William Hare, 3rd Earl of Listowel KP (29 May 1833 – 5 June 1924), known as Viscount Ennismore from 1837 to 1856, was an Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...

 peer and Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician.

Background

Listowel was the eldest son of William Hare, 2nd Earl of Listowel

William Hare, 2nd Earl of Listowel

William Hare, 2nd Earl of Listowel KP , known as Viscount Ennismore from 1827 to 1837, was an Anglo-Irish peer and Member of Parliament....

, and Maria Augusta Windham.

Political career

He succeeded his father in the earldom in 1856 but as this was an Irish peerage it did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

. However, in 1869 he was created Baron Hare, of Connamore in the County of Cork, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Peerage of the United Kingdom

The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...

, which gave him an automatic seat in the House of Lords. Lord Listowel later served as a Lord-in-Waiting

Lord-in-Waiting

Most Lords in Waiting are Government whips in the House of Lords who are members of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. As members of the Royal Household their duties are nominal, though they are occasionally required to meet visiting political and state leaders on visits...

 (government whip in the House of Lords) from May to September 1880 in the second Liberal administration

Liberal Government 1880-1885

After ardently campaigning against the foreign policy of Lord Beaconsfield's Conservative Government, William Gladstone led the Liberal Party to victory in the United Kingdom General Election of 1880. The nominal leader of the Party, Lord Hartington, resigned in Gladstone's favour and Gladstone....

 of William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

. In 1873 he was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick.

Family

Lord Listowel married Lady Ernestine Mary, daughter of Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury

Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury

Ernest Augustus Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury PC , styled Lord Ernest Bruce from 1821 until 1878, was a British courtier and politician. He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household between 1841 and 1846 and again between 1852 and 1858...

, in 1865. He died in June 1924, aged 91, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son Richard. Two of his grandsons, William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel

William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel

William Francis Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel GCMG, PC , styled Viscount Ennismore between 1924 and 1931, was a British peer and Labour politician...

, and John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham

John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham

John Hugh Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham OBE, PC, DL , was a British Conservative politician.-Background and education:...

, both became government ministers. Lady Listowel died in 1936.