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Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea

Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea.
Portrait by Sir Francis Grant, 1847.
From NPG.
See more portraits.

Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea,
younger son of the 11th Earl of Pembroke,
born 16 Sept 1810.
See thepeerage and genealogics.org and wikipedia and wikitree.
He was educ Harrow.
He was educ Oriel College, Oxford, 1829-32 (where Rev. George Montgomery had previously been).

He first went to Ireland to the family's new Irish estates in 1832 [Mount Merrion 300].
He spent much of his time in Mount Merrion or Wilton, while his half-brother the 12th Earl lived in Paris.
His initials "S.H." were on the iron gates which kept intruders from the "fruit garden" or orchard at Mount Merrion. They were still in place on the gates in the mid 20th century [Mount Merrion 300].
The great wrought iron gates in the rosewalk originally came from the Fitzwilliam house at Richmond. See [Wilkinson, 1925].
He contributed to the founding of the Catholic Sisters of Mercy convent beside Booterstown church in 1838.
He also contributed to the founding of Blackrock Catholic church 1842, see [Lyng, 2000].
He is remembered, along with the Duke of Leinster and others, as one of the few decent Irish landlords during the Famine.

Peelite politician.
Secretary of State for War 1845-46 (under Sir Robert Peel).

Sidney met the pioneer nurse Florence Nightingale in 1847 and she became a friend of the family.
In 1850 he built St.John's church (Church of Ireland), Sandymount, Co.Dublin.

Secretary of State for War 1852-55.
He started the Crimean War (1853-56).
This was a war against the Russians, his mother's own people, and his mother and his uncle were alive to see it.
He sent his friend Florence Nightingale to the Crimea, and was a champion of her nursing reforms in the war hospitals.

He was a founder Trustee of NPG 1856.
Secretary of State for War 1859-60 (under Viscount Palmerston).
His 1st cousin's son Arthur Augustus Gibbon worked at War Office also.
He instigated the building of St.Stephen's Parochial School, Northumberland Rd, Dublin (designed think 1856, opened 1861). This quaint building survives.
He was cr Baron Herbert of Lea 15 Jan 1861. Even though it looked as if he was about to become Earl of Pembroke.

Death, 1861:
He died 2 Aug 1861, age 50 yrs.
He was bur Wilton parish church.
Had he lived another year he would have been 13th Earl of Pembroke.

Elizabeth became a Catholic in 1866.
She was author of Impressions of Spain in 1866 (pub 1867) and many other works.
She became a prominent English Catholic writer and philanthropist.
She lived Herbert House, Belgrave Square, London.
She out-lived her son the 13th Earl.
She died Herbert House, London, 30 October 1911, age 89 yrs.
She was bur Mill Hill, London.
Sidney and Elizabeth had issue:

1. George Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke
   (and 10th Earl of Montgomery, and 2nd Baron Herbert of Lea),
   born 6 July 1850.
   His father died 1861.
   He succ as Earl as a child when his uncle died in 1862.
   He mar 1874 to Gertrude Chetwynd-Talbot [dau of Henry Chetwynd-Talbot, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury, see ancestry].
   Under-Secretary for War 1874-75.
   He resided at Mount Merrion for a short time.
   Pembroke Town Hall, Merrion Rd, Dublin, was built 1879.
   He endowed the Pembroke Technical School in Ringsend, Dublin (now Ringsend Technical Institute).
   He died 3rd May 1895, age 44 yrs. See pictures.
   Statue of him stands at gates of Wilton.
   Gertrude died 30th Sept 1906.
   She left over £30,000 to the Dublin hospitals Holles St Hospital and the Royal City of Dublin Hospital, Upper Baggot St (near site of Baggotrath).
   There is a plaque to her just outside the operating theatre of Holles St Hospital.
   There is a plaque to her inside the door of the Royal City of Dublin Hospital. The Herbert arms are over the front entrance.

   
   

2. Maud Herbert, born 1851.
   She mar 1872 to Sir Hubert Parry, 1st Baronet [the composer] and had issue.
   Memorial tablet in Wilton parish church on wall above tomb of 10th Earl. See 2023 photo and wide shot.

   
   

3. Sidney Herbert, 14th Earl of Pembroke,
   born 20 Feb 1853.

   
   

4. Reginald Herbert, born 1854.
   Joined Royal Navy.
   He was lost in the sinking of HMS Captain in 1870 in bad weather off Spain. (The design of the ship was blamed.) About 472 died. It was the worst disaster suffered by the Royal Navy in the entire 'Pax Britannica' era. Herbert was age 16.
   Memorial tablet in Wilton parish church. See 2023 photo.

   
   

5. Gwladys Herbert,
   Constance Gwladys Herbert, born 1859.
   She mar 1stly to St.George Lowther, 4th Earl of Lonsdale and had issue.
   She mar 2ndly to Oliver Robinson, 2nd Marquess of Ripon.
   She died 1917.
   Memorial tablet in Wilton parish church. See 2023 photo.

   
Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, c.1860.
(Left) From NPG.
(Right) From NPG.

Statue of Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, Waterloo Place, London.
From here.

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The garden gates at Mount Merrion

"Entrance to the Rose Walk" at Mount Merrion.
From [Wilkinson, 1925].

The garden gates at Mount Merrion.
From Mount Merrion 300 exhibition. Used with permission.

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George Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke

Statue of George Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke, at gates of Wilton.
Photo 2010. See larger and full size.
See close-up of plaque.

Herbert arms over the front entrance of Royal City of Dublin Hospital.
Note Herbert motto "UNG JE SERVIRAI".
Photo 2012. See full size and other shot.
See street view.