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Richard Fitzwilliam, 6th Viscount Fitzwilliam

Sources yet to be consulted:
- Will of Catherine Decker. PROB 11/1139/267 in [NA.UK].
- Death of 6th Viscount in Public Advertiser, 3 June 1776, and Lloyd's Evening Post, 31 May - 3 June 1776, and Exshaw's Magazine, 1776, p.384.

6th Viscount.
Portrait c.1744 by William Hoare.
NOT by his son Prince Hoare (born 1755).
Used here with the kind permission of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Richard Fitzwilliam, 6th Viscount Fitzwilliam (see here),
bapt 24th July 1711, Dublin.
Grew up at Mount Merrion, Co.Dublin.
His family moved to England around 1726-27.
He succ as Viscount when his father died 1743.
He inherited Mount Merrion, Co.Dublin.

He mar 3 May 1744 to Catherine Decker.
She was dau of Sir Matthew Decker, 1st (and only) Baronet, of Richmond, Surrey, by his wife Henrietta Watkins.
Sir Matthew Decker was a wealthy Dutch merchant. Many of the Dutch paintings in the Fitzwilliam Museum probably come from his collection.

6th Viscount was FRS 1747 and FSA 1748.
His father-in-law died 1749.
He lived in his father-in-law's grand house in Richmond Green, Richmond, Surrey.
He took his seat in the Irish House of Lords 1751,
Moves back to Ireland:
In apparently 1756 [Mount Merrion 300] he decided to live at Mount Merrion once more, and made alterations there.
He laid out Mount Merrion Ave and Cross Ave before 1757. They are both visible in Rocque's map of 1757.
He landscaped the Deer Park at Mount Merrion.

Develops the Fitzwilliam estate in Dublin city:
In the 1750s, the 6th Viscount started the urban development of the vast Fitzwilliam estate at the SE side of Dublin city.
This soon became one of Ireland's most desirable and fashionable areas. The Fitzwilliam estate extended from the Duke of Leinster's house eastwards into the old Fitzwilliam lands around Baggotrath.
He first laid out Merrion St 1758.
He laid out Merrion Square 1762.

The beauty of Mount Merrion is praised in Freeman's Journal, 1 Sept 1774. See p.14 and p.15.
He died at Mount Merrion, 25 May 1776, age 64 yrs. NOT 25 Apr.
He was bur at Donnybrook chapel on 27 May 1776. NOT 28 May.
See entry in burial register transcript on p.286 of [Blacker, 1860-74].

Catherine's will dated 12 Aug 1784.
She died 8 Mar 1786.
Her will pr 11 Mar 1786, Prerogative Court of Canterbury.
She was bur 15 Mar 1786 at Richmond.
6th Viscount and Catherine had issue:

Richard Fitzwilliam, 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam, born 1 Aug 1745,
bapt 22 Aug 1745, Richmond.
John Fitzwilliam, 8th Viscount Fitzwilliam,
bapt 21 Oct 1752, Richmond.
He succ 1816.
He died unmarried, Oct 1830, age 78 yrs.
Thomas Fitzwilliam, 9th Viscount Fitzwilliam,
bapt 3 Sept 1755, Richmond.
He mar 1780 to Agnes Macclesfield.
She died 1817.
He succ 1830.
He died Jan 1833, age 77 yrs.
Title became extinct.

Catherine Decker.
Picture c.1744 by William Hoare.
NOT by his son Prince Hoare (born 1755).
Used here with the kind permission of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

9th Viscount, c.1830.
Portrait by James Coleman.
Used here with the kind permission of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Bishop Richard Pococke passes by Mount Merrion, apparently in Oct 1752 (see p.142).
This seems to be the very end of his 1752 tour.
"Butlerstown" would be Booterstown.
From Pococke's Tour in Ireland in 1752, ed. George T. Stokes, 1891, p.163.

The SE edge of Dublin city on John Rocque's map of Dublin, 1757.
See larger.
This captures Dublin just before the 6th Viscount Fitzwilliam started developing his Baggotrath estate in the open countryside to the E of Kildare House.

6th Viscount listed in [Watson's Almanack, Dublin, 1760, p.43].
See full size.

6th Viscount in [Complete Peerage].

8th and 9th Viscounts in [Complete Peerage].

Decker family

Sir Matthew Decker, Bart.
Portrait by Theodorus Netscher, early 1700s.
Used here with the kind permission of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Lady Henrietta Decker, wife of Sir Matthew Decker, Bart.
Portrait c.1715.
Used here with the kind permission of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

"What scenes superb, displayed on every side!
What native dignity and rural pride!
Slow from the bay exalted Merion swells,
And the luxuriant Richmond far excels;
Art's rich embroidery glistens o'er her plains,
Simple and great, here various nature reigns."
- From "Phoenix Park", a poem by John Leslie, published in London, 1772. Original in [NLI] LO 5221.
The poem is a general celebration of the vista of Dublin.
He is comparing Mount Merrion favourably to the Fitzwilliams' English seat at Richmond.