Robert Cuninghame, 1st Baron Rossmore

General Robert Cuninghame, 1st Baron Rossmore, PC (Ire) (18 April 1726 – 6 August 1801) was an Irish British Army officer and politician.

The Lord Rossmore
Born	18 April 1726
Died	6 August 1801 (1801-08-07) (aged 75) London
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	General
Commands held	Ireland
Battles/wars	Jacobite rising of 1745

Military career

Cuninghame was the son of Colonel David Cuninghame, and his wife Margaret Callander of Craigforth. He was a General in the Army who fought at an early age at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 with the 14th Foot. He later served as Commander-in-Chief of Ireland from 1793 to 1796.

Cuninghame sat as a Member of the Irish House of Commons for Tulsk from 1751 to 1761, for Armagh Borough from 1761 to 1768 and for Monaghan Borough from 1768 to 1796. Between 1788 and 1789 he represented East Grinstead in the British House of Commons.

Lord Rossmore later sat as an Irish Representative Peer in the House of Lords from January 1801 until his death in August 1801. He was childless and was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his wife's nephew Warner William Westenra, 2nd Baron Rossmore. Lady Rossmore died in 1824. His residence was Mount Kennedy, near Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow. Here he died rather suddenly, aged seventy-five, in August 1801, having been in excellent health and good spirits to the end.

Sir Jonah Barrington (156-1834), the judge and memoirist, was apparently the originator of the colourful story that Lord Rossmore's death was heralded by the wailing of a banshee.

Family lineage

Cuninghame was a descendant of the Cuninghames of Drumquhassle[1] and married Elizabeth Murray, second daughter and co-heiress of Colonel John Murray, in 1754. Elizabeth brought him a large dowry, but the marriage, if not for love, is sai to have been very happy. He was admitted to the Irish Privy Council in 1782 and in 1796 he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Rossmore, of Monaghan in the County of Monaghan,[2] with remainder to his wife's nephews Henry Alexander Jones (the son of Theophilus Jones and Anne Murray, eldest sister of Elizabeth; Henry Alexander Jones died childless before his uncle Lord Rossmore) and Warner William Westenra and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Westenra, sons of Henry Westenra and Harriet Murray, youngest sister of Elizabeth.

Notes

1. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, ed. (1976). Burke's Irish Family Records. Burkes Peerage Ltd. p. 309.
2. "No. 13944". The London Gazette. 25 October 1796. p. 1017.

References

• Kidd, Charles; Williamson, David (1990). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. New York: St Martin's Press.
• Mosley, Charles (1999). Burke's Peerage (106th ed.). London.
• Mosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage (107th ed.). London.

External links

• Lundy, Darryl. "The Peerage".
• http://www.leighrayment.com/

Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Frederick Gore St George Caulfeild	Member of Parliament for Tulsk 1751–1761 With: Frederick Gore	Succeeded by William Caulfeild John Bagwell
Preceded by Edward Knatchbull Marquess of Tavistock	Member of Parliament for Armagh Borough 1761–1768 With: Hon. John Ponsonby 1761 Hon. Barry Maxwell 1761–1768	Succeeded by George Macartney Philip Tisdall
Preceded by William Henry Fortescue Richard Power	Member of Parliament for Monaghan Borough 1768–1796 With: William Henry Fortescue 1768–1771 Henry Westenra 1771–1776 James Fortescue 1776–1777 Robert Dobson 1777–1783 Thomas James Fortescue 1783 Theophilus Jones 1783–1791 Cromwell Price 1791–1796	Succeeded by Cromwell Price Henry Westenra
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by George Medley James Cuninghame	Member of Parliament for East Grinstead 1788–1789 With: George Medley	Succeeded by George Medley Richard Ford
Military offices
New regiment	Colonel of the 124th Regiment of Foot 1762–1763	Regiment disbanded
Preceded by Robert Anstruther	Colonel of the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot 1768–1775	Succeeded by George West
Preceded by Hon. William Keppel	Colonel of the 14th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot 1775–1787	Succeeded by John Douglas
Preceded by Sir Joseph Yorke	Colonel of the 5th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Dragoons 1787–1799	Regiment disbanded
Preceded by George Warde	Commander-in-Chief, Ireland 1793–1796	Succeeded by The Earl of Carhampton
Peerage of Ireland
New creation	Baron Rossmore 1796–1801	Succeeded by Warner William Westenra