Social Victorians/People/Hamilton Temple Blackwood

Also Known As

• Family name
  • Blackwood (2 September 1862)
  • Hamilton-Blackwood (2 September 1862)
  • Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (13 November 1872)
• Earl of Dufferin, co. Down (U.K. peerage, created 1871)
  • Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (13 November 1871 – 12 February 1902)
• Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (U.K. peerage, created 1888)
  • Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (17 November 1888 – 12 February 1902)
• Earl of Ava, co. Down and Burma (U.K. peerage, created 1888) — subsidiary title for the Marquessate, granted to the eldest son
  • Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st? Earl of Ava (17 November 1888 – )
  • Archibald James Leofric Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 2nd Earl of Ava (17 November 1888? – 11 January 1900)
  • Terence John Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 3rd Earl of Ava (11 January 1900 – 12 February 1902)
  • Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 4th Earl of Ava (12 February 1902 – 21 July 1930)

Overview

The politically and socially important Frederick, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava and Hariot, Marchioness were not present at the Duchess of Devonshire’s 1897 Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, but some of their children were. Their eldest, Archibald, Earl of Ava was there; he died in the Boer War in 1900. The 2nd son and his wife, Lord Terence and Lady Flora Blackwood were present; their costumes occasioned comment in the press and their portraits were in the commemorative album. Flora had been an American singer but daughter of a banker. The 3rd son, Lord Basil Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood was also present.

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies

Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood

• Gordon B. Bradley, artist, taught him at Eton
• William Callow, artist
• James Swinton, artist

Organizations

Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood

• Eton
• Belfast School of Design, president
• University of Edinburgh, Lord Rector
• Royal Geographical Society, president (1878–1879)
• London and Globe Finance Corporation, chairman (1879–1900)

Timeline

1875, very large debts caused Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava to sell a lot of his land.

1893 October 16, Lady Florence Davis and Terence John Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood married.

1897 June 28, Monday, according to the Morning Post, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess and Hariot, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava were invited to the 28 June Queen's Garden Party, the official end of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London.

1897 July 2, Friday, Lady Florence and Lord Terence Blackwood attended the Duchess of Devonshire's Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House, as did the Earl of Ava and Lord Basil Blackwood and, possibly, a Lord and Lady J. Blackwood. (Lady Florence Blackwood is #637 on the list of people who attended; Lord Terence Blackwood is #638; Archibald, Earl of Ava is #357; Lord Basil Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood is #582; Lord J. Blackwood is #698); Lady J. Blackwood is #699.)

1902 February 12, Terence John Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood succeeded as 2nd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava.

1919 December 11, Florence Davis Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood and Richard George Penn Curzon, 4th Earl Howe married.

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

At the Duchess of Devonshire’s 1897 Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Lady Florence Blackwood was dressed as Flora, Goddess of Flowers. She attended with her husband Lord Terence Blackwood and his brother Archibald, Earl of Ava.

Lady Florence Blackwood

Florence, Lady Blackwood as Flora Goddess of Flowers. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Saskia as Flora, Rembrandt

Florence, Lady Blackwood called herself Flora.

Gunn & Stuart's portrait of "Florence (née Davis), Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava (later Countess Howe) when Lady Terence Blackwood as Flora Goddess of Flowers" in costume is photogravure #41 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Lady Terence Blackwood, as Flora Goddess of Flowers," with a Long S in Goddess.

What information is available about Lady Florence Blackwood's costume does not name an original for it, if one exists. Flora was the Roman goddess of flowers, springtime, and fertility. Rembrandt's 1634 portrait of Saskia as Flora (right) suggests some elements common to depictions of this goddess: a floral headdress and the staff decorated with flowers.

Lord Terence Blackwood as Captain Blackwood, R.N. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Lord Terence Blackwood

Lord Terence Blackwood was dressed as Captain Blackwood, Royal Navy.

Gunn & Stuart's portrait of "Terence John Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 2nd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava when Lord Terence Blackwood as Captain Blackwood, R.N." in costume is photogravure #42 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Lord Terence Blackwood as Captain Blackwood, R.N."

