Theodosia Meade, Countess of Clanwilliam

Who was Theodosia Meade, Countess of Clanwilliam?

Theodosia Hawkins-Magill, later Countess of Clanwilliam, was a great heiress and landowner in County Down, Ireland.

She was daughter and heir of Robert Hawkins-Magill, of Gill Hall, Dromore, County Down, by his second wife, Anne Bligh, daughter of John, first Earl of Darnley.

She married John Meade on 29 August 1765, son and heir of Sir Richard Meade, 3rd Bart., of Ballintober, co. Cork, by Catherine, daughter of Henry Prittie, of Kilboy, co. Tipperary. Sir John Meade, 4th Bart., was created Baron Gillford, of the manor of Gillford, co. Down, and Viscount Clanwiliam, of co. Tipperary, on 17 November 1766, and Earl of Clanwilliam on 20 July 1776; all in the peerage of Ireland. Previously he had been MP for Banagher, 1764-66. Between them their estates in 1799 were said to be worth £14,000 per annum, which made them approximately the 11th largest landowners in Ireland.

She was born 5 September 1743 and died at Brighton 2 March 1817. When young she was painted by both Reynolds and Gainsborough.

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