Baron Mount Temple was a title that was created twice in British history, both times in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came on 25 May 1880 when the Liberal politician the Honourable William Cowper-Temple was made Baron Mount Temple, of Mount Temple in the County of Sligo. He was born William Cowper, the second son of Peter Clavering-Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper (see Earl Cowper for earlier history of the family) by his wife the Honourable Emily, sister of the 2nd Viscount Melbourne. Emily married as her second husband the 3rd Viscount Palmerston, a man who would serve as British prime minister. Lord Palmerston, an Anglo-Irish peer, died in 1865 when the viscountcy and his junior title of Baron Temple, of Mount Temple, became extinct. Emily died 11 September 1869, leaving her second husband's estates, including Broadlands in Hampshire, to her second son, William, who thereupon adopted by royal licence the surname Cowper-Temple, in whose favour the Mount Temple title was revived in 1880. William was married to Georgina Tollemache.
Lord Mount Temple died without issue on 16 October 1888 when the peerage became extinct. However, it was revived on 13 January 1932 when his great-nephew, the Conservative politician, Wilfrid Ashley, was made Baron Mount Temple, of Lee in the County of Southampton. He was the son of the Honourable Evelyn Ashley, private secretary to and biographer of third Viscount Palmerston and the second son of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (see Earl of Shaftesbury for earlier history of the family), husband of Lady Emily Cowper, sister of the first Baron of the first creation. He had already inherited Broadlands. Ashley had been married in 1901 to "Maudie" Cassel, only daughter of the Edwardian financier Sir Ernest Cassel, and their elder daughter the Honourable Edwina Ashley, a considerable heiress, was married in 1922 to Lord Louis Mountbatten, later the last Viceroy of India. After his wife's death, he married Muriel Forbes-Sempill. However, Lord Mount Temple had no sons and the title became extinct on his death on 3 July 1939. Broadlands passed through Edwina Ashley into the Mountbatten, now Knatchbull family (see Earl Mountbatten of Burma).
Earl Mountbatten of Burma is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 28 October 1947 for Rear Admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. The letters patent creating the title specified the following remainder in the absence of heirs male:
...to his eldest daughter Patricia Edwina Victoria, Baroness Brabourne...and the heirs male of her body lawfully begotten; and in default of such issue to every other daughter lawfully begotten of the said Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas, Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, successively in order of seniority of age and priority of birth and to the heirs male of their bodies lawfully begotten...
Viscount Palmerston was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 12 March 1723 for Henry Temple, who subsequently represented East Grinstead, Bossiney and Weobley in the British House of Commons. He was made Baron Temple, of Mount Temple in the County of Sligo, at the same time, also in the Peerage of Ireland. He was succeeded by his grandson, the 2nd Viscount, who represented seven constituencies in the House of Commons and served as a Lord of the Admiralty and Lord of the Treasury. On his death the titles passed to his son, the 3rd Viscount, who became a distinguished politician and served three times as Foreign Secretary and twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. At his death in 1865 the 3rd Viscount was granted a state funeral, the fourth non-royal to be given this honour. Lord Palmerston was childless and the barony and viscountcy became extinct on his death.
Earl of Shaftesbury is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1672 for Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Baron Ashley, a prominent politician in the Cabal then dominating the policies of King Charles II. He had already succeeded his father as second Baronet of Rockbourne in 1631 and been created Baron Ashley, of Wimborne St Giles in the County of Dorset, in 1661, and he was made Baron Cooper, of Paulett in the County of Somerset, at the same time he was given the earldom.
Baron Brabourne, of Brabourne in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1880 for the Liberal politician Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, the second son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet, of Mersham Hatch. He had previously represented Sandwich in the House of Commons and served as Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs and Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. Lord Brabourne had assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Hugessen in 1849. His son, the second Baron, represented Rochester in Parliament as a Liberal.
The Mountbatten family is a British dynasty that originated as a British branch of the German princely Battenberg family. The name was adopted on 14 July 1917, three days before the British royal family changed its name from "Saxe-Coburg and Gotha" to "Windsor", by members of the Battenberg family residing in the United Kingdom, due to rising anti-German sentiment among the British public during World War I. The name is a direct Anglicisation of the German Battenberg, or Batten mountain, the name of a small town in Hesse. The titles of count and later prince of Battenberg had been granted in the mid-19th century to a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, itself a cadet branch of the House of Hesse.
William Francis Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple, PC, known as William Cowper before 1869 and as William Cowper-Temple between 1869 and 1880, was a British Liberal statesman.
