Henry Villiers-Stuart

{{Short description|British soldier, clergyman and Egyptologist}} {{about||the British politician|Henry Villiers-Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Decies}} {{Use British English|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}

'''Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart''' (13 September 1827 – 12 October 1895), was a British soldier, clergyman, politician, Egyptologist, and author.

==Parentage== He was the son of Henry Villiers-Stuart, 1st and last Baron Stuart de Decies, son of Lord Henry Stuart and his wife, Lady Gertrude Amelia, daughter of George Mason-Villiers, 2nd Earl Grandison.<ref>[http://www.vee.ie/page29a.html Victim, Beneficiary and Follower of his Father's Legacy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721132742/http://www.vee.ie/page29a.html |date=21 July 2011 }}; accessed 8 April 2014.</ref> His paternal great-grandfather was John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, son of Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute.<ref name="UCC"/> Henry Villiers-Stuart had a younger sister, Pauline, later Lady Wheeler Cuffe (died 5 July 1895).<ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp122855/pauline-nee-villiers-stuart-lady-wheeler-cuffe Pauline, Lady Wheeler Cuffe profile], npg.org.uk; accessed 8 April 2014. </ref>

His mother was Theresia Pauline (née Ott), an Austrian Roman Catholic from Vienna. His parents married on 12 January 1826 in a Roman Catholic service at St James's, Spanish Place, London, and also under Scottish law, but there was uncertainty over whether Theresia was free to marry. As a result of this confusion the younger Henry Villiers-Stuart, after the death of his father in 1874, was unable to establish his claim to the peerage and become the 2nd Baron Stuart de Decies.<ref name="vstuartbio">{{cite journal |title=Miscellanea |journal=The Durham University Journal |date=5 November 1898 |volume=13 |page=148 |url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Journals/DUJ13/duj13METS.xml#page/174/mode/2up|access-date=12 August 2019}}</ref> Theresia's married name became Villiers-Stuart, and, as a result of her marriage, she was styled as Baroness Stuart de Decies on 10 March 1839. She died on 7 August 1867 at Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany and was interred at Villierstown, County Waterford, Ireland.

==Career== Villiers-Stuart served in the Austrian Imperial Army from 1844 to 1846. He was in the British Army from 1846 to 1847 as an Ensign in the 20th Regiment of Foot.<ref name="oxford">{{cite ODNB |author1=H. C. G. Matthew |editor1-first=H. C. G |editor1-last=Matthew |authorlink1=Colin Matthew |title=Stuart, Henry Windsor Villiers (1827–1895) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-26706 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en |date=23 September 2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/26706 }}</ref> He afterwards attended University College, Durham and took his BA at Durham University in 1850, graduating with a second-class degree in Classics.<ref>{{cite book|title=Durham University 1832–1932|page=96|author=C. E. Whiting|publisher=Sheldon Press|date=1932}}</ref><ref name=vstuartbio /> In 1849 and still an undergraduate he took his first journey to Egypt, with the intention of visiting sites mentioned in the Bible.<ref name="fraher">{{cite web |last1=Fraher |first1=William |title=VILLIERS-STUART'S EGYPTIAN GLEANINGS |url=http://www.irishegyptology.com/villiersstuart |website=Irish Egyptology |access-date=12 August 2019}}</ref>

===1850–1885=== He was ordained in the Church of England and served as Vicar of Bulkington, Warwickshire from 1852 to 1855, and of Napton from 1855 to 1871, when he resigned Holy Orders to pursue a political career and was successfully returned to Parliament for County Waterford in 1873, representing the Liberal Party.<ref name=vstuartbio /> His father died the following year and he then resigned his seat so that he could pursue his claim to the barony of Stuart de Decies. However, Stuart-Villiers was unable to satisfactorily claim that his parents were legally married and was not allowed to assume the title. He was again elected to the House of Commons for County Waterford in 1880, a seat he held until 1885. While in parliament he was upfront about the economic difficulties faced by Irish landowners of his class. In 1880, he explained to his colleagues in the House of Commons that he had taken out a loan so he could afford to employ 200 men.<ref>{{cite book |last1=James-Chakraborty |first1=Kathleen |title=India in Art in Ireland |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref>

'''Travels and Egyptology'''

Stuart travelled extensively, and published many accounts of his wanderings, notably ''Adventures amid the Equatorial Forests and Rivers of South America'' (1891). He was in South America in 1858, in Jamaica in 1881, and he made several journeys through Egypt, and published various works on ancient and modern Egypt.<ref name=oxford /> After the British intervention in Egypt concluded with victory at the Battle of Tell El Kebir in 1882 he was sent by the British government to report on the conditions of the people in that country, and produced several books on the topic, including ''Egypt after the War'', which received the special recognition of Lord Dufferin, and his reports were published as a parliamentary blue-book.<ref name="UCC">[http://www.ucc.ie/en/alumni/supportucc/funds/library Villiers-Stuart Collection in University College Cork Library Fund], ucc.ie; accessed 8 April 2014.</ref>

