Marcus Beresford, 7th Baron Decies

Marcus Hugh Tristram de la Poer Beresford, 7th Baron Decies (born 5 August 1948) is an Anglo-Irish hereditary peer.[1] He is the son of Arthur George Marcus Douglas de la Poer Beresford, 6th Baron Decies and Diana (née Turner-Cain). His grandmother Helen Gould was born in the United States.[2]

Marcus de la Poer Beresford,
7th Baron Decies

He was educated initially at Aiglon College, Chesières-Villars, Switzerland, and from 1962 to 1967 at St Columba's College, Dublin. He graduated from Dublin University, with a Master of Letters (M.Litt). Beresford practiced as a solicitor and rose to be Chairman of A&L Goodbody, the leading Irish corporate law firm.[3] He was a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

He succeeded to the title of 7th Baron Decies, of Decies, County Waterford in 1992.

Family

He married, firstly, Sarah Jane Gunnell, daughter of Colonel Basil Gunnell, on 11 April 1970. They divorced in 1974.[4] He remarried in 1981 to Edel Jeannette Hendron.[5] Since 1989 the couple have resided in Straffan, County Kildare.[6]

The couple have four children.

  • Louisa Katherine de la Poer Beresford b. 23 Oct 1984
  • Robert Marcus Duncan de la Poer Beresford b. 14 Jul 1988
  • David George Morley Hugh de la Poer Beresford b. 4 May 1991
  • Jessica Laragh de la Poer Beresford b. 16 Nov 1996

Interests

The couple are equine enthusiasts, and trained racehorses locally with Arthur Moore for many years.[7] His wife is a keen sportswoman who fly-fishes for Ireland and is involved with numerous charitable causes, including the Irish Haemophilia Society.

He has an enduring interest in history stimulated by his ancestors.
William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies (16 April 1743 – 6 September 1819) was also the Archbishop of Tuam.
General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, GCB, GCH, PC (2 October 1768 – 8 January 1854) was a general in the British Army and a Marshal in the Portuguese Army; he fought alongside The Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War and held the office of Master-General of the Ordnance in 1828 in Wellington's first ministry. In 2019 the Irish Academic Press published his biography of the General.[8]

Beresford is a member of both the Irish and British Commissions for Military History.[9][10] He is Chairman of the Trustees of the British Cemetery, Elvas , a member of the Friends of the Lines of Torres Vedras and the Waterford Historical Society.[11]

Bibliography

Journals

  • Ireland in French strategy 1691-1789, Post Graduate thesis (M.Litt)
  • Francois Thurot and the French attack at Carrickfergus, 1759-60, The Irish Sword, X (41), 255-74.
  • Ireland in French Strategy during the American War of Independence, 1776-83, The Irish Sword, XII (49), 285-97 and XIII (50), 20-29.
  • William Carr Beresford and the capture of the Cape Colony and the expedition to the River Plate 1805-1806, The Irish Sword XXIX (P. 240 – 262)
  • Francois Thurot, the Irish connection, Journal of the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society, LXXVIII (1973), 143-50.
  • The Peninsular romance of Lieutenant Waldron Kelly and Ana Ludovina de Aguilar, The Irish Sword, XXXII (129) 2020, 299-316.

Books

  • Marshal William Carr Beresford: ‘The ablest man I have yet seen with the army’ (ISBN 9781788550321) 2019

Other activities

Beresford was a Trustee 1999-2014 of the Alfred Beit Foundation and Chairman 2008-14. He is currently a Trustee of the Apollo Foundation.[12]

He has also been involved in the world of education being a member of the Boards of

References
  1. Armourial coat-of-arms
  2. Family of Marcus Beresford
  3. He won the Law Society's Patrick O'Connor Memorial Prize
  4. Family of Sarah Gunnell
  5. Family of Edel Beresford
  6. Straffan Lodge, originally dating from the 1700s, was where the internationally acclaimed Irish artist Francis Bacon lived from 1909 to 1926; a previous owner, Robert Guinness of the Guinness banking family, bought the property in 1968 and lived there for 20 years.
  7. including Marcus du Berlais, which placed second and third in the 2004 and 2005 Grand Nationals, and the mare Fag an Bealach.
  8. Marshal William Carr Beresford
  9. The Military History Society of Ireland
  10. British Commission for Military History
  11. Waterford Historical Society
  12. The Apollo Foundation
  13. Hewetson's School
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.