was appointed High Sheriff of County Waterford for 1889.

Personal life

Villiers-Stuart married Mary Power in 1865. They had five sons and four daughters. He died in October 1895, aged 68, after falling from his boat on the River Blackwater, and drowning off Villierstown Quay, near his residence at Dromana, Waterford. His wife survived him by twelve years, dying in September 1907.

Publication

• Eve of the Deluge. London, 1851.
• Nile Gleanings. Concerning the Ethnology, History, and Art of Ancient Egypt,' London, 1879.
• The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen. London, 1882.
• Egypt after the War. London, 1883. Being The Narrative of a Tour of Inspection, Including Experiences Among The Natives, With Descriptions of Their Homes And Habits.
• Adventures amidst the Equatorial Forests and Rivers of South America. London, 1891

See also

• Baron Stuart de Decies
• Marquess of Bute
• Villierstown

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Villiers-Stuart

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir John Esmonde, Bt Edmond de la Poer	Member of Parliament for County Waterford 1873–1874 With: Sir John Esmonde, Bt	Succeeded by Sir John Esmonde, Bt Lord Charles Beresford
Preceded by Lord Charles Beresford James Delahunty	Member of Parliament for County Waterford 1880–1885 With: John Aloysius Blake 1880–1884 Patrick Joseph Power 1884–1885	Constituency abolished