ABSTRACT
Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1878–1949), seventh Marquess of Londonderry, reluctantly entered British politics in 1905, first sitting in the House of Commons as Viscount Castlereagh and, following his father's death in 1915, in the House of Lords as the Marquess of Londonderry. He was the last member of his immensely wealthy family to play a leading role in the politics of Great Britain and Ireland. 1 Londonderry married Edith Chaplin, the daughter of a Conservative MP and through her mother granddaughter of the third Duke of Sutherland. She played an important part in her husband's political career and was viewed by many Tory MPs as influential in her own right. Her own role as a politically astute society hostess complemented and supported her husband's political opportunities, making his career a synthesis of their shared efforts, aspirations and peculiar talents.
