Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/150

 loo COMPLETE PEERAGE aldborough Dublin, by Sarah, sister and coh. of Mason Gerard, da. of Jonathan Gerard, of Dublin, brewer. She d. 24 Aug. 18 16. He d. at Stratford Lodge, 1 1, and was bur. 12 July 1833, at Baltinglass, aged 87. V. 1833. 5- Mason Gerard (Stratford), Earl OF Aldborough, &c. [I.], s. and h., b. 8 July 1784. He w., 2 Aug. 1804, at Kircudbright, Cornelia Jane, (") ist da. of Charles Henry Tandy, of Waterford, by Cornelia, da. of Samuel King, of Dublin, shoemaker. They were divorced a mensd et thoro by decree of the Arches Court of Canterbury, 6 Dec. 1826. Some months earlier he estabUshed another lady in her stead, and m. (or rather went through the form of marriage with), 23 Sep. 1826, at the British Embassy (") Paris, Mary, (") da. of Samuel Arundell (deed.), ofDursley, co. Gloucester, by Adriana, his wife. The Earl d. at Leghorn, 4, and was bur. there 8 Oct. 1849, aged 65. Will dat. Leghorn, 13 July 1849. His widow (Cornelia Jane) d. at a great age, 5 Aug. 1877, at Mulgrave Terrace, Kingstown, co. Dublin. Will dat. 2 Sep. 1875, pr. in Dublin 3 Sep. 1877, under ;^ 12,000. VI. 1849 6. Benjamin O'Neale (Stratford), Earl of Ald- to BOROUGH, Viscount Aldborough, Viscount Amiens and 1875. Baron of Baltinglass [I.], s. and h., b. 10 June 1808 at Dublin ; sometime Capt. 15th Light Dragoons, retired 1842. His claim as an Irish Peer was allowed June 1854. He d. unm., 19 Dec. 1875, at Alicante, in Spain, when all his honours became extinct. Admon. i Mar. 1876 to his mother Cornelia Jane, Dowager Countess of Aldborough, widow. Chief estates. — These were at Belan, co. Kildare, at Baltinglass, co. Wicklow, and at Mount Neale, co. Carlow. Stratford Lodge, in Balting- (*) " The readiest, quickest person in conversation, I have ever seen, was she quieter she would be more agreeable ; the truth is however, she knows too well the imprudences of her past life, and she is fighting for her place in Society by the perpetual exercise of her talents. {Creevfy Papers, Sep. 181 7.) V.G. C") The marriage entry runs, " The Hon. Gerard Mason Stratford, commonly called Viscount Amiens, bach., with Mary Arundell of Chelsea, Midx., Spinster, a minor with consent of mother. " C') In June 1854, she, as "Mary, widow of Mason Gerard, Earl of Ald- borough, " opposed, unsuccessfully, the claim of the 6th Earl to the Peerage, on behalf of her son, Henry Stratford. Having failed to establish the validity of her marriage, she was known henceforward as " Airs. Gerard, " and lived with her numerous family at Florence. She d. about 1876. The case of Mary Countess of Aldborough was published. In this the will of the 5th Earl (as above) is quoted, wherein he alleges that he " never was married to a Miss Tandy, " and that his issue by her are " natural children, " and that he has " no legitimate child but those of Mary Arundell, Countess of Aldborough, " to whom and to whose children he leaves everything. A document sealed up with the will in an envelope (opened 19 Feb. 1850), states that, "before I ever saw Miss Tandy I was married to Miss Maria Teresa Devenport, who was then alive. " By his own showing the Earl must have been an exceptional scoundrel and bigamous betrayer of women under cover of pretended marriage.