The Guest family is a British family that has been prominent in business and politics since the 18th century. It was involved in the British iron and steel industry, particularly the Dowlais Ironworks in Wales, which later became part of Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. Hereditary titles held by members of the family include Baron Wimborne, Baron Ashby St Ledgers, and Viscount Wimborne, all in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
John Guest (1722–1785 [1] or 25 November 1787 [2] [3] ) was a brewer, farmer, and coal merchant in Broseley, Shropshire. He collaborated with Isaac Wilkinson in starting the Plymouth Ironworks in 1763 and there came to the attention of Thomas Lewis and the other Dowlais partners. He moved to Dowlais and was appointed manager of the works on 30 April 1767. He built his first house at Morlais Brook, Gellifaelog, but, isolated from his family, became a "lonely and melancholy man". By 1767, Guest had moved most of his family to Dowlais. [2] [4] His children were:
Thomas Guest (died 1807) continued his father's work at Dowlais. He married Jemima Revel Phillips of Shifnal, Shropshire. They had three daughters and two sons: [5]
Thomas Guest did much to modernise production at Dowlais, employing several of his relatives, including Cornelius Guest, Charles Guest and George Guest. [7]
Sir Josiah John Guest, 1st Baronet (1785–1852), married: [5]
He purchased Canford Manor, Dorset 1846 and significantly remodelled the house, previously designed by Edward Blore, using the renowned architect of the Houses of Parliament, Charles Barry. [8]
Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne (1835–1914), married Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill (1847–1927), daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, and aunt of Winston Churchill. They had four daughters and five sons: [9]
Lord Wimborne resided at the family residence, Canford Manor, and his wife Cornelia was instrumental in overseeing the construction of estate cottages, started by Charlotte Guest, to improve the living conditions for workers on the estate. The cottages are known as 'Lady Wimborne Cottages' in memory of her role. [14]
Ivor Churchill Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne (1873–1939), married Alice Katherine Sibell Grosvenor, daughter of Robert Wellesley Grosvenor, 2nd Baron Ebury. They had two daughters, and one son: [15]
Frederick Edward Guest (1875–1937), married Amy Phipps (1873–1959), daughter of American industrialist Henry Phipps. The couple had two sons and a daughter, all of whom eventually immigrated to the United States: [16]
Sir Josiah John Guest, 1st Baronet, known as John Josiah Guest, was a British engineer, entrepreneur and politician.
John William Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough, PC, known as Viscount Duncannon from 1793 to 1844, was a British Whig politician. He was notably Home Secretary in 1834 and served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1846 and 1847, the first years of the Great Famine.
Earl of Bessborough is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1739 for Brabazon Ponsonby, 2nd Viscount Duncannon, who had previously represented Newtownards and County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons. In 1749, he was given the additional title of Baron Ponsonby of Sysonby, in the County of Leicester, in the Peerage of Great Britain, which entitled him to a seat in the British House of Lords. The titles Viscount Duncannon, of the fort of Duncannon in the County of Wexford, and Baron Bessborough, of Bessborough, Piltown, in the County of Kilkenny, had been created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1723 and 1721 respectively for Lord Bessborough's father William Ponsonby, who had earlier represented County Kilkenny in the Irish House of Commons.
Viscount Wimborne, of Canford Magna in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Baron de Mauley, of Canford in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 10 July 1838 for the Whig politician the Hon. William Ponsonby, who had earlier represented Poole, Knaresborough and Dorset in the House of Commons. He was the third son of the 3rd Earl of Bessborough, an Anglo-Irish peer, and his wife Lady Henrietta Spencer, daughter of the 1st Earl Spencer. He married Lady Barbara Ashley-Cooper, the daughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 5th Earl of Shaftesbury. She was one of the co-heirs to the ancient barony by writ of Mauley, which superseded the feudal barony the caput of which was at Mulgrave Castle, Yorkshire, which barony by writ had become extinct in 1415.
Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest, later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English aristocrat who is best known as the first publisher in modern print format of the Mabinogion, the earliest prose literature of Britain. Guest established the Mabinogion as a source literary text of Europe, claiming this recognition among literati in the context of contemporary passions for the chivalric romance of King Arthur and the Gothic movement. The name Guest used for the book was derived from a mediaeval copyist's error, already established in the 18th century by William Owen Pughe and the London Welsh societies.
Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne, 2nd Baronet, DL was a British industrialist and a member of the prominent Guest family.
Ivor Churchill Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne, KP, PC, known as Lord Ashby St Ledgers from 1910 to 1914 and as Lord Wimborne from 1914 to 1918, was a British politician and one of the last Lords Lieutenant of Ireland, serving in that position at the time of the Easter Rising.
Ponsonby may refer to:
Roberte Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough,, was a French noblewoman who married into the English aristocracy and served as Viceregal Consort of Canada in the 1930s.
General Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsey was a British Army officer, politician and peer.
William Francis Spencer Ponsonby, 1st Baron de Mauley, was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1826 and 1837. He was raised to the Peerage in 1838.
Oscar Montague Guest was a politician in the United Kingdom, initially with the Liberal Party and later as a Conservative. He was twice elected as a Member of Parliament (MP).
The surname Guest is derived from the Old English word giest, which in turn comes from the Old Norse word "gestr", both of which mean "guest" or "stranger." Spelling variations may include Gest, Geste, Gueste, Ghest, Geest, Geeste, Gist, Ghost, Jest. Other European counterparts to the name include the German and Dutch "Gast", Luxembourgish "Gaascht", Swedish "Gäst", Norwegian "Gjest", Serbian and Slovakian "Gost", Czech "Host", etc.
Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough,, known as Viscount Duncannon from 1895 until 1906, was a British peer.
Rev. Walter William Brabazon Ponsonby, 7th Earl of Bessborough was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and Anglican priest.
Merley House in Ashington, Wimborne, Dorset, England, is a building of historical significance and is Grade I listed on the English Heritage Register. It was built in 1752 by the bibliophile Ralph Willett and remained in the Willett family until about 1875. For the next century it was the residence of many notable people. It is now a hotel.
George Brydges Harley Dennett Rodney, 7th Baron Rodney was a British Army officer notable for his service in the Egyptian and Nile campaigns of the 1880s. He succeeded his father to the Rodney Barony in 1864 and was succeeded by his son George Bridges Harley Guest Rodney (1891-1973).
Frances Charlotte Thesiger, Viscountess Chelmsford,, styled as the Lady Chelmsford until 1921, was a British aristocrat and Vicereine of India.
The Lady Wimborne Cottages are 111 cottages built by the Guest family of Canford Manor, between 1867 and 1904 to improve the living standards of workers on the estate.
