WINDHAM WYNDHAM-QUIN, 4TH EARL OF DUNRAVEN AND MOUNT-EARL

'Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl' (12 February 1841 – 14 June 1926), styled 'Viscount Adare' between 1850 and 1871, was a British Peer. The son of the 3rd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, he succeeded as '4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl' in the Peerage of Ireland and '2nd Baron Kenry' in the Peerage of the United Kingdom on the death of his father in 1871. As he died without a male heir the Earldom passed to a Windham Wyndham-Quin, 5th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, a distant cousin, and the Barony of Kenry, which had been created for his father, became extinct.
He married Florence Kerr, second daughter of Lord Charles Kerr, first son by his second wife of the 6th Marquess of Lothian.^[1] They had three children:

★ Lady Florence Enid Wyndham-Quin (1870-1891)

★ Lady Rachael Charlotte Wyndham-Quin (1872-1901)

★ Lady Aileen May Wyndham-Quin (1873-1962)
He is buried at St. Nicholas' Church of Ireland^[2] in Adare, County Limerick, Ireland. Here is a image of his headstone.
He held office twice as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in the Conservative administrations from 1885-86 and 1886-87. He was Chairman of the Irish Land Conferences, as well as president of the Irish Reform Association and a member of the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick.
Dunraven was of pure Celtic origin and was educated at Christ College, Oxford. After serving some time as a lieutenant in the First Life Guards, a cavalry regiment, he became at age twenty-six a war correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph and covered the Abyssinian War. In this capacity, he shared a tent with Henry Stanley of the New York Herald.
Dunraven then became a special correspondent for a "big London daily" during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71. He reported the Siege of Paris, saw the Carlist Rebellion and war in Turkey, and probably the Russo-Turkish War. He spent his leisure time hunting wild game in various parts of the world, and was the owner and co-owner of the 1893 and 1895 America's Cup yachts ''Valkyrie II'' and ''Valkyrie III''.
^[3]
Dunraven witnessed both the signing of the Convention of Versailles which ended the Franco-Prussian War and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
He owned several castles, but took his name from Dunraven Castle in Glamorganshire which contained many old ruins.

Contents

Colorado

References

Colorado

The Earl heard of the fine hunting in the American West and decided to visit Estes Park, Colorado in 1872 and again in 1873. In 1874 he decided to take the whole of Estes Park as a game preserve for the exclusive use of himself and his English friends. By stretching the provisions of the Homestead Act and the rights of preemption, Dunraven claimed 15,000 acres (61 km²) in present-day Rocky Mountain National Park. His efforts resulted in what has been called "one of the most gigantic land steals in the history of Colorado." The coming of more settlers in 1874 and 1875 stopped this wholesale entry of land. Although for thirty—three years Dunraven considered the Park his personal property, the settlers did not. Their hostility forced him to give up the game preserve idea. ^[4]
Dunraven later described the influx of settlers and his consequent plans:
The noted landscape artist, Albert Bierstadt, induced by Dunraven to paint in Estes Park, helped select the site for Dunraven's English Hotel, which was built in 1877. It was situated in a meadow east of the present Estes Park village and was the first strictly tourist hotel built in the Park. The hotel was a three story frame building. There were twelve narrow windows, and a large door opening onto a one-storied, columned porch. The roof of this porch formed an open deck surrounded by a small hand railing. The porch ran the full length of the front of the building and about halfway around each end.
Despite the success of this "English Hotel and Lodge," the disillusioned Dunraven left the area forever in the late 1880's. He later explained:
Dunraven realized it would be impossible for him to control all of the park region and in 1907 sold his property to B. D. Sanborn of Greeley and F. O. Stanley of Estes Park. Stanley would later build the historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Dunraven's ''English Hotel'' burned to the ground in 1911.

References

1. ''Rocky Mountatin Administrative History''
2. ''FindaGrave''
3. ''Americascup.com - Acclopedia''
4. ''The Pioneers of the Estes Park and Grand Lake regions''


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