The ''Durham University Journal'' noted in their obituary of Villiers-Stuart that ''The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen'' was one of his more popular books.<ref name=vstuartbio /> In this book he recalled a journey taken in Egypt in 1879, including a visit to Deir el-Bahari, where he translated some of the hieroglyphics on the tomb of Ramesses I.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Villiers-Stuart |first1=Henry Windsor |title=The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen |date=1882 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/funeraltentaneg00stuagoog/page/n14 |access-date=12 August 2019 |chapter=Preface}}</ref> He also visited a canopy amidst the royal mummeries, recently discovered by Emile Brugsch, that formed the funeral tent of Queen Isi em Kheb, the mother-in-law of Shishak, and inspired the title of the book.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Villiers-Stuart |first1=Henry Windsor |title=The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen |date=1882|page=5|chapter=Details of its Design}}</ref> He was a member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.<ref name=oxford /> He also joined the Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF) and was concerned about the damage to Egyptian monuments.<ref name=fraher /> Like founding member of the EEF Amelia Edwards he noted with alarm how quickly sites were being destroyed.<ref name=fraher /> In the winter of 1882 he discovered the alabaster altar and basins in Niuserre's Sun Temple at Abu Ghurab, a discovery that Edwards believed to be very significant.<ref name=fraher />

===1885–1895=== He contested East Cork at the 1885 election as an Independent candidate but was unsuccessful, losing out to William John Lane of the Irish Parliamentary Party.<ref name=oxford /> Villiers-Stuart was appointed High Sheriff of County Waterford for 1889.<ref>[http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/big-houses-of-ireland/dromana-house-co.-waterfo/index.xml Castle and mansion-house of Dromana, County Waterford]; accessed 8 April 2014.</ref><ref name="waterford">{{cite web |last1=Fraher |first1=William |title=Villiers Stuart, Henry Windsor (1827-1895) |url=http://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/exhibit/web/Display/article/271/Villiers_Stuart_Henry_Windsor_18271895.html;jsessionid=20D2C7EA56EA20504AB6DC8F9EB0035B |website=Waterford County Museum |access-date=12 August 2019}}</ref>

==Personal life== Villiers-Stuart married Mary Power, the daughter of Ambrose Power, Archdeacon of Lismore, in 1865.<ref name=waterford /> They had five sons and four daughters. He died in October 1895, aged 68, after falling and drowning off Villierstown Quay, near his residence at Dromana, Waterford, having slipped while attempting to enter his boat. His wife survived him by twelve years, dying in September 1907.<ref name="UCC"/><ref name=waterford /> His youngest son, Patrick Villiers-Stuart, married the author and painter Constance Fielden.

==Publications== * ''Eve of the Deluge''. London, 1851. * ''Nile Gleanings: concerning the ethnology, history and art of Ancient Egypt as revealed by Egyptian paintings and bas-reliefs''. London, 1879. * ''The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen''. London, 1882. * ''Egypt after the War: being the narrative of a tour of inspection (undertaken last Autumn) including experiences among the natives, with descriptions of their homes and habits''. London, 1883. * ''Adventures amidst the Equatorial Forests and Rivers of South America''. London, 1891

==See also== * Marquess of Bute

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== *{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}

== External links == *{{Commons category-inline}} * {{Hansard-contribs | hon-henry-villiers-stuart | Henry Villiers-Stuart }}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box|title=Member of Parliament for County Waterford | with = Sir John Esmonde, Bt |before=Sir John Esmonde, Bt<br/>Edmond de la Poer|after=Sir John Esmonde, Bt<br/>Lord Charles Beresford|years=1873–1874}} {{s-bef|before=Lord Charles Beresford<br/>James Delahunty}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for County Waterford | with = John Aloysius Blake 1880–1884<br />Patrick Joseph Power 1884–1885 | years=1880–1885}} {{s-non|reason=Constituency abolished}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villiers-Stuart, Henry}} Category:1827 births Category:1895 deaths Category:British people of Austrian descent Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Waterford constituencies (1801–1922) Category:UK MPs 1868–1874 Category:UK MPs 1880–1885 Henry Stuart Category:Alumni of University College, Durham Category:High sheriffs of County Waterford Henry Villiers-Stuart Category:Deaths by drowning Category:British Egyptologists