Robert Thomas Flower 8th Viscount Ashbrook | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 April 1836 |
| Died | 9 March 1919 (aged 82) |
Robert Thomas Flower, 8th Viscount Ashbrook (1 April 1836 – 9 March 1919) was an Anglo-Irish peer, Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, and inventor.
Robert Thomas Flower was born on 1 April 1836 at Castle Durrow, Durrow, County Laois, Ireland. [1] [2] His father was Henry Jeffrey Flower, 5th Viscount Ashbrook (1806–1871) and his mother, Frances Robinson (1803-1886). [1] 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] [3]
He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the service of the 4th Battalion in the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment. [1]
He invented an easy-to-use handloom for the unskilled and disabled, and a latch-hook needle that speeds up the weaving process. [2] 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. [2] The carpets were sold at Harrods in London and at Marshall Field's in Chicago. [2] They furnished the Mansion House, Dublin, the grandstand at Ascot and RMS Titanic. [2]
He became the 8th Viscount Ashbrook and the 9th Baron Castle-Durrow on 26 November 1906. [1]
He married Gertrude Sophia Hamilton, daughter of Reverend Sewell Hamilton, on 18 July 1866. [1] They had five children:
- Hon. Frances Mary Flower (married Henry Ernest White). [1] [3]
- Hon. Eva Constance Gertrude Flower (unknown-1928). [1]
- Hon. Gertrude Flower (unknown-1956). [1]
- Llowarch Robert Flower, 9th Viscount Ashbrook (1870-1936). [1]
- Hon. Reginald Henry Flower (1871-1938). [1]
He resided at 22 Adelaide Crescent in Hove, East Sussex in the 1860s. [4] From 1869 onwards, he resided at Knocknatrina House in County Laois, Ireland. [3]
He died on 9 March 1919. [1]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l The Peerage: Lt.-Col. Robert Thomas Flower, 8th Viscount Ashbrook
- ^ a b c d e Christopher Winn, I Never Knew That About the Irish, Random House, 2010 [1]
- ^ a b c Abandoned Ireland: Knocknatrina House
- ^ Judy Middleton, The Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade, Brighton & Hove Libraries, 2002, Vol. 1, p. 15
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- 1836 births
- 1919 deaths
- 19th-century Irish military personnel
- People from Durrow, County Laois
- Irish expatriates in England
- Irish inventors
- People from Hove
- Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland
- Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment officers
- Military personnel from County Laois
- Peerage of Ireland viscount stubs
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