Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford
Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford, KG, PC, PC (Ire), styled The Honourable Francis Seymour-Conway until 1750, Viscount Beauchamp between 1750 and 1793, and Earl of Yarmouth between 1793 and 1794, was a British peer and politician. He held seats in the Irish House of Commons from 1761 to 1776 and in the British House of Commons from 1766 to 1794. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland under his father. He subsequently held positions in the Royal Household, including serving as Lord Chamberlain between 1812 and 1822.
Francis Seymour Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford, by James Sayers, engraving by James Bretherton
Isabella, née Ingram, Hertford's second wife, c. 1800
Chief Secretary for Ireland
The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland, roughly equivalent to the role of a Secretary of State, such as the similar role of Secretary of State for Scotland. Usually it was the Chief Secretary, rather than the Lord Lieutenant, who sat in the British Cabinet. The Chief Secretary was ex officio President of the Local Government Board for Ireland from its creation in 1872.
The Chief Secretary's office in Dublin Castle. The Chief Secretary's residence was the Chief Secretary's Lodge in the Phoenix Park, next to the Viceregal Lodge.
Chief Sectretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park, now the Deerfield Residence of the U.S. Ambassador
Image: Edmund Spenser oil painting
Image: Sir Henry Wotton