Earl of Charleville was a title that was created twice in the Peerage of Ireland. The first creation came in 1758 when Charles Moore, 2nd Baron Moore, was made Earl of Charleville, in the King's County. The title Baron Moore, of Tullamore in the King's County, was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1715 for his father John Moore, who had previously represented King's County in the Irish House of Commons. Lord Charleville was childless and the titles became extinct on his death in 1764.
Earl Cowper was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1718 by George I for William Cowper, 1st Baron Cowper, his first Lord Chancellor, with remainder in default of male issue of his own to his younger brother, Spencer Cowper. Cowper had already been created Baron Cowper of Wingham in the County of Kent, in the Peerage of England on 14 December 1706, with normal remainder to the heirs male of his body, and was made Viscount Fordwich, in the County of Kent, at the same time as he was given the earldom, also Peerage of Great Britain and with similar remainder. He was the great-grandson of William Cowper, who was created a Baronet, of Ratling Court in the County of Kent, in the Baronetage of England on 4 March 1642. The latter was succeeded by his grandson, the second Baronet. He represented Hertford in Parliament. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the aforementioned William Cowper, the third Baronet, who was elevated to the peerage as Baron Cowper in 1706 and made Earl Cowper in 1718. In 1706 Lord Cowper married as his second wife Mary Clavering, daughter of John Clavering, of Chopwell, County Durham.
Broadlands is a country house located in the civil parish of Romsey Extra, near the town of Romsey in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. Its formal gardens and historic landscape are Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The house itself is Grade I listed.
Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma,, was an English heiress, socialite, relief worker and the last vicereine of India as the wife of Rear Admiral The 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma.
Frederick James Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne,, known as The Lord Beauvale from 1839 to 1848, was a British diplomat.
Anthony Evelyn Melbourne Ashley was British barrister and Liberal politician. He was private secretary to Lord Palmerston and later published a biography of him. After entering Parliament at a by-election in 1864, Ashley served under William Ewart Gladstone as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1880 to 1882 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1882 to 1885.
Frances Elizabeth Jocelyn, Viscountess Jocelyn, VA was a British courtier and amateur photographer. She was born as the youngest daughter of Peter Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper and his wife Emily Lamb. However, some have speculated that she and her brother William were fathered by Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, whom Lady Cowper married in 1839, after Cowper's death. Before her marriage, Lady Frances served as one of the trainbearers at the coronation of Queen Victoria, and she also served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of the queen to Prince Albert in 1840.
George Augustus Frederick Cowper, 6th Earl Cowper, styled Viscount Fordwich until 1837, was a British Whig politician. He served briefly as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under his uncle Lord Melbourne in 1834.
Colonel Wilfrid William Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple, PC DL was a British soldier and Conservative politician. He served as Minister of Transport between 1924 and 1929 under Stanley Baldwin.
Emily Temple, Viscountess Palmerston, styled The Honourable Emily Lamb from 1787 to 1805 and Countess Cowper from 1805 to 1839, was a leading figure of the Almack's social set, sister of Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, wife of the 5th Earl Cowper, and subsequently wife of another Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.
Classiebawn Castle is a country house built for The 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) on what was formerly a 4,000-hectare (10,000-acre) estate on the Mullaghmore Peninsula near the village of Cliffoney, County Sligo, in the Republic of Ireland. The current castle was largely built in the late 19th century.
Emily Caroline Catherine Frances Ashley-Cooper, Countess of Shaftesbury, formerly Lady Emily Cowper, was the wife of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, and the mother of the 8th earl.
Muriel Emily Ashley, Lady Mount Temple, also known as Molly Mountemple, was a British aristocrat. She was first married to Arthur Forbes-Sempill, a military officer and younger son of William Forbes-Sempill, 17th Lord Sempill. After their divorce in 1914, she married Wilfrid Ashley, who would later be created Baron Mount Temple in 1932. As the wife of Lord Mount Temple, she was the stepmother of Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma and Mary Cholmondeley, Lady Delamere. She was unpopular with her stepchildren, and described as "wicked" and "unkind" by friends of the family. She managed the family's estate Broadlands and two London town houses in Westminster. A bathroom in their second town house, done in the Art Deco style, was called "Lady Mount Temple's Crystal Palace" by the British press.
Ruth Mary Clarisse Cholmondeley, Lady Delamere, was a British heiress and socialite. A granddaughter of German-Jewish banker Sir Ernest Cassel, she inherited an estate including a large manor house in Six Mile Bottom and half of her grandfather's fortune. The Cincinnati Enquirer referred to her as "England's wealthiest girl" when reporting on her first marriage to Captain Alec Cunningham-Reid. She was married three times, becoming a peeress after her third marriage to Thomas Cholmondeley, 4th Baron Delamere. Lady Delamere was the younger sister of Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma.