Lord Adolphus Vane-Tempest

For the actor, son of the subject of this article, see Adolphus Vane-Tempest.

Lord Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest (2 July 1825 – 11 June 1864),[1] known until 1854 as Lord Adolphus Vane,[2] was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.

He was the fourth child (and second son) of Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry and his wife Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry.

In December 1852, he was elected at a by-election as Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of Durham, but the election was overturned on petition the next year.[3]

In 1854 he was elected unopposed to the House of Commons as MP for North Durham after the death of his father, filling the seat vacated by his elder brother George Vane-Tempest, Viscount Seaham, who succeeded to the peerage as Earl Vane. He held the seat until his death in 1864,[3] aged 38.

During the enthusiasm for the Volunteer Movement in 1859–60, although his brothers were connected with the 2nd (Seaham) Durham Artillery Volunteer Corps formed at the family's Seaham Colliery, Lord Adolphus raised and commanded an infantry corps, the Sunderland Rifles.[4][5]

According to Anne Isba, author and Victorian Studies scholar, Vane was "notoriously unstable" and was "described by Queen Victoria as having 'a natural tendency to madness.' Vane, who on one occasion violently attacked his wife and infant son, died four years later during a struggle with four keepers."[6]

He had one son, Adolphus Vane-Tempest, born 4 January 1863.

  1. ^ "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ "Lord Adolphus Vane". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 19 April 2009.
  3. ^ a b Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 118, 382. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
  4. ^ Ray Westlake, Tracing the Rifle Volunteers, Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, ISBN 978 1 84884 211 3, p. 75.
  5. ^ Ian F.W. Beckett, Riflemen Form: A study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908, Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, ISBN 0 85936 271 X, p. 62.
  6. ^ Anne Isba, Gladstone and Women, 2006, p.96