Richard Annesley, 6th Earl of Anglesey
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The Right Honourable The Earl of Anglesey |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Richard Annesley c. 1693 |
| Died | 14 February 1761 Camolin Park, County Wexford, Ireland |
| Occupation | Irish peer |
Richard Annesley, 6th Earl of Anglesey (c. 1693 – 14 February 1761), known as The Lord Altham between 1727 and 1737, was an Irish peer and governor of Wexford. He is known for the doubts surrounding his claim to the barony of Altham, for the questionable legitimacy of his marriages and therefore of his son's claim to his titles, and for his arranging the kidnapping of his nephew, a rival claimant to his titles and estates. This incident is believed to have influenced part of the novel Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Annesley was the second son of Richard Annesley, 3rd Baron Altham, sometime prebendary of Westminster, and Dean of Exeter, by Dorothy, daughter of John Davy. Baptised in 1693 in Exeter, he was for a short time an ensign in the army, but quit the service in 1715. He succeeded his elder brother Arthur Annesley, 4th Baron Altham, as 5th Baron Altham (a title in the Peerage of Ireland) in 1727, and was thus able to take a seat in the Irish House of Lords. In 1737 he also succeeded his cousin Arthur Annesley, 5th Earl of Anglesey, as 7th Baron Mountnorris and 7th Viscount Valentia (titles in the Peerage of Ireland) and as 6th Baron Annesley and 6th Earl of Anglesey (titles in the Peerage of England).
In or about 1742 there appeared in England one James Annesley, who claimed to be the legitimate son of Arthur, the late 4th Baron Altham, and consequently a nephew of Anglesey. As a young teenager, Annesley was kidnapped, shipped to the American plantations and ending on a Mennonite Farm in present-day Lancaster County, and sold as an indentured servant in 1728, apparently on the orders of his uncle. He escaped slavery, and in 1743 he was assaulted, for which offences Anglesey was convicted in 1744. Annesley's claim to the titles reached the courts in 1743 who found in his favour, but Anglesey immediately lodged an appeal. Anglesey's defence was that Annesley was not the legitimate son of Mary, but actually the illegitimate son of Joan Landy. Anglesey continued in the enjoyment of his estates and his titles until his death at Camolin Park in County Wexford on 14 February 1761.
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