CLEMENTS, Nathaniel, Visct. Clements (1768-1854).

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1801 - 27 July 1804

Family and Education

b. 9 May 1768, 1st s. of Robert, 1st Earl of Leitrim [I], by Lady Elizabeth Skeffington, da. of Clotworthy, 1st Earl of Massereene [I]. educ. priv. sch. Portarlington; Oriel, Oxf. 1785. m. 24 July 1800, Mary, da. and coh. of William Bermingham of Ross Hill, co. Galway, 5s. 3da. suc. fa. as 2nd Earl of Leitrim [I] 27 July 1804; cr. Baron Clements [UK] 20 June 1831; KP 8 Apr. 1834.

Offices Held

MP [I] 1790-1800; PC [I] 31 Oct. 1834.

Custos rot. co. Leitrim 1795, Donegal 1804; sheriff, co. Leitrim 1796-7, ld. lt. 1831-d.

Col. co. Donegal militia 1796.

Biography

Viscount Clements sat for his father’s borough of Carrick in the Irish parliament of 1790, went over from opposition to government by 1795 and transferred to county Leitrim in the ensuing Parliament. Unlike his father, who was compensated with £15,000 for the disfranchisement of Carrick and became a representative peer, he opposed the Union, but when he was returned to Westminster the Castle expected his support, noting that Clements was ‘by inclination with the Ponsonbys but swayed by Lord Leitrim’. He made no mark at Westminster, but after priding himself on his adherence to his principles in times of ‘general political apostasy’ headed the poll at the election of 1802. In the spring of 1804 he was still thought ‘disposed to act with the Ponsonbys and Lord Charlemont’ and was in Ireland, but ‘might be brought over’. His father’s death, 27 July, removed him from the House at a time when he was expected to support Pitt’s second ministry.

He aspired to a representative peerage and the Grenville ministry were disposed to support his pretensions; but he was disappointed by ensuing administrations, who disliked his opposition politics. His friends rewarded him with a British peerage in 1831. He died 31 Dec. 1854.

Dublin Evening Post, 19 Jan. 1802.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Arthur Aspinall

Notes