Rudolph Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh

The Right Honourable The Earl of Denbigh
Portrait from the Welsh Portrait Collection at the National Library of Wales
High Sheriff of Flintshire
In office 1850–1851
Preceded by	Philip Lake Godsal
Succeeded by	Wilson Jones
Personal details
Born	(1823-04-09)9 April 1823
Died	10 March 1892(1892-03-10) (aged 68)
Spouse	Louisa Pennant ​ ​ (m. 1846; died 1853)​ Mary Berkeley ​ ​ (m. 1857)​
Parent(s)	Basil Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh Lady Mary Moreton
Military service
Rank	Honorary Colonel
Unit	1st Flintshire Rifle Volunteers Royal Welch Fusiliers

"a Catholic"
The Earl of Denbigh as caricatured by Ape (Carlo Pellegrini) in Vanity Fair, March 1878

Rudolph William Basil Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh, 7th Earl of Desmond (9 April 1823 – 10 March 1892), styled as Viscount Feilding until 1865, was a British peer and noted Roman Catholic convert, who founded the Franciscan friary at Pantasaph, North Wales.

Early life

Feilding was born in 1823, the son of William Basil Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh, and his wife, Lady Mary Moreton, eldest daughter of Thomas Reynolds-Moreton, 1st Earl of Ducie. He was named after the claimed ancestor of the Feilding family, Rudolph I of Habsburg. Rollo and his twin sister Lady Mary Feilding were the first born children of their parents.[1][2]

Feilding was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was president of the University Pitt Club[3] and took the degree of M.A. in 1844.[4]

Career

Feilding was received into the Catholic Church in 1850, and took an active part in many Catholic works of charity under Cardinal Wiseman. As Viscount Feilding he was appointed honorary treasurer, jointly with Viscount Campden and Archibald J. Dunn, of the Peter's Pence Association.

In 1850, Feilding was appointed High Sheriff of Flintshire.[5]

On 29 June 1860, Feilding raised the 4th (Holywell) Flintshire Rifle Volunteer Corps as captain-commandant. After the unit was incorporated into the 1st Administrative Battalion, Flintshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, he commanded that from 1862 with the rank of major. On 2 July 1873, he became the battalion's honorary colonel, and continued in that role with its successor, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers.[6][7]

Family

Feilding married, firstly, Louisa Pennant, great-granddaughter of the Welsh naturalist and travel writer Thomas Pennant. She died of consumption in 1853, without issue. He married, secondly, Mary Berkeley, daughter of Robert Berkeley, Esq. of Spetchley, Worcestershire. They had seven children, including:

• Rudolph Feilding, 9th Earl of Denbigh (26 May 1859 –25 November 1939), who succeeded
• Everard Feilding (6 March 1867 – 8 February 1936), Hon. Sec. of the Society for Psychical Research[8]
• Lady Winefride Mary Elizabeth Feilding (24 September 1868 – 24 February 1959), who married Gervase Elwes on 11 May 1889

After his death in 1892, he was interred with his first wife Louisa at Pantasaph, dressed in the habit of the Third Order of St Francis, of which he was a member.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Rudolph Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh

16. William Feilding, 5th Earl of Denbigh 8. Basil Feilding, 6th Earl of Denbigh 17. Isabella Haeck de Jong 4. William Feilding, Viscount Feilding 18. Sir John Cotton, 6th Baronet 9. Mary Cotton 19. Jane Burdett 2. William Basil Percy Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh 10. Thomas Jelf Powys 5. Anne Catherine Powys 11. Anne Lissey Cooper 1. Rollo Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh 12. Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Baron Ducie 6. Thomas Reynolds-Moreton, 1st Earl of Ducie 13. Mary Provis 3. Lady Mary Elizabeth Moreton 14. Henry Herbert, 1st Earl of Carnarvon 7. Lady Frances Herbert 30. Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont 15. Lady Elizabeth Wyndham 31. Hon. Alicia Maria Carpenter Notes:

References

1. "Lady Mary Feilding - British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
2. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004), "Lady Mary Feilding", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/59482, retrieved 27 June 2023
3. Fletcher, Walter Morley (2011) [1935]. The University Pitt Club: 1835-1935 (First Paperback ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-107-60006-5.
4. "Feilding, Viscount Rudolph William Basil (CMBL899NR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
5. "No. 21065". The London Gazette. 5 February 1850. pp. 313–314.
6. Ray Westlake, Tracing the Rifle Volunteers, Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84884-211-3, p. 89.
7. Army List, various dates.
8. Trevor Hall (October 1978). Search for Harry Price. Gerald Duckworth and Company. p. 137. ISBN 0-7156-1143-7.

Further reading

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Rudolph William Basil Feilding". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Denbigh

Peerage of England
Preceded by William Basil Percy Feilding	Earl of Denbigh 1865–1892	Succeeded by Rudolph Robert Basil Aloysius Augustine Feilding
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by William Basil Percy Feilding	Earl of Desmond 1865–1892	Succeeded by Rudolph Robert Basil Aloysius Augustine Feilding