Background
Kilmorey was the eldest son of Francis Needham, Viscount Newry, son of Francis Needham, 2nd Earl of Kilmorey. His mother was Anne Amelia Colville, daughter of General Sir Charles Colville.
Kilmorey was the eldest son of Francis Needham, Viscount Newry, son of Francis Needham, 2nd Earl of Kilmorey. His mother was Anne Amelia Colville, daughter of General Sir Charles Colville.
He attended Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1862 (aged nineteen), proposed to give a ball. This was prohibited by the college authorities, chiefly by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll). He was graduated in 1864.
The ball and the resulting coldness between the Liddells and Carroll is mentioned in his diary as "Lord Newry"s business". In 1874 he served as High Sheriff of Down and was then elected to the House of Commons for Newry in 1871, a seat he held until 1874. However, the following year Kilmorey was elected an Irish Representative Peer, and sat in the House of Lords until his death in 1915.
As Viscount Newry, he was commissioned Cornet in the North Shropshire Yeomanry Cavalry in 1865, then promoted Captain in 1871, before the Cavalry were merged into the unified Shropshire Yeomanry regiment.
He continued in the latter, being promoted Major in 1883 and becoming Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the regiment in 1889. He retired in 1896 and was made Honorary Colonel of the regiment.
After the accession of King Edward VII in 1901, Lord Kilmorey was appointed Aide-de-camp (Supernumerary) to His Majesty for the service of His Yeomanry Force. He also received the rank of Colonel (United Kingdom) in the Yeomanry Force.
Lord Kilmorey married in 1881 Ellen Constance Baldock, daughter of Edward Holmes Baldock (Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury).
She was a renowned beauty who caused a scandal by being bequeathed the "Teck emeralds" among other jewels, from her lover, Prince Francis of Teck, brother of Queen Mary. She also reputedly had a liaison with Edward VII, a frequent visitor to the Kilmorey estates at Mourne Park, County Down. Lord Kilmorey died of pleurisy and pneumonia at 5 Alford Street, Mayfair, London, in July 1915, aged 72, and was buried at Kilkeel, County Down.
Lady Kilmorey died in 1920.
20th United Kingdom Parliament.