# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Quin, Edwin Richard Windham Wyndham-

​QUIN, EDWIN RICHARD WINDHAM WYNDHAM-, third Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl in the peerage of Ireland, and first Baron Kenry of the United Kingdom (1812–1871), born 19 May 1812, in London, was only son of Windham Henry, second earl. His grandfather, Valentine Richard Quin (1752–1824), as a staunch supporter of the union, was recommended by Lord Cornwallis for a peerage, with the title of Baron Adare (31 July 1800) (Cornwallis Correspondence, ed. Ross, iii. 25). He was further created Viscount Mount-Earl on 6 Feb. 1816, and Earl of Dunraven on 5 Feb. 1822. The third earl's father, Windham Henry Quin, second earl of Dunraven (1782–1850), assumed in 1815 the additional name of Wyndham in right of his wife. He represented Limerick county in the imperial parliament from 1806 to 1820, and was a representative peer of Ireland from 1839 till his death. His wife, Caroline, daughter and heiress of Thomas Wyndham of Dunraven Castle, Glamorganshire, inherited from her father property in Gloucestershire, as well as the Wyndham estate in Glamorganshire; she survived till 26 May 1870.
The son, Wyndham-Quin, graduated B.A. at Trinity College, Dublin, in the spring of 1833, and as Viscount Adare represented Glamorganshire in parliament in the conservative interest from 1837 to 1851. While in the House of Commons he became a convert to catholicism, and his political activity largely aimed at safeguarding religious education in Ireland (Hansard, 3rd ser. lxxx. 1142–3). He became subsequently one of the commissioners of education in Ireland. He succeeded his father as third earl in the Irish peerage in 1850, and retired from the House of Commons next year. On 12 March 1866 he was named a knight of St. Patrick, and on 12 June of the same year was created a peer of the United Kingdom, with the title of Baron Kenry of Kenry, co. Limerick. He acted as lord lieutenant of co. Limerick from 1864 till his death.
Dunraven was deeply interested in intellectual pursuits. For three years he studied astronomy under Sir William Hamilton in the Dublin observatory, and acquired a thorough knowledge both of the practical and theoretical sides of the science. He investigated the phenomena of spiritualism, and convinced himself of their genuineness. His son, the present earl, prepared for him minute reports of séances which Daniel Dunglas Home [q. v.] conducted with his aid in 1867–8. The reports were privately printed as ‘Experiences in Spiritualism with Mr. D. D. Home,’ with a lucid introduction by Dunraven. But Dunraven's chief interest was in archæology. He was associated with Petrie, Stokes, and other Irish archæologists in the foundation of the Irish Archæological Society in 1840, and of the Celtic Society in 1845. In 1849 and 1869 he presided over the meetings of the ​Cambrian Society held at Cardiff and Bridgend, and in 1871 was president of a section of the Royal Archæological Institute. In 1862 he accompanied Montalembert on a tour in Scotland, and five years later travelled in France and Italy, with the view of making a special study of campaniles. But Irish archæology mainly occupied him. He is said to have visited every barony in Ireland, and nearly every island off the coast. He was usually attended by a photographer, and Dr. William Stokes [q. v.] and Miss Margaret Stokes were often in his company.
The chief results of his labours, which were designed as a continuation of those of Petrie, his intimate friend, were embodied in ‘Notes on Irish Architecture,’ two sumptuous folios published after his death, under the editorship of Margaret Stokes, with a preface by the fourth Earl of Dunraven, and notes by Petrie and Reeves. The work was illustrated by 161 wood engravings, from drawings by G. Petrie, W. F. Wakeman, Gordon Hills, Margaret Stokes, Lord Dunraven, and others, besides 125 fine plates. The first part dealt with stone buildings with and without cement, and the second part with belfries and Irish Romanesque.
In 1865 Dunraven compiled, as an appendix to his mother's ‘Memorials of Adare,’ a minute and exhaustive treatise on architectural remains in the neighbourhood of Adare. Part of this, treating of the round tower and church of Dysart, was reprinted in vol. ii. of the ‘Notes.’ Many of these half-ruined buildings were, by Dunraven's munificence, made available for religious purposes. He also contributed some valuable papers to the Royal Irish Academy. He was elected F.R.A.S. in 1831, F.S.A. in 1836, F.R.G.S. in 1837, and on 10 April 1834 became F.R.S. Montalembert dedicated to him a volume of his ‘Monks of the West.’ Dunraven died at the Imperial Hotel, Great Malvern, on 6 Oct. 1871, and was buried at Adare on the 14th inst. He was a man of quick perceptions and great power of application, a zealous Roman catholic, and a highly popular landlord.
He was twice married, first, on 18 Aug. 1836, to Augusta, third daughter of Thomas Goold, master in chancery in Ireland; and, secondly, 27 Jan. 1870, to Anne, daughter of Henry Lambert, esq., of Carnagh, Wexford, who, after his death, married the second Lord Hylton. A portrait of his first wife, who died 22 Nov. 1866, was painted by Hayter, and engraved by Holl. Her son, the fourth earl, under-secretary for the colonies in 1885–6 and again in 1886–7, proved an active Irish politician and yachtsman. There are at Adare Manor portraits of the first Earl of Dunraven by Batoni, and of the third earl and countess by T. Philipps, as well as busts of the first and second earls.
G. Le G. N.