Hamilton Cuffe, 5th Earl of Desart
Hamilton John Agmondesham Cuffe, 5th Earl of Desart, KP, KCB, PC (30 August 1848 – 4 November 1934) was a British peer and solicitor.
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Cuffe was the second son of John Cuffe, 3rd Earl of Desart and his wife, Elizabeth, the third daughter of John Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor.
In his early life he was a midshipman in the Royal Navy before becoming a barrister in 1872. In 1877 he was appointed as a secretary to the Judicature Committee and as a solicitor to The Treasury a year later. In 1894 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath and as Treasury Solicitor that year, as well as Queen's Proctor and Director of Public Prosecutions.[1] On inheriting the earldom of Desart from his elder brother, William (who died without heirs male) in 1898, he was promoted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
In 1909, Dysart was created Baron Desart in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which enabled him to sit in the House of Lords (his other titles being in the Peerage of Ireland, which did not entitle him to a seat). In 1913, he was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed a Knight of St Patrick in 1919. He was also appointed Lord Lieutenant of Kilkenny in 1920, a post he held until the Irish Free State was formed in 1922, when all lord lieutenancies of Ireland (bar those of Northern Ireland) were abolished.
On 19 July 1876, Lord Desart had married his second cousin, Lady Margaret Joan Lascelles (1853-1927), the second daughter of Henry Lascelles, 4th Earl of Harewood. They had two daughters:
- Lady Joan Elizabeth Mary (1877-1951), married Sir Harry Lloyd-Verney.
- Lady Sybil Marjorie (1879-1943), married (1) William Bayard Cutting (Jnr.), (2) Geoffrey Scott, (3) Percy Lubbock.
As Desart was the last male descendant of the 1st Earl and died without male heirs in 1934, his titles became extinct.
- ^ The history of the Crown Prosecution Service at www.cps.gov.uk
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Augustus Stephenson |
Queen's Proctor 1894–1909 |
Unknown |
| Preceded by Sir Augustus Stephenson |
Director of Public Prosecutions 1894–1908 |
Succeeded by Sir Charles Mathews |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by The Marquess of Ormonde |
Lord Lieutenant of Kilkenny 1920–1922 |
Post abolished (Irish Free State) |
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
| Preceded by John Cuffe |
Earl of Desart 1898–1934 |
Title extinct |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Desart 1909–1934 |
Title extinct |
