Nathaniel Clements, 2nd Earl of Leitrim

The Right Honourable The Earl of Leitrim KP PC (Ire)
Lord Lieutenant of Leitrim
In office 1831–1854
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Edward King Tenison
Member of Parliament for County Leitrim
In office 1801–1804 Serving with Theophilus Jones, Peter La Touche II
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Peter La Touche II Henry John Clements
Personal details
Born	Nathaniel Clements (1768-05-09)9 May 1768 Dublin, Ireland
Died	31 December 1854(1854-12-31) (aged 86)
Political party	Whig
Spouse	Mary Bermingham ​ ​ (m. 1800; died 1840)​
Relations	John Townshend, 1st Earl Sydney (nephew)
Children	8
Parent(s)	Robert Clements, 1st Earl of Leitrim Lady Elizabeth Skeffington
Alma mater	Oriel College, Oxford

Nathaniel Clements, 2nd Earl of Leitrim, KP PC (Ire) (9 May 1768 – 31 December 1854), styled The Honourable from 1783 to 1795, and then Viscount Clements to 1804, was an Irish nobleman and politician.

Early life

Clements was born in Dublin on 9 May 1768.[1] He was the eldest son of Robert Clements, 1st Earl of Leitrim and the former Lady Elizabeth Skeffington. His younger brother was Lt.-Col. Hon. Robert Clotworthy Clements (who died unmarried in 1828); his sisters were Lady Elizabeth Clements, Lady Louisa Clements, and Lady Caroline Elizabeth Letitia Clements (the second wife of John Townshend, 2nd Viscount Sydney). His paternal grandparents were the Rt. Hon. Nathaniel Clements and the former Hannah Gore (a daughter of the Very Rev. William Gore, Dean of Down).[2] His mother was the eldest daughter of Clotworthy Skeffington, 1st Earl of Massereene.[1]

He was educated at a private school in Portarlington and Oriel College, Oxford, graduating in 1788. Two years later he was elected to the Irish House of Commons as Whig member for Roscommon as well as Carrick, but chose to sit for the latter. In 1798, as Viscount Clements, he was returned for both Cavan Borough and County Leitrim. He represented the latter constituency until the Act of Union in 1801, and was then elected for Leitrim at Westminster until 1804.[3]

Career

He was appointed Custos Rotulorum of Leitrim in 1795 and Custos Rotulorum of Donegal in 1804. Having served as High Sheriff of Leitrim in 1796,[1] Clements became Colonel of the Prince of Wales's Own Donegal Militia on 22 June 1796, and retained the command even after its disembodiment in 1816.[4][5] In 1798 he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Leitrim, but subsequently failed in his attempts to be elected to the House of Lords as an Irish representative peer. In 1831, as well as becoming Lord Lieutenant of Leitrim for life, Lord Leitrim was created Baron Clements in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[1]

Three years later he was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick, and later that year he became a member of the Irish Privy Council.[6]

Personal life

On 24 July 1800, he was married to Mary Bermingham (d. 1840), eldest daughter and co-heiress of William Bermingham of Ross Hill and Mary (née Ruttledge) Bermingham (eldest daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Ruttledge).[1] Together, they were the parents of:[1]

• Lady Maria Clements (1802–1885), who married the Rev. Hon. Edward Southwell Keppel (1800–1883), Clerk of the Closet and Rector of Quidenham who was the fourth son of William Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle and the Hon. Elizabeth Southwell (second daughter of Edward Southwell, 20th Baron de Clifford) in 1828.[1]
• Lady Elizabeth Victoria Clements (1803–1892), who died unmarried.[1]
• Robert Bermingham Clements, styled Viscount Clements (1805–1839), a Whig Member of Parliament for County Leitrim from 1826 to 1830 and from 1832 until his death in 1839.[1]
• William Sydney Clements, 3rd Earl of Leitrim (1806–1878).[1]
• Hon. Charles Skeffington Clements (1807–1877), MP for Leitrim from 1847 to 1852.[1]
• Hon. George Robert Anson Clements (1810–1837), who served in the Royal Navy.[1]
• Hon. Francis Nathaniel Clements (1812–1870),[7] a reverend who served as Vicar of Norton and Canon of Durham; he married Charlotte King, daughter of Rev. Gilbert King; after her death, he married Amelia Verner, eldest daughter of Sir William Verner, 1st Baronet.[1]
• Lady Caroline Clements (d. 1869), who married John Ynyr Burges of Parkanaur House in 1833.[1]

Lady Leitrim died on 5 February 1840. Lord Leitrim died in 1854 aged 86 at his residence of Killadoon in County Kildare. His eldest son having predeceased him in 1839, he was succeeded in the earldom by his younger son, William Sydney Clements.[1]

References

1. "Leitrim, Earl of (I, 1795 – 1952)". cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
2. A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, Volume 1. Henry Colburn. 1869. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
3. "CLEMENTS, Nathaniel, Visct. Clements (1768–1854)". historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
4. War Office, A List of the Officers of the Militia, the Gentlemen & Yeomanry Cavalry, and Volunteer Infantry of the United Kingdom, 11th Edn, London: War Office, 14 October 1805/Uckfield: Naval and Military Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-84574-207-2.
5. Arthur Sleigh, The Royal Militia and Yeomanry Cavalry Army List, April 1850, London: British Army Despatch Press, 1850/Uckfield: Naval and Military Press, 1991, ISBN 978-1-84342-410-9, p. 139.
6. "CLEMENTS, Nathaniel, Visct. Clements (1768–1854)". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
7. Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage: Comprising Information Concerning All Persons Bearing Hereditary Or Courtesy Titles, Knights, and Companions of All the Various Orders, and the Collateral Branches of All Peers and Baronets. Dean & Son, Limited. 1902. p. 503. Retrieved 5 October 2020.

External links

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^[self-published source] ^[better source needed]
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Nathaniel Clements, 2nd Earl of Leitrim (1768–1854), Irish nobleman and politician at the National Portrait Gallery, London

Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Maurice Copinger George Sandford	Member of Parliament for Roscommon 1790–1791 With: George Sandford	Succeeded by Henry Moore Sandford George Sandford
Preceded by Edward King Hon. Thomas Pelham	Member of Parliament for Carrick 1790–1797 With: Edward King 1790–1793 Nathaniel Sneyd 1794–1797	Succeeded by Nathaniel Sneyd William Gore
Preceded by Peter La Touche Theophilus Jones	Member of Parliament for County Leitrim 1798–1801 With: Theophilus Jones	Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Nesbitt Lord Charles James FitzGerald	Member of Parliament for Cavan Borough 1798 With: Thomas Nesbitt	Succeeded by Thomas Nesbitt George Cavendish
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Leitrim 1801–1804 With: Theophilus Jones 1801–1802 Peter La Touche II 1802–1804	Succeeded by Peter La Touche II Henry John Clements
Honorary titles
New title	Lord Lieutenant of Leitrim 1831–1854	Succeeded by Edward King Tenison
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Robert Clements	Earl of Leitrim 1804–1854	Succeeded by William Clements
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Clements 1831–1854	Succeeded by William Clements