Mary Hill, Marchioness of Downshire

Mary Hill, Marchioness of Downshire
Memorial in Ombersley Church

Mary Hill, Marchioness of Downshire and suo jure 1st Baroness Sandys (19 February 1764 – 1 August 1836), was a British peeress.

She was born Mary Sandys, daughter of Colonel Martin Sandys (fourth son of Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys) and his wife Mary Trumbull (only child and heiress of William Trumbull, son of Sir William Trumbull).[1]

On 29 June 1786, she married Arthur Hill, Viscount Fairford (who succeeded as 2nd Marquess of Downshire in 1793). They had seven children:[1][2]

The last son, Lord George Hill, was born on 9 December 1801, three months after his father the Marquess of Downshire had died by suicide, on 7 September.[3] Downshire, a vehement opponent of Union with Ireland, had been stripped of his local dignities by the government. The Marchioness became a bitter political opponent to Lord Castlereagh.[4]

She was the heiress of her uncle, Edwin Sandys, 2nd Baron Sandys, and to the estates of her grandfather, William Trumbull, including Easthampstead Park. On 19 June 1802, she was created Baroness Sandys, with a special remainder to her second, third, fourth and fifth sons respectively, and finally to her eldest son, who had succeeded his father as Marquess of Downshire.[1]

  1. ^ a b c "Mary Sandys later Hill, suo jure Baroness Sandys". Cracroft's Peerage. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  2. ^ Lodge, Edmund (1833). "Downshire, Marquis of". The Peerage of the British Empire, as at Present Existing (2nd ed.). London: Saunders and Otley. p. 148. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  3. ^ University of Roehampton (27 February 2019). "Downshire House". History Series. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  4. ^ Thorne, R. G. (1986). The House of Commons 1790–1820. The History of Parliament. London: Secker & Warburg. p. 643. ISBN 9780436521010. Retrieved 2 October 2019.