John Vaughan, 2nd Viscount Lisburne

John Vaughan, 2nd Viscount Lisburne (c.1695 – 15 January 1741) was a Welsh landowner and Irish peer who sat in the British House of Commons for Cardiganshire. Apparently a heavy drinker, who kept several mistresses, he informally separated from his second wife in 1729 after she had an affair with his land agent. His spending badly impaired the financial soundness of his estate, and his brother and successor had to contend with the claims of Lisburne's wife's son on the estate.

Vaughan was the eldest son of John Vaughan, 1st Viscount Lisburne, who was ennobled in the Irish peerage around the time of the younger John's birth. His mother was Lady Malet Wilmot, daughter of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. Vaughan appears to have led a dissipated life even before succeeding his father to his estates in 1721. He married Anne Bennet, daughter of Sir John Bennett. She died on 31 July 1723, shortly before her father, without children. He also had a number of mistresses.

During the Christmas season of 1724/5, Lisburne was staying with various gentry in the Severn valley. He and many of the other guests were drinking freely to celebrate the season. Invited to a concert hosted by Sir John Pryce, 5th Baronet, Lisburne was observed to be paying attention to Dorothy, the daughter of Captain Richard Hill. Lady Pryce, worried about the possible consequences, sent her and her sister back to their father's house at Henblas. Later that day, Captain Hill invited Lisburne to Henblas and encouraged him to drink heavily; he awoke in confusion and attempted to leave the next morning, but was persuaded by Dorothy to stay. Further drinking ensued, and Hill convinced Lisburne to marry his daughter, who was much below him in fortune and social station. The ceremony took place on 10 January 1725.

Witnesses in later years disagreed on their behavior towards each other, but the first few years of their marriage seem to have been more or less orderly. Lisburne settled a jointure of £400 on his wife, charged on the Trawsgoed estate, and in 1727, she gave birth to a daughter, Malet. In that year, he left for London to take up a seat in the House of Commons and does not appear to have returned to Wales for two years, while his wife and daughter remained there. In 1729, the vicar of Llanfihangel y Creuddyn wrote to him to tell him that his wife was suspected of an affair with her brother-in-law, David Lloyd, Lisburne's land agent. Lisburne rather leisurely returned from London by way of Montgomeryshire, in the company of his sister Letitia and his current mistress, Mrs. Phillips, one of Letitia's servants. After several weeks of conflict, Dorothy declared her intention of returning to her father at Henblas; Lisburne provided her with horses, and she left his estate and her daughter behind. Lisburne apparently considered a divorce, but this would have been extremely expensive and difficult at the time. There was no formal separation, but they did not see each other, and when Dorothy became pregnant in 1733, the father was believed to be either Lloyd, or Edward Glynne of Glynne, although he was baptised as Edward Vaughan.

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