Robert King, 1st Viscount Lorton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Viscount Lorton
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| Member of Parliament for Boyle | |
| In office 1798 – 1 January 1801 Serving with Henry King
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| Preceded by | Henry King |
| Member of Parliament for Jamestown | |
| In office 1796–1798 Serving with Arthur Wolfe
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| Preceded by | Arthur Wolfe Henry Wood |
| Succeeded by | Gilbert King John King |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 August 1773 London, Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Died | 20 November 1854 (aged 81) Rockingham Castle, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland |
| Resting place | Boyle, County Roscommon |
| Spouse | Lady Frances Parsons |
| Relations | Margaret King (sister) |
| Parents | Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston Caroline Fitzgerald |
| Alma mater | Exeter College, Oxford Eton College |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Branch/service |  British Army |
| Years of service | 1792-96 |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | War of the First Coalition
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General Robert Edward King, 1st Viscount Lorton (12 August 1773 – 20 November 1854), styled The Honourable from 1797 to 1800, was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician. He was notable for his strong support for anti-Catholic policies and his close association with the Orange Order.
Family
Born in London at his parents' town house, he was the third child and second son of Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston by his wife, the heiress Caroline Fitzgerald. His mother's fortune (via her own mother) had made the Kings perhaps the richest family in Ireland for some time. His sister was Margaret King and one of the family governesses was Mary Wollstonecraft.
On 9 December 1799, he married his first cousin Lady Frances Parsons, daughter of Laurence Harman Parsons, 1st Earl of Rosse and Lady Jane King (herself a daughter of the first Earl of Kingston). They had several children together, including two sons and five daughters. The elder son succeeded to the earldom, after three cousins died childless or unmarried. The younger son founded the line of King-Harman, producing a family historian of the King family and their estates.
Career
This scandal did not affect Robert King's career; he represented Jamestown in the Irish House of Commons from 1796 to 1798, and was subsequently a Member of Parliament for Boyle until the Act of Union in 1801. His family's political influence probably bought him not only his seat but also his Irish peerage. In military life, he had distinguished himself in battle, and he was promoted to Major-General in 1808, Lieutenant-General in 1813, and finally General in 1830. Although successful in his chosen career, he appears to have made little mark in military history, compared to other Anglo-Irish noblemen such as Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington or Eyre Coote, or the earlier Lord Cornwallis. In Parliament he became known as a virulent anti-Catholic and was the leading Orangeman in Ireland during his lifetime.
Honours and successors
Robert King had already been created Baron Erris of Boyle, in the County of Roscommon on 29 December 1800 in the Peerage of Ireland, and was raised to become Viscount Lorton, of Boyle, in the County of Roscommon on 28 May 1806. He was elected a representative peer in 1823 and was made Lord Lieutenant of Roscommon between 1831 and 1854, a purely ceremonial honour but an important one. He died on 20 November 1854 at Rockingham Castle. His elder son, Robert King, 2nd Viscount Lorton, succeeded to the Earldom of Kingston on the death of his cousin in 1869. The titles have remained united ever since.
His younger son, Lawrence (later King-Harman), inherited the Rockingham and Newcastle estates. The Rockingham estate was inherited by Edward Robert King-Harman, an MP and, earlier in his life, adventurer. His daughter, Frances, married Rt Hon Sir Thomas Stafford, 1st Baronet, a physician and member of the Irish Privy Council. Their granddaughter, Joan, Lady Dunn is the representative of the Rockingham branch of the family.
The Newcastle estates were inherited by Lawrence's younger son, the ancestor of Tony King-Harman, the historian of the King family referred to above.
