The Hunt/de Vere family estate for 300 years (1657–1957), including the period of the de Vere Baronetcy of Curragh, is the present-day Curraghchase Forest Park, in County Limerick. De Vere spent most of his life on the estate and was closely involved in its management. He suffered much trouble from his ownership of the island of Lundy, which his father, who was a notoriously poor businessman, had unwisely purchased in 1802, and which became a heavy drain on the family's finances. Sir Vere was never able to find a purchaser for Lundy, and it took his son until 1834[6] (or 1830)[3][discuss] to dispose of it.
Sir Aubrey stood for election in the 1820 General Election and came in third with 2921 votes.[7]
Sir Aubrey was a poet. Wordsworth called his sonnets the most perfect of the age. These and his drama, Mary Tudor: An Historical Drama, were published by his son the poet Mr. Aubrey Thomas de Vere in 1875 and 1884.[citation needed]
Works
De Vere produced numerous works over his lifetime. The most notable are: Ode to the Duchess of Angouleme (1815), Julian the Apostate: A Dramatic Poem (1822), The Duke of Mercia: An Historical Drama [with] The Lamentation of Ireland, and Other Poems (1823), A Song of Faith: Devout Exercises and Sonnets and his most famous work, Mary Tudor: An Historical Drama.[9]
References
^De Vere, Aubrey (1897). Recollections of Aubrey De Vere (3rd ed.). London: Edward Arnold. pp. 1, 5 – via Internet Archive. During the war he raised two regiments consisting of the sons of farmers, his own tenants and those of his neighbours, and bestowed a captain's commission on his only son, then a boy of five.