Thomas Weld

Thomas Weld (22 January 1773 – 10 April 1837) was an English Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.

A member of the Weld-Blundell family, Weld was born in London on 22 January 1773, the eldest son of Thomas Weld of Lulworth Castle, Dorset, by his wife Mary, eldest daughter of Sir John Stanley Massey Stanley of Hooton, who belonged to the elder and Catholic branch of the Stanley family, now extinct.

He was educated at home under Jesuit Charles Plowden.

On 14 June 1796 Weld married, at Ugbrooke, Lucy Bridget, second daughter of Thomas Clifford of Tixall, fourth son of Hugh, third Lord Clifford. Their only issue was Mary Lucy, born at Upwey, near Weymouth, on 31 January 1799. The loss of his wife at Clifton on 1 June 1815, and the subsequent marriage of his only child to her second cousin, Hugh Charles Clifford (afterwards seventh Baron Clifford), on 1 September 1818, left him at liberty to embrace the clerical state, and to renounce the family property to his next brother, Joseph Weld. He placed himself under the direction of his old friend, the celebrated Abbé Carron, and Mgr Hyacinthe-Louis de Quélen, Archbishop of Paris, ordained him priest on 7 April 1821. Father Weld kept a poor orphanage in London.

On 20 June 1822 he began to assist the pastor of the Chelsea mission, and after some time he was removed to Hammersmith. The Holy See having nominated him coadjutor to Alexander Macdonell (1762–1840), Bishop of Kingston, Ontario, the ceremony of Weld's consecration as titular Bishop of Amyclae, a town in the Peloponnese, was performed at St Edmund's College, Ware, by Bishop William Poynter on 6 August 1826.

Circumstances, however, delayed his departure for Canada. His daughter being in failing health, he accompanied her and her husband to Italy, and shortly after his arrival at Rome, Cardinal Albani, on 19 January 1830, announced to him that Pope Pius VIII had decided to honour him with the purple. He was admitted into the College of Cardinals on 15 March 1830.

His daughter died at Palo on 15 May 1831, and was buried on 18 May in the church of San Marcello al Corso at Rome, from which he derived his title. On his elevation to the Sacred College he received assurances from persons of high influence and dignity in England that his nomination had excited no jealousy, but on the contrary had given general satisfaction. His apartments in the Odescalchi Palace were splendidly furnished, and periodically filled by the aristocracy of Rome, native and foreign, and by large numbers of his fellow-countrymen

He died on 10 April 1837, and his remains were deposited in the church of Santa Maria in Aquiro. The funeral oration, delivered by Nicholas (afterwards Cardinal) Wiseman, has been published.

His father, Thomas Weld of Lulworth (1750-1810), a former pupil of the Jesuit school in Liège, in 1794 donated 30 acres of land with buildings, to the Society of Jesus to establish Stonyhurst College. He distinguished himself in relieving the misfortunes of the refugees of the French Revolution, and supported the English Poor Clares who had fled from Gravelines, and the Visitandines; and he founded and maintained a Trappist monastery at Lulworth.

His uncle, Edward Weld (c.1740–1775), married Maria Smythe in July 1775, but he died just three months later after a fall from his horse. His widow later married Thomas Fitzherbert in 1778, but he died in 1781. The widowed Mrs Fitzherbert was introduced to George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV) in spring 1784, and they went through a form of marriage on 15 December 1785. The marriage was considered invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772 because it had not been approved by King George III and the Privy Council.

His brother, Joseph Weld (1777–1863), third son of Thomas Weld, was born on 27 January 1777. He received the exiled Royal family of France at Lulworth in August 1830, the king and his suite remaining there for some days, until their removal to Holyrood House. He was the owner of the "Alarm", "Arrow" and "Lulworth" yachts, which he navigated himself until very late in life, and, having a practical knowledge and a real liking for the sea, he was always very fortunate in the construction and sailing of his vessels. He died at Lulworth Castle on 19 October 1863. Joseph was also founder of the Isle of Wight based Royal Yacht Squadron.

His grandson William Clifford was Bishop of Clifton from 1857 to 1893.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Weld, Thomas (1773-1837)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.