Earl of Westmeath


Earl of Westmeath is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1621 for Richard Nugent, Baron Delvin. During the Tudor era the loyalty of the Nugent family was often in question, and Richard's father, the sixth Baron, died in prison while awaiting trial for treason, a crime for which other members of the family had already been condemned. Richard himself when young was suspected of plotting rebellion and was imprisoned, but in later life, he was a staunch supporter of the Crown, which rewarded him richly for his loyalty. The fifth Earl was a Major-General in the British Army. The sixth Earl was sworn of the Irish Privy Council in 1758. His son by his first wife, Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin, was killed in a duel at an early age. Lord Westmeath was succeeded by his second son by his second wife, the seventh Earl. He sat in the House of Lords as one of the original 28 Irish representative peers; he was also involved in a much-publicised divorce following an action for criminal conversation against his wife and her lover. He was succeeded by his son, the eighth Earl. He was created Marquess of Westmeath in the Peerage of Ireland in 1822. He had no surviving male issue and the marquessate became extinct on his death in 1871. He was succeeded in the barony and earldom by his kinsman, Anthony Francis Nugent, the ninth Earl, who was a claimant to the Jacobite title Baron Nugent of Riverston. The eleventh Earl was an Irish Representative Peer from 1901 to 1933.

Barons Delvin (c. 1389/1486)

William Anthony Nugent, 13th Earl of Westmeath is the son of the 12th Earl and his wife Doris Imlach. He was educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, from where he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery. He retired from the army in 1961, with the rank of Captain, then between 1961 and 1988 he taught at St Andrew's School, Pangbourne. He succeeded as Earl of Westmeath and as the 18th Baron Delvin on 20 November 1971.
He married Susanna Margaret Leonard, daughter of James Charles Beresford Whyte Leonard and Barbara Helen Incledon-Webber, on 31 July 1963. They had two children: