George Conyngham, 3rd Marquess Conyngham


George Henry Conyngham, 3rd Marquess Conyngham, styled Earl of Mount Charles from 1832 to 1876, was a British peer and soldier.

Biography

He was born on 3 February 1825, the son and heir of Francis Nathaniel Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham, and was baptised at St James's Church, Westminster. He entered the Army as a cornet in the 2nd Regiment of Dragoons on 31 December 1844, and exchanged to be a cornet and sub-lieutenant in the 1st Regiment of Life Guards on 28 April 1848; on 19 October 1850 he was promoted to lieutenant. Besides his military career, Mount Charles served as State Steward to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1847 to 1852.
Mount Charles was promoted to captain in the 1st Life Guards on 4 August 1854 and to major and lieutenant-colonel on 24 August 1861. He served simultaneously in the yeomanry, being made captain in the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles on 20 April 1859, major on 24 June 1862 and lieutenant-colonel commandant on 2 February 1863. He was granted brevet rank as a full colonel on 24 August 1866 and went on half-pay on 13 June 1868. He was then an Equerry to the Queen from 1870 to 1872, when he was made an Extra Equerry. On 17 July 1876 he succeeded his father as Marquess Conyngham in the Peerage of Ireland and Baron Minster in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, and he took his seat in the House of Lords on 2 July 1877. In politics he was a Liberal. Like his father, he held the office of Vice-Admiral of Ulster. He was promoted to major-general on 1 October 1877 and retired with the honorary rank of lieutenant-general on 1 October 1881, with seniority later backdated to 1 July.
Conyngham died at the age of 57 on 2 June 1882, in Belgrave Square. He was buried at Patrixbourne. His widow died at The Mount, Ascot, on 28 November 1907, and was buried on 3 December at Bifrons.

Family

On 17 June 1854 he married Lady Jane St Maur Blanche, only daughter and heiress of Charles Stanhope, 4th Earl of Harrington. They had seven children.