Digby, Edward St.Vincent, 9th Baron

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Identity area

Type of entity

Person

Authorized form of name

Digby, Edward St.Vincent, 9th Baron

Parallel form(s) of name

  • Lord Digby

Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

Other form(s) of name

Identifiers for corporate bodies

Description area

Dates of existence

1809-1889

History

Edward St. Vincent Digby, 9th Baron Digby of Geashill was born on 21 June 1809.He was the son of Admiral Sir Henry Digby and Lady Jane Elizabeth Coke. He gained the rank of Lieutenant in the service of the 9th Lancers. When his cousin, Edward, the unmarried 8th Baron and 2nd Earl Digby died, he succeeded to the title of 3rd Baron Digby of Sherborne, Dorset and to the title of 9th Baron Digby of Geashill, King's County on 12 May 1856. It seems his cousin was a very laissez faire landlord. Residing in his splendid residence at Sherbourne. He rarely visited Geashill and granted tenants very long and generous leases. However, because these grants extended beyond his own life-time, he was deemed to have exceeded his legal powers. This would prove to be a problem for his successor. When Edward St Vincent took up his new position he felt that his late ancestor had “no right moral or legal, to lease away his Irish lands for two thirds of their real value”. The new landlord was therefore determined to break the leases, which his predecessor had granted. This was to create much anxiety and upheaval at Geashill where the tenants were faced with loss of tenure, which they previously considered secure. Acting upon his legal rights, the 9th Lord Digby embarked upon breaking these leases, leading the tenants to look for redress and compensation to the executors. It was in the midst of this dispute that William Trench’s services were engaged.

When assessing his time in Geashill, the barony underwent a vast transformation with Lord Digby achieving both national and indeed international recognition for improvements carried out on the estate.The Geashill estate was much improved with bigger and better quality farms, improved cottages, a new school and estate office. It was perhaps no coincidence that the estate underwent a major transformation as Lord Edward Digby was the grandson of Thomas Coke, first earl of Leicester, who was not only a British politician but a noted agricultural reformer. Coke became famous for his advanced methods of animal husbandry used in improving his estate at Holkham in Norfolk. As a result he was seen as one of the instigators of the British Agricultural Revolution.

Edward St. Vincent married Lady Theresa Anna Maria Fox-Strangways, daughter of Henry Stephen Fox-Strangways. He died on 16 October 1889 aged 80.

Places

Sherbourne, Dorset
Geashill, Co. Offaly (King's)

Legal status

Functions, occupations and activities

Mandates/sources of authority

Internal structures/genealogy

General context

Relationships area

Related entity

Digby, Reginald (1847-1927)

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Reginald Digby is the nephew of Edward St Vincent Digby, 9th Baron Digby.

Related entity

Digby, Family of the Barons (1620-)

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Related entity

Digby, Edward, 8th Baron (1773-1856)

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Edward St Vincent Digby was the first cousin once removed of Edward Digby.

Related entity

Digby, Edward Henry Trafalgar, 10th Baron Digby (1846-1920)

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Type of relationship

Digby, Edward Henry Trafalgar, 10th Baron Digby

is the child of

Digby, Edward St.Vincent, 9th Baron

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Related entity

Digby, Edward Kenelm, 11th Baron Digby (1894-1964)

Identifier of related entity

Category of relationship

family

Type of relationship

Digby, Edward Kenelm, 11th Baron Digby

is the grandchild of

Digby, Edward St.Vincent, 9th Baron

Dates of relationship

Description of relationship

Access points area

Subject access points

Place access points

Occupations

Control area

Authority record identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

ISAAR (CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, 2nd edition (2011)

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

August 2016

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Biographical history by Mary Delaney.

Delaney, M. 'William Steuart Trench and his management of the Digby estate, King's Couny 1857-71', Four Courts Press, Dublin (2012)

Maintenance notes

Created by Lisa Shortall

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