Джордж Вейн-Темпест, 5-й маркиз Лондондерри: Жизнь и карьера

British aristocrat, businessman, diplomat and Conservative politician

George Henry Robert Charles William Vane Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry, KP (26 April 1821 – 6 November 1884), styled Viscount Seaham between 1823 and 1854 and known as The Earl Vane between 1854 and 1872, was a British aristocrat, businessman, diplomat and Conservative politician.

Born George Vane, he was the second son of Charles Vane, 1st Baron Stewart, but his eldest son by his second wife, the former Frances Vane Tempest, daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Vane Tempest, 2nd Baronet. His father, born Charles Stewart, was the second surviving son of Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry, and had changed his surname in 1819 on marrying his second wife. The eldest surviving son of the 1st Marquess, and therefore George Vane's uncle, was the statesman Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, who had succeeded as 2nd Marquess only 20 days before George's birth. The 2nd Marquess died the next year, and George's father succeeded as 3rd Marquess; George thereby became Lord George Vane. His half brother (by his father's first wife, and therefore not affected by the surname change), Frederick Stewart, became Viscount Castlereagh by courtesy; he later succeeded as 4th Marquess. In 1823, the 3rd Marquess was created Earl Vane and Viscount Seaham, with remainder to his sons by his second wife. As the eldest of those sons, Vane became heir apparent to those peerages, and became Viscount Seaham by courtesy. Lord Seaham was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.

Viscount Seaham entered the 1st Life Guards, purchasing a lieutenancy on 7 February 1845, and retiring on 5 May 1848. He was then appointed a Major in the part time Montgomeryshire Yeomanry on 15 June 1848. He was returned to parliament for Durham North in 1847, a seat he held until 1854. That year he succeeded his father as Earl Vane and entered the House of Lords. In 1867 he was sent on a special mission as Envoy Extraordinary to Russia to Emperor Alexander II, to invest the emperor with the Order of the Garter. When his half brother, Frederick Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry, died childless in 1872, Earl Vane inherited the marquessate and family estates. Two years later George Vane Tempest, 5th Marquess, was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick. In 1880 he became Lord Lieutenant of County Durham, a post he held until his death four years later.

Lord Londonderry managed his father in law's estates (see below), which included some of the slate quarries around Corris, Gwynedd, Wales. He was one of the original promoters of the Corris Railway, created to carry the slate from the quarries to the markets. He sat on the board of the Cambrian Railways, latterly as chairman. He owned lead mines at Van near Llanidloes and was a supporter of the Van Railway, which connected the mines to the Cambrian Railways mainline at Caersws. He owned 50,000 acres with most of his holdings in Durham and County Down.