{{Short description|Title in the Peerage of Ireland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Use Irish English|date=February 2021}} {{distinguish|Melbourne}} {{about|the title in the Peerage of Ireland|the British prime minister|William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne}} {{Infobox nobility title | name = Viscountcy Melbourne | image = 240px | image_size = | alt = | caption = Arms of Viscounts Melbourne<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> '''Blazon''' <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> '''''Arms:''' Sable, on a fess erminois between three cinquefoils argent, two mullets of the field. '''Crest:''' A demi-lion rampant gules holding between the paws a mullet sable. '''Supporters:''' Two lions gules collared and chained or, on each collar two mullets sable. '''Motto:''' Virtute et fide (By bravery and faith)''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage |page=673 |year=1849 |URL=https://ukga.org/browse.php?action=ViewRec&DB=33&bookID=201&page=673}}</ref> </div> </div> | creation_date = 11 January 1781 | creation = | monarch = King George III | peerage = Peerage of Ireland | baronetage = | first_holder = Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne | last_holder = Frederick Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne | present_holder = | heir_apparent = | heir_presumptive = | remainder_to = Heirs male of the first viscount's body lawfully begotten | subsidiary_titles = Baron Melbourne<br>Baron Beauvale | status = | extinction_date = 29 January 1853 | family_seat = | former_seat = Melbourne Hall<br>Brocket Hall | motto = ''Virtute et fide'' ("By virtue and faith") | footnotes = }}
[[File:William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne.jpg|thumb|200px|''Portrait of Lord Melbourne'' by John Partridge, 1844.]] '''Viscount Melbourne''', of Kilmore in the County of Cavan, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland held by the Lamb family.<ref name="burke">{{cite book|last1=Burke|first1=John|title=A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire by John Burke|date=1838|publisher=Henry Colburn|page=28|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_t99PVFm380UC|access-date=13 November 2016|language=en}}</ref>
This family descended from Matthew Lamb, who represented Stockbridge and Peterborough in the House of Commons. In 1755 he was created a baronet, of Brocket Hall in the County of Hertford, in the Baronetage of Great Britain. He married Charlotte, daughter of Thomas Coke, through which marriage Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire came into the Lamb family.<ref name="burke"/>
He was succeeded by his son, Peniston, the second Baronet, who sat as Member of Parliament for Ludgershall, Malmesbury and Newport, Isle of Wight, and who, in 1770, was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as '''Baron Melbourne''', of Kilmore in the County of Cavan. In 1781, he was created '''Viscount Melbourne''', of Kilmore in the County of Cavan, also in the Peerage of Ireland. In 1815, he was made '''Baron Melbourne''', of Melbourne in the County of Derby, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.<ref name="burke"/>
He was succeeded by his son, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who was a noted Whig politician and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1834 and 1835–1841. He was Queen Victoria's first Prime Minister, and she greatly relied upon his wisdom and experience in her early days on the throne, to the point where Melbourne's political foes complained that he had enthralled her. Since Melbourne's mother had numerous lovers, it is very doubtful that he was in fact the first Viscount's son.
On his death, the titles passed to his younger brother, the third Viscount, who was a prominent diplomat. In 1839, nine years before he succeeded his brother, he was raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom in his own right as '''Baron Beauvale''', of Beauvale in the County of Nottingham. All five titles became extinct on his death in 1853.<ref name="extinct">{{cite book|last1=Burke|first1=Bernard|title=A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire|date=1866|publisher=Harrison|pages=312-313|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA301|access-date=13 November 2016|language=en}}</ref>
The Honourable George Lamb, fourth and youngest son of the first Viscount, was also a politician.<ref name="extinct"/>
==Viscounts Melbourne (1781)== *Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne (1748–1828) **Hon. Peniston Lamb (1770–1805) *William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779–1848) **Hon. George Augustus Frederick Lamb (1807–1836) *Frederick James Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne (1782–1853)
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melbourne, Viscount}} Category:Viscounts Melbourne Category:1781 establishments in Ireland Category:1853 disestablishments in Ireland Category:Extinct viscountcies in the Peerage of Ireland Category:Noble titles created in 1781 Category:History of County Cavan