Lived in Mourne Park from 1806 during which time an existing house was extensively re-built.
Kilmorey was the third son of John Needham, 10th Viscount Kilmorey, and Anne (née Hurleston). He entered the British Army in 1762 and served in the American War of Independence, where he was taken prisoner at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781. He also fought in the French Revolutionary Wars.
In 1804, he was appointed Colonel of the 5th Royal Veteran Battalion. He was promoted to Colonel For Life of the 86th Foot in 1810 and to general in 1812
From 1806 to 1818 Kilmorey represented Newry in the House of Commons. He succeeded his elder brother in the viscountcy in 1818 but as this was an Irish peerage it did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords. In 1822 he was honoured when he was made Viscount Newry and Mourne, in the County of Down, and Earl of Kilmorey. Both titles were in the Peerage of Ireland
Francis, 12th Viscount, who was created first Earl of Kilmorey in 1822 known as “The Little General”
Our Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather
Born 5th April 1748
Died 21st November 1832
Notable Moment
Perhaps best remembered for his role during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. He was in overall command at the Battle of Arklow and commanded one of the five columns at the Battle of Vinegar Hill. When British troops crested the eastern summit of Vinegar Hill, the rebels began to slowly withdraw through a gap in the British lines later known as "Needham's Gap", so-named because the deliberate late arrival of General Needham's troops prevented a total encirclement of the hill
The Second Earl led a colourful life, almost none of it at Mourne Park.
(1787-1880)
Further details here
- Lady Frances Margaretta Anne (1789-1789)
- Lady Anna Maria Elizabeth (1790-1866)
- Lady Amelia (1791-1860)
- Lady Frances Elizabeth (1792-1890)
- Lady Selina (1794-1876)
- Lady Georgiana (1795-1888)
- Lady Alicia Mary (1796-1885)
- Francis Henry William (1799-1868)
- Lady Mabella Josephine (1801-1899)
In 1806 the last of Robert Nedham’s sons, William, died. For some reason he did not bequeath his estates to his nephew, his sister’s son, but instead chose to leave them to Robert Needham, 11th Viscount Kilmorey, his distant cousin. The new owner lived at Shavington, in Shropshire, the family seat since 1461. He was sixty years old, married, but childless. When he and his wife both died in November, 1818, both estates and title passed to his younger brother, General Francis Needham. He had had a long and distinguished career, serving with the 86th foot, and was the oldest officer in the army. In the family he is known as the “Little General”. He was already seventy years old when he succeeded to the title, yet immediately set about with vigour the enlargement of Mourne Park House.
(text extract taken from A Short History of Mourne Park, Julie Ann Anley, October 1999)
He employed as architect a man called Gallagher, who had previously built Mount Oliver, in Ravensdale, Louth.(This Gallagher later emigrated to America, settled in St Louis, changed his name to le Gaillard, and was responsible for many of the finest buildings there.) The south front of the house was altered to two storeys, to give greater ceiling height, while the back remained three storeys. A garden was also laid out. He commissioned a picture of the house, labelled “The Seat of Lord Kilmorey in Ireland”. On the hall table at Mourne there have always been two little wooden post-boxes, labelled “General Needham” “Mrs. Needham”. Apparently the Little General did not speak to his wife for over twenty years, communication between them being along the lines of notes such as “Madam, I require the use of the drawing room tonight, when my friends will call for a hand at cards. Kindly absent yourself”. Speaking or not speaking, however, they did manage to produce nine surviving children.
