Anglo-Irish soldier and peer
William Robert John Horsley Beresford, 3rd Baron Decies (June 1811 – 3 July 1893) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and peer.
Early life.
Beresford was born on 12 January 1865. He was the only son born to John Beresford, 2nd Baron Decies, the Rector of Tuam, and Charlotte Philadelphia Horsley (only daughter and heiress of Robert Horsley of Bolam House, Northumberland. Among his siblings were Louisa Elizabeth Horsley Beresford (wife of Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury) and Caroline Agnes Horsley Beresford (wife of James Graham, 4th Duke of Montrose).
His paternal grandparents were William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, Archbishop of Tuam, and the former Elizabeth FitzGibbon (sister of John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare). His grandfather was the third son of Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone and Lady Catharine Power (only daughter of James Power, 3rd Earl of Tyrone and 3rd Viscount Decies).
Career.
Upon his father's death on 1 March 1865, he succeeded as the 3rd Baron Decies. He served as a captain in the 10th Hussars and Grenadier Guards. He also served as an Irish representative peer.
"His lordship took no active part in public affairs, but was an enlightened agriculturalist, and took a warm interest in the development of the Bolam estate, which under his personal direction, has become one of the richest, from an agricultural point of view, in the country."
Personal life.
On 31 July 1860, Horsley Beresford was married to Catharine Anne Dent (died 1941), the second daughter of Cmdr. William Dent of Shortflatt Tower and the former Ellen Mary Kerr (a daughter of Andrew Seton Kerr). Together, they were the parents of:
Lord Decies died on 3 July 1893 at Bolam House, Northumberland. After his death, Lady Decies, who survived him almost fifty years until her death on 27 February 1941, lived at Heworth Hall in York.
Sporting interests.
"Like all the Beresfords, Lord Decies was a supporter and admirer of true English sports and pastimes. Of late years the penalties of ripened age prevented him taking an active part in those field sports for which when a captain in the Grenadier Guards he was distinguished, his light, spare figure giving him an advantage in the hunting field, and which in his younger days brought him into distinction as one of the best men to hounds of his time. Of a retiring disposition, he was deemed of eccentric habits, and perhaps this character was justifiable, particularly in his affection for the old style of dress. But beneath the resreved exterior there was a warm, kindly heart, and marked traits of the English nobleman. In the palmy days of the Newcastle Wrestling Society, his figure was conspicuous in the pavilion, and no spectator was better versed or took a keener interest in the mysteries of the inside and outside 'click' or the 'cross buttock,' as illustrated in manly rivalry by the sturdy athletes of the northern counties as the famous sports and border games annually celebrated at the Forth Banks."
References.
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