Lord Terence Blackwood had a couple of ancestors who were in the Royal Navy, Sir Henry Blackwood (1770–1832), who was a Vice-Admiral; Captain Francis Price Blackwood (1809–1854), known for his influence in sailing, especially around Australia; Price Blackwood, 4th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye (1794–1841), also a captain in the Royal Navy. Technically, if Lord Blackwood followed the Duchess of Devonshire's intructions for people to come dressed as someone before 1820 literally, all these Blackwoods are too late, except perhaps Sir Henry Blackwood in an early moment in his life.

Archibald Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Earl of Ava

Archibald Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Earl of Ava was present.

• He was dressed as Archduke Maximilian in the Empress Maria Theresa Quadrille. (p. ??, Col. 1b)
• He is represented in the article in the Gentlewoman with a line drawing and this description of a "black and blue satin costume." He is #14 in a group of men, bottom row, second from left, and identified as "Lord Ava (Louis XV.)."

If the Times and the Morning Post are correct, he was dressed as Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (1756–1801), son of Empress Maria Thérèse and brother of Marie Antoinette.

Henry Arthur Cadogan, Viscount Chelsea was dressed as Le Roi Louis XV and danced in the Louis XV and Louis XVI quadrille with Georgiana, Viscountess Curzon, as La Reine Marie Leszuiska as his wife, Queen of France. The Earl of Ava could have been a second Louis XV, of course, if the Gentlewoman is correct.

Lord Basil Blackwood

Lord Basil Blackwood — Lord Basil (Ian Basil Gawaine Temple) Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood also attended.

Lord and Lady J. Blackwood

See #1 in Notes and Questions, below, for the thinking behind identifying Lord J. Blackwood and Lady J. Blackwood.

Demographics

• Nationality
  • The Hamilton-Temple-Blackwoods: Anglo-Irish
  • Flora David: American
• Residences
  • Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood: Clandeboye, County Down

Family

• Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (21 June 1826 – 12 February 1902)
• Hariot Georgina Rowan-Hamilton (5 February 1843 – 25 October 1936)
  1. Archibald James Leofric Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Earl of Ava (28 July 1863 – 11 January 1900)
  2. Lady Helen Hermione Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (1865 – 9 April 1941)
  3. Terence John Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 2nd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (16 March 1866 – 11 February 1919)
  4. Sydney Temple Blackwood (29 May 1867 – 29 May 1867)
  5. Lady Hermione Catherine Helen Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (1869 – 19 October 1960)
  6. Lord Basil (Ian Basil Gawaine Temple) Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (4 November 1870 – 3 July 1917)
  7. Lady Victoria Alexandrina Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (1873 – 11 February 1968)
  8. Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 3rd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (26 February 1875 – 21 July 1930)

• Flora (Florence) Hamilton Davis (c. 1865 – 14 April 1925)

1. Lady Doris Gwendoline Blackwood (14 December 1895 – 1984)
2. Lady Ursula Florence Blackwood (9 February 1899 – 1982)
3. Lady Patricia Ethel Blackwood (20 March 1902 – 1983)

• Terence John Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 2nd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (16 March 1866 – 11 February 1919)
• Richard George Penn Curzon, 4th Earl Howe (28 April 1861 – 10 January 1929)

Biographical Material

1. The Irish Archives Resource has materials on this family. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has c. 96,000 documents, including personal papers:
   • Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava: D1071/H Papers of Frederick, 1st Marquess of Dufferin
   • Hariot Georgina Rowan-Hamilton, D1071/J Papers of Hariot, Lady Dufferin
   • Their children: D1071/K Letters of the Blackwood children

Notes and Questions

1. It seems unlikely that Terence John Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood would have been called Lord J. Blackwood; he seems to have gone by Terence. I see no others whose surname was Blackwood and whose name would begin with J. Perhaps the newspaper reporter in the Times meant to write Lord T. Blackwood? In some cursive manuscript, perhaps the letters were not clear?