Amelia Anne Hobart, nicknamed "Emily", married Robert Stewart, son of the Irish politician and landowner Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry, in 1794. Her husband used his courtesy title, Viscount Castlereagh, from 1796 until 1821, when he succeeded to the marquessate on his father's death.
They were a notably devoted couple but had no children. They did, however, care for the young Frederick Stewart while his father, Charles, Lord Castlereagh's half-brother, was serving in the army.[1]
Her devotion to her husband, combined with her love of foreign travel, well equipped Emily for the life of a diplomat's wife, and she was noted for her willingness to accompany her husband abroad, no matter how rigorous the journey. In Ireland, however, her sympathies did not always align with those of her husband.
Wife of the Chief Secretary for Ireland
In the summer of 1798, when as Chief Secretary for Ireland her husband was contending with the United Irish rebellion, together with her sister Lady Elizabeth, then dying of tuberculosis, Lady Emily pleaded for the life of the Reverend William Porter. Porter had canvassed for her husband in County Down when he had stood as a "friend of reform" for the Irish Parliament in 1790, and had been a frequent visitor at Mount Stewart. However, he had strained relations with the Stewarts as the author of a popular and politically pointed satire of the County Down landed-interest Billy Bluff, serialised in the United Irish paper, the Northern Star.[2] In February 1798, he asked his Presbyterian congregation, next to Mount Stewart, then under armed guard, and with tenants withholding rent, why Ireland was at war. It was, he observed: "in consequence of our connection with England", and maintained that a French invasion threatened only the government and not the people. Together with uncertain evidence of consorting with the rebels, this was sufficient to have Porter condemned for treason.[3]
In the presence of Porter's wife, Lady Emily wrote to General Nugent pleading for mercy. But discovered by her husband, she was obliged to add a postscript: "L [Londonderry] does not allow me to interfere in Mr Porter's case. I cannot, therefore, and beg not to be mentioned. I only send the letter to gratify the humour" (i.e. to placate Mrs Porter).[4] Porter was hung in front of his own church with, it was later claimed, Stewart tenants, by order, in attendance.[5]
It is conceivable that she was influenced by her mother-in-law. Lady Londonderry, is reputed to have had a "strong but secret sympathy" for the United Irish cause evidenced in her friendship and correspondence with Jane Greg.[6] As he suppressed the republican movement in Belfast and its hinterlands, General Lake had occasion to denounce Greg as "the most violent creature possible".[7]
Husband's suicide
Although there is no doubt that she was concerned by her husband's deteriorating mental condition, which culminated in his suicide in August 1822, she may not have realised quite how serious the matter was. In a private audience on 9 August, Castlereagh had told the King that police officers were searching for him, that he was being "accused of the same crime as the Bishop of Clogher." Percy Jocelyn, who had been defrocked the previous month, had been prosecuted for homosexuality. The King surmised that Castlereagh believed he was being blackmailed for the same reason, but also concluded he was unwell, and urged him to see a physician.[8]
Meanwhile, Lady Emily was insisting, in public at least, that while he had been "unwell" her husband was expected to recover fully. During his last days, she was undoubtedly fully aware of his dangerous condition, but was forced to trust in the skill of their doctor, Charles Bankhead. Afterwards, she was blamed, perhaps unfairly, by many of his friends and political colleagues for concealing the serious nature of his mental illness: Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister, in particular accused her of deceiving him about the extent of the problem.[9]
Last years
After her husband's death, Emily lived quietly in the country for almost two years. In 1824 she returned to her old social life, arousing the censure of some of her husband's friends who thought her conduct unfeeling.[10] However her health soon failed and she died in 1829.
Social leader
During the Regency of George IV, Lady Castlereagh, along with Lady Jersey, Dorothea Lieven, Lady Cowper, and others, was a Lady Patroness of Almack's, one of the first and most exclusive mixed-gender social clubs in London. In their role as Patroness, they had great influence over the ton, determining social acceptance by designating who might receive "vouchers" (entrance tickets) to Almack's, thereby setting and enforcing complex, unwritten social codes of the London social elite.
Credited with having introduced the quadrille to London, Lady Castlereagh is also remembered for having Almack's doors closed, without exception, at eleven o'clock, even once turning away the Duke of Wellington.[11] Her own parties were considered dull, and her manner was somewhat eccentric: guests described her conversation as an endless flow of trivial information delivered in an oddly detached manner. Despite her frivolous manner, she had been well-educated, and had a passion for literature and music.
^"The Cowan Inheritance". Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. 7 September 2006. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
^Brendan Clifford, ed. (1991). Billy Bluff and the Squire [1796] and Other Writing by Re. James Porter. Belfast: Athol Books. p. 80. ISBN9780850340457.
National Portrait Gallery (London) – Portrait of Amelia Anne (Hobart), Marchioness of Londonderry (Lady Castlereagh), by Richard James Lane, printed by Graf and Soret, lithographic printers, c. 1825–50.