Robert Thomas Flower, 8th Viscount Ashbrook

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Robert Thomas Flower
8th Viscount Ashbrook
Born(1836-04-01)1 April 1836
Castle Durrow, Durrow, County Laois, Ireland
Died9 March 1919(1919-03-09) (aged 82)

Robert Thomas Flower, 8th Viscount Ashbrook (1 April 1836 – 9 March 1919) was an Anglo-Irish peer, Militia officer, and inventor.

Biography

Early life

Robert Thomas Flower was born on 1 April 1836 at Castle Durrow, Durrow, County Laois, Ireland.[1][2][3] His father was Henry Jeffrey Flower, 5th Viscount Ashbrook (1806–1871) and his mother was Frances (1803-1886), daughter of Sir John Robinson, Baronet.[2] He had three sisters and two brothers, Henry Jeffrey Flower, 6th Viscount Ashbrook (1829–1882) and William Spencer Flower, 7th Viscount Ashbrook (1830–1906).[1][2][4]

Career

He was commissioned into the part-time Royal Queen's County Rifle Militia (later 4th Battalion, Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)) as a Lieutenant on 6 June 1859 and resigned on 15 December 1888 as a Major with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.[1][2][5] He invented an easy-to-use handloom for the unskilled and disabled, and a latch-hook needle that speeds up the weaving process.[3] The techniques were used by Yvo Richard Vesey, 5th Viscount de Vesci (1881–1958), who opened a carpet factory and hired women to do the weaving.[3] The carpets were sold at Harrods in London and at Marshall Field's in Chicago.[3] They furnished the Mansion House, Dublin, the grandstand at Ascot and RMS Titanic.[3] He became the 8th Viscount Ashbrook and the 9th Baron Castle-Durrow on the death of his brother on 26 November 1906.[1][2]

Personal life

He married Gertrude Sophia Hamilton, daughter of Reverend Sewell Hamilton, on 18 July 1866. They had five children:[1][2]

  • Hon. Frances Mary Flower (married Henry Ernest White).[4]
  • Hon. Eva Constance Gertrude Flower (unknown-1928).
  • Hon. Gertrude Flower (unknown-1956).
  • Llowarch Robert Flower, 9th Viscount Ashbrook (1870-1936).
  • Hon. Reginald Henry Flower (1871-1938).

He resided at 22 Adelaide Crescent in Hove, East Sussex in the 1860s.[6] From 1869 onwards, he resided at Knocknatrina House in County Laois, Ireland.[4] He died on 9 March 1919,[1][2] his wife having predeceased him on 8 November 1911.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 100th Edn, London, 1953: 'Ashbrook'.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 The Peerage: Lt.-Col. Robert Thomas Flower, 8th Viscount Ashbrook
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Christopher Winn, I Never Knew That About the Irish, Random House, 2010 [1]
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Abandoned Ireland: Knocknatrina House
  5. ↑ Army List, various dates.
  6. ↑ Judy Middleton, The Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade, Brighton & Hove Libraries, 2002, Vol. 1, p. 15
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Viscount Ashbrook
1906–1919 		Succeeded by
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