Theodosia Meade, Countess of Clanwilliam

Theodosia Hawkins-Magill (5 September 1743 in Brighton – 2 March 1817 in Brighton),^[1] later Countess of Clanwilliam, was a great heiress and landowner in County Down, Ireland.

Theodosia Hawkins-Magill was born on 5 September 1743 in Brighton. She was the daughter and heir of Robert Hawkins-Magill (d. 10 April 1745), of Gill Hall, Dromore, County Down, by his second wife, Anne Bligh, daughter of John Bligh, 1st Earl of Darnley and Theodosia Bligh, 10th Baroness Clifton. Her father died on 10 April 1745, when she was less than two years old and she inherited his fortune. Her mother remarried in December 1747, to Bernard Ward, and had a number of further children. Mrs Pendarves wrote of Bernard Ward and the former Lady Anne Hawkins-Magill: 'He wants taste and Lady Anne is so whimsical that I doubt her judgement'.

Theodosia may have been called "Titty" by her family, as this was a pet name used for Theodosia's aunt, Lady Theodosia Bligh, who married William, 2nd Lord Brandon, in 1745.

When young, Theodosia Hawkins-Magill was painted by both Reynolds and Gainsborough, both paintings are now held by the Ulster Museum.^[2][3]

On 29 August 1765 Theodosia Hawkins-Magill married John Meade (21 April 1744 – 19 October 1800, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin), son and heir of Sir Richard Meade, 3rd Baronet, of Ballintober, Co. Cork, by Catherine, daughter of Henry Prittie, of Kilboy, Co. Tipperary. She was then known as Theodosia Meade.

Her husband was Member of Parliament for Banagher between 1764–66. On 17 November 1766 as Sir John Meade, 4th Baronet, he was created Baron Gillford, of the manor of Gillford, Co. Down, and Viscount Clanwilliam, of Co. Tipperary. Nearly a decade later, on 20 July 1776 he became Earl of Clanwilliam; all in the peerage of Ireland. This gave Theodosia the title of Countess of Clanwilliam, and was called Lady Clanwilliam.^[4]

Between them (hers being the far greater share) their estates in 1799 were said to be worth £14,000 per annum, which made them approximately the eleventh largest landowners in Ireland.^[5] Theodosia had strong terms to her marriage settlement that prevented her husband from accessing and selling her estates. He was profligate and built up significant debts despite his wealth, owing £72,135 by 1787, and by his death in 1800 his estate had reduced considerably to service these debts.^[4]

Between 1766 and 1782, the couple had ten children.^[4]

Theodosia Meade, Countess of Clanwilliam died on 2 March 1817 and was buried in the cemetery of St Peter's Church, Preston Village.

Despite the fact that women would not have the vote for another two centuries, rich and influential women could have significant political influence. Lady Clanwilliam's family, the Magills, had a long history of representing Co. Down in parliament in the late 1600s and early 1700, and she promoted her sons' political careers to continue the tradition. In October 1793 she announced that her absent eldest son Lord Gilford would stand for the Down by-election, but he was not elected and soon fell out with his mother after he married Countess Caroline Thun, daughter of Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein, of a Catholic Austrian aristocratic family. The Clanwilliams were a prominent protestant Ascendancy family, strongly opposed to Catholic emancipation in Ireland, and the marriage caused a rift.^[4]

• Hawkins of Rathfriland (Alderman Hawkins (d.1680): per chevron argent and vert three hinds trippant proper.

crest: a falcon rising proper, belled or, perched on a lure gold.

motto: providence with adventure (also for Hawkins' in Scotland).

• Magill (for John Mac Gill, died 1677): azure three doves argent.

(cf. Makgill/M'Gill/Mac Gill (of Kembach/Rankeillour, Fife): gules three martlets argent.

motto: In Domino confido. crest: a martlet argent).

• Hawkins Magill (for John (formerly Hawkins) Magill 1701): quarterly 1st and 4th, azure three pewits argent (for Magill), 2nd and 3rd per chevron argent and vert three hinds trippant (for Hawkins).

crest: a falcon standing on a hawk's lure both proper argent and vert.

• Meade (of Ballintobber): gules, a chevron ermine between three trefoils slipped argent;

crest: an eagle displayed with two heads sable, armed or.

motto: Toujours prest.

• Meade (of Earsham and Burrenwood):

quarterly, 1st and 4th, grand quarters, gules, a chevron ermine between three trefoils slipped argent (Meade); 2nd and 3rd, grand quarters, quarterly 1st and 4th, azure, three peewits argent (Magill); 2nd and 3rd, per chevron and vert, three hinds trippant proper (Hawkins) a crest for difference.

Mantling: gules and argent.

• A. P. W. Malcolmson 1999. Familia, no. 15.
• FitzGerald, Alison (September 2005). "Cosmopolitan commerce: the Dublin goldsmith Robert Calderwood: in the first detailed reconstruction of the career of one of Ireland's leading eighteenth-century goldsmiths, Alison FitzGerald reveals a spirited, well-connected and highly successful entrepreneur". Apollo. 162 (523).
• Bernard Burke, Sir, CB, LLD, 1884. The general armoury of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Ulster King at Arms, Harrison, London.
• Edith Mary Johnston-Liik, 2002, History of the Irish Parliament, 1692-1800, six volumes, Ulster History Foundation.
• Esme Wingfield-Stratford, 1959. The Lords of Cobham Hall, Cassell, London.
• G. E. Cokayne (ed.), 1904, Complete Baronetage, Exeter.
• G. E. Cokayne (ed.), The Complete Peerage volume III.
• G. E. Cokayne (ed.), The Complete Peerage (G.E.C.), et al., volume VII, page 452, note d (description of ghost story).
• Grace Dorothea Meade (1902–1977), 1937-11-21, Houses of Ulster transcript, BBC.
• Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd (ed.), 1976, Burke's Irish Family Records, Burke's Peerage Ltd..
• T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1905. Fairbairn's Book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, 4th edition, 2 vols., London, & Edinburgh.

• Ulster Museum's 1765 Reynolds portrait of Theodosia Magill.
• Art Fund's superior reproduction of the above painting.
• Ulster Museum's 1765 Gainsborough portrait of Theodosia Magill.
• The Beresford ghost story, October 1693.
• Gill Hall, old photo of it.
• 1775 Ewer in the Ulster Museum, bearing the arms of Clanwilliam.