1829.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



117 



in Wapping; he and his eldest brotlier, 

 Timotliy, succeeded to the business. Ano- 

 ther brother, Charles, was in holy orders. 

 WiUiam and Timothy had an extensive and 

 valuable connexion amongst mercantile ship- 

 owners ; during tlie war they also entered 

 into several lucrative contracts v/itli govern- 

 ment ; and, consequently^ tlieir income de- 

 rived from trade was very great. In 1776, 

 IVIr. Curtis married Anne, the daughter of 

 Edward Carthall, Esq., hy whom he had 

 several children. Previously to his mar- 

 riage, he was connected with politics in tlie 

 cause of Wilkes and liberty, and at that 

 time was intimate with tlie Rev. J. Home, 

 afterwards Home Tooke. He was a free- 

 man of the draper's company. In 1785 he 

 was chosen Alderman of Tower Ward, in 

 1 7"8, he served the office of Sheriff; and, in 

 1735-6, that of Lord JIayor. In 1700, 

 1796, 1802, 1806, 1807, and 1812, he was 

 returned one of the representatives in Parlia- 

 ment of the city of London ; but, at the 

 election in 1818, he was out-voted, and 

 found himself under the necessity of accept- 

 ing a seat for the borough of Bletchin:: ly, 

 obtained for him, it was said, by the interest 

 of a very great personage. At a subsequent 

 period, however, he was again a successfid 

 candidate for the city, from the representa- 

 tion of wliich he retired some years since. 



For the ser^aces he had rendered to go- 

 vernment, INIr. Curtis was, on the 23d of 

 December, 1802, created a baronet, desig- 

 nated as of Culland's Grove, Southgate, 

 iMiddlesex. Excepting upon the question of 

 the property-tax. Sir M^illiam almost inva- 

 riably voted with his Majesty's Ministers. 

 Blany years since, he entered into the bank- 

 ing basiness, in partnership with the Ro- 

 bert's family ; and the concerns of the 

 hoase have been very extensive, having had 

 large shares in many loans, and keeping 

 many of the first mercantile accounts. On 

 the death of Sir Watkin Lewes, in 1821, 

 Sir ^^'illiam removed from the Tower Ward 

 to that of the Bridge-without. 



Sir WiUiam Curtis was, for many years, 

 an esteemed favourite of his present Ma- 

 jesty. Indeed, he appears to have been a 

 favourite with all who knew him; even with 

 those who differed from him in politics. His 

 character for integrity stood liigh ; his con- 



vivial and faoetiouB disposition rendered his 

 company every where acceptable ; and al- 

 though hundreds of ridiculous jokes have, 

 from time to time, been fathered upon him, 

 he is well known to have been a man pf gooil 

 information, extraordinary shrewdness, and 

 gTeat knowledge of the world. 



Sir William Curtis was president of the 

 Artillery company, and treasmer of the 

 Orphans' Fund. At the time of his death, 

 he was, what is termed, the Father of the 

 City ; a post of honour in which he was suc- 

 ceeded by Sir Richard Carr Glyn. 



Sir William had been some time ill ; and 

 he died at his marine vUla, Ramsgate, on 

 the 18th of January; having only six days 

 survived his brother, the Rev. Charles Cur- 

 tis, rector of Solihull, Warwickshire, and of 

 St. Martin's, Birmingham. 



THE MARCHIONESS OF LONDONDERRY. 



The Most Noble Ameha Anne, more 

 usually recognized by the assumed pre- 

 nomen of Emily, was the only daughter 

 of the Right Hon. John Hobart, second 

 Earl of Buckinghamshire, by his second 

 wife, Caroline, daughter of WiUiam ConoUy, 

 of Stiatton HaU, in the county of Strafford, 

 Esq., by Lady Anne Wentworth, daughter 

 of Thomas, third Earl of Strafford. Her 

 Ladyship was born on the 17th of March, 

 1771. On the 9th of June, 1794, she was 

 married to Robert, then Lord Castlereagh, 

 who became, on the decease of his father, in 

 1821, second Marquess of Londonderry; 

 with whom, until the time of his Lordship's 

 decease, on the 12th of August, 1822, she 

 enjoyed a life of conjugal affection and hap- 

 piness, rarely, if ever surpassed. The ]Mar- 

 chioness was regarded as a star of the first 

 magnitude in the hemisphere of fashion; 

 and, what was infinitely more to her honour, 

 she was respected, esteemed, and beloved 

 for the best and most amiable quaUties of 

 mind and heart. Her Ladyship died some- 

 what suddenly, on the 11th of February. 

 The immediate cause of her death was cramp, 

 wliich seized her fust in the feet, and thence 

 rapitUy ascended to the stomach. A por- 

 trait of her Ladyship, from a drawing by 

 Sir Thomas Lawrence, appeared in No. 10 

 of La Belle Assemblee. 



