Charles Clements, 5th Earl of Leitrim

Charles Clements, 5th Earl of Leitrim (23 June 1879 – 9 June 1952), styled Viscount Clements until 1892, was an Irish nobleman.

Clements was the only son of Robert Clements, 4th Earl of Leitrim, whom he succeeded in 1892. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. Leitrim was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 5th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) on 9 February 1898^[1] and promoted to lieutenant on 7 December.^[2] He joined the 9th (Queen's Royal) Lancers as a second lieutenant to fight in the Boer War.^[3] While serving with the 13th Imperial Yeomanry, Leitrim was captured at Lindley.^[4] He was promoted lieutenant in the 9th Lancers on 5 July 1901,^[5][6] but returned to the United Kingdom when the war was drawing to a close in March 1902,^[7] and resigned his commission on 21 June 1902.^[8]

Leitrim married Violet Lina Henderson on 22 October 1902,^[9] the daughter of Robert Henderson, a director of the Bank of England and father of the ambassador Nevile Henderson. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of the City of Londonderry in 1904.

Leitrim commanded the Ulster Volunteer Force in County Donegal, and arranged to run guns into the county in his yacht, SS Ganiamore, in 1913.^[10] During World War I, Leitrim was commissioned a major in the 11th Service Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers^[11] but resigned due to ill health on 10 January 1917.^[12] He was Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Walter Hume Long, in 1917.^[9]

Later in life, he divorced Violet, and married Hon. Anne Mary Chaloner Vanneck, sister of William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield, on 29 April 1939.^[9] Leitrim had no children by either of his marriages. His sometime heir presumptive, his brother Hon. Francis Patrick Clements, disappeared in 1907, and was declared dead in 1917. Reports from the New York Times dated 12 July 1907, and 20 August 1911, suggested that he had gone to the US and worked as a stoker. The Earl was said to have spent thousands of dollars trying to establish his whereabouts. With no heir, the Earldom of Leitrim became extinct upon the Earl's death in 1952.

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 26936. p. 770. 1898-02-08.
2. The London Gazette: no. 27030. p. 7902. 1898-12-06.
3. The London Gazette: no. 27191. p. 2999. 1900-05-11.
4. Otis, James; Frank Thayer Merrill (1900). Fighting for the Empire: The Story of the War in South Africa. Boston: Dana Estes & Company. p. 433. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
5. The London Gazette: no. 27367. p. 6848. 1901-10-23.
6. The London Gazette: no. 27413. p. 1537. 1902-03-04.
7. "The War - Invalids and others returning home" The Times (London). Monday, 24 March 1902. (36723), p. 10.
8. The London Gazette: no. 27444. p. 4050. 1902-06-20.
9. "thePeerage.com". Retrieved 2008-06-07.
10. "Treat of the experience of Unionists in County Donegal during the period 1919-22". Retrieved 2008-06-07.
11. The London Gazette: no. 28953. p. 8644. 1914-10-27.
12. The London Gazette: no. 29896. p. 385. 1917-01-09.