Lionel Smythe (1753 - 1801)

Born 19 May 1753 in Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Maria Eliza (Philipse) Smythe — married 4 Sep 1779 in New York, United States

Descendants

Died 1 Oct 1801 at age 48 in Bristol, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Church of Ireland Clergy

In 1769, when he was sixteen-year-old he left Ireland, joined the army and served during the American War of Independence. While quartered in New York in the winter of 1776 to 1777, he met and courted Maria Eliza Philipse, eldest daughter of Col. Frederick Philipse III, of Philipsburg, New York, North America. Philipse was the third and last Lord of Philipsburg Manor and a descendant of the Dutch founder of the city. At first, her father rejected Lionel, however, as Philipse was a Loyalist during the war, the New York Legislature confiscated his estate, one of the largest in the province, and Philipse changed his mind. They married in September 1779 at Trinity Church in Manhattan and they returned to the England.

Lionel Smythe succeeded as 5th Viscount Strangford in 1787.

On he return he took Holy Orders.

He was collated Prebendary of Donoghmore (St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin) on 12 November 1790 (FF.); and installed on 11th December. He resigned in 1795. He was installed on 23 June 1795 as Prebendary of Clonmethan (St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin).

Lionel married Maria Eliza Philipse, eldest daughter of Col. Frederick Philipse III, of Philipsburg, New York, North America, in 1779.

Children

1. Percy Clinton Sydney, 6th viscount., married 17 June 1817, Ellen Burke, youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Burke, Bart, of Marble Hill, and widow of Nicholas Browne, Esq. of Mount Hazel, co. Qalway
2. Elza Maria Sydney, married in 1824, to James Sullivan, M.D.
3. Louisa Sarah Sydney, m. 17 Nov. 1807, to John Eld, Esq. of Seighford, co. Stafford.

He died in 1801.

Death Notice - Salisbury and Winchester Journal October 12, 1801

DIED. On the 1st inst. at the Hotwells, Bristol, in the 48th year of his age, the Right Hon. and Rev. Lord Viscount Strangford : his Lordship was of the most and benevolent disposition; gentle and his unassuming in deportment, honourable and just his principles; in the American war he distinguished himself as a soldier, and was severley wounded, of which he never completely recovered; he afterwards took orders, and in his political character was strongly attached to the Prince of Wales for whom je voted in the Irish House of Peers on the Regency question, and experienced great hostility fro the then Ministry on that account; his Lordship married a daughter of Governor Phillips, in America, by whom he has left a son, 21 years old in August last, and two daughters.

Sources

• Burke's DORMANT & EXTINCT PEERAGES (1883), p. 621
• A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire by Sir Bernard Burke, Publication date 1869, Family: Strangford
• Fasti ecclesiae Hibernicae: the succession of the prelates and members of the Cathedral bodies of Ireland by Henry Cotton, 1789-1879
• Vol 2 - The Province of Leinster, Pg 147, 185