Edward Robert King-Harman

Colonel Edward Robert King-Harman (April 3 1838 – June 10 1888) was an Irish Protestant landlord and politician.

King-Harman's father, Lawrence Harman King-Harman, was the younger son of Robert King, 1st Viscount Lorton and inherited from him the great estates of Rockingham, County Roscommon and Newcastle, County Waterford. Rockingham, which was left to Edward (his younger brother inheriting Newcastle) was a fine house built by John Nash, although it was altered in a less than sympathetic way in the late 19th century in order to provide more accommodation.

He held the UK parliamentary seat of Sligo County from January 12 1877 to April 10 1880, Dublin County from 1883 - 1885 (according to T M Healy initially as a Nationalist Home Ruler and later a Unionist), and the seat of Isle of Thanet as a Unionist (Conservative) from December 1 1885 to his death from heart disease at Rockingham in Boyle, Ireland at the age of 49 in 1888.

King-Harman gained the rank of Lieutenant with the 60th Rifles, and rank of Honorary Colonel with the 5th Battalion, Connaught Rangers.

He ran unsuccessfully as Isaac Butt's Nationalist Home Rule candidate in the May 1870 rerun of the December 1869 Longford bye-election after the result of the first vote was overturned.

He Served as Lord Lieutenant of Roscommon in 1882.

He was Justice of the Peace for the counties of Sligo, Longford and Westmeath.

He published in the Freeman's Journal. He was a member of the Arts Club from 1863 to 1888.

T M Healy states that he served as Tory Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Ireland, but this is not verified elsewhere.

King-Harman married, in 1864, Anne Worsley, daughter of Sir William Worsley, 1st Baronet. They had one daughter, Frances Agnes, who married Sir Thomas Stafford, 1st Baronet, a physician and member of the Irish Privy Council. They had two sons, the younger of whom, Sir Cecil Stafford King-Harman, inherited the baronetcy and the Rockingham estates. Sir Cecil died in 1987, having lived in the House until 1957, when tragically, Rockingham was destroyed by fire. The estate was nationalised by the Irish government to become Lough Key Forest Park. What was left of the great house was demolished in 1971. Recently, however, the original seat of the Kings, King House in Boyle, has been restored to its former glory. It had ceased to be a private residence in the late 18th century and functioned as a barracks for the Connaught Rangers Regiment from 1788 until 1922 when it became a barracks for the Irish Army. Joan, Lady Dunn (only daughter of Sir Cecil) and her family maintain a close interest in the project.

Quotes

"Keep the cartridge in the rifle." : advice to Orangemen angered at Gladstone's Representation of the People Act 1884 which would extend the Irish franchise. By then he had ceased to be a Home Ruler.

References

*T M Healy [http://www.chaptersofdublin.com/books/THealy/healy15.htm "Letters and Leaders of My Day". Chapter 15 Devices of Parliamentarians 1883-4]

* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p11752.htm#i117518 Darryl Lundy's website www.thepeerage.com]

* [http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/biog/Harm_EK.htm Brief Biography sourced from Kelly's London Postal Directory, London; Annual Register 1888, p. 152]