New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-16
Lord wallsoourt Has No vots.

Lord Wallscourt whose ancestral home
Ardfry Castle. in County Galway, has Just
been partly destroyed by fire, is in the
singular position of being wholly without
franchise. Although he figures in all the
standard 'Peerages'' and official works Of
reference as Lord Wallscourt, served as
such in the Coldstrear Guards, is received
as such 1T court. and exercises magisterial
prerogatives under the crown as deputy
lieutenant of the County of Galway under
the name of Lord Wallscourt. yet he has
not established his position in the roll of
Irish peers. He is, therefore, not eligible TO
vote in the election of representative peers.
or TO himself become candidate for cleo
ton to the House of Lords. while he is. on
account of the presumption of his peerage,
prevented from voting as a commoner
This peculiar condition of affairs is due
to the unique character of the patent by
which the barony of waliscourt was
created on July 81. 1900. 1t was bestowed on
Joseph Henry Blake, of Ardfry where his
ancestors had been established since 1872
with remainder in default of issue male of
his body. 20 the heirs male of the body of
his father" Strictly speaking, the barony
should have been conferred on Joseph
y
and who was power in the County of Gal
way. But he was a Roman Catholic, and
by the laws then in existence was as such
precluded from any Office or honor. His
eldest son was a convert to Anglicanisn.
Some say he became Protestant in order
TO be able TO obtain the peerage, and his
conversion was not regarded as real. He
died three years later. during the lifetime
HI he
time of his demise until that of his father,
three or four years afterward. the barony
remained in suspense. and was considered
By many as having become extinct.
After old Squire Blake's death, however.
the eldest son OF Lord Wallscourt's young
est brother, Captain Ignatius Blake, who
had died in 17g7-that is to say, prior to the
creation OF the peerage-was induced by
his relatives TO assume his uncle's title as
second Lord Wallscourt- He. too. died
without issue. and then, in 1916. the of
another brother of the first Lord Walls
court assumed the barony, the present peer
being his son.
When the patent was made out, in 1900,
the Duke of Portland, then Lord Lieuten-
ant Of Ireland. and the famous Lord Castle
reagh, afterward Marquis of Londonderry.
wording of the document, realizing that its
validity would be called into question. But
the Blakes insisted on having it just so,
and as they were all-powerful in Galway,
where their support was needed by the
crown, their wishes were complied with.
The very fact that neither Lord Walls
court, nor yet his father before him,
should ever have sought TO establish their
status. constitutes in itself an admission Of
their own doubts and fears as TO the value
Of their peerage-
The present Lord Wallscourt's eldest son
and heir, the Hon. Charles William Blake,
married in 1897 the Irish born widow of
certain Joseph Boisset, and the union at
tracted much attention at the time, owing
to the fact that the fascinating bride kept
a tobacco shop il the Putney district of
London. MARQUISE DE FONTBNOY.