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{{Redirect-distinguish|Robert Bourke|Robert Burke (disambiguation){{!}}Robert Burke}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Lord Connemara
| honorific-suffix = [[Order of the Indian Empire|GCIE]] [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|PC]]
| image = Robert Bourke, Vanity Fair, 1877-04-28.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = "Bobby". Caricature by [[Leslie Ward|Spy]] published in ''[[Vanity Fair (UK magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' in 1877.
| order1 = [[Governor of Madras Presidency]]
| term_start1 = 8 December 1886
| term_end1 = 1 December 1890
| monarch1 = [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]]
| predecessor1 = [[M. E. Grant Duff]]
| successor1 = [[John Henry Garstin]]
| order2 = [[Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs|Under-Secretary of State <br>for Foreign Affairs]]
| term_start2 = 23 February 1874
| term_end2 = 21 April 1880
| monarch2 = [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]]
| primeminister2 = [[Benjamin Disraeli]]
| predecessor2 = [[George Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford|Viscount Enfield]]
| successor2 = [[Sir Charles Dilke, 2nd Baronet|Sir Charles Dilke]]
| term_start3 = 25 June 1885
| term_end3 = 28 January 1886
| monarch3 = [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]]
| primeminister3 = [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|The Marquess of Salisbury]]
| predecessor3 = [[Edmond Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Fitzmaurice|Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice]]
| successor3 = [[James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce|James Bryce]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1827|06|11}}
| birth_place = Hayes, [[County Meath]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1902|09|03|1827|06|11}}
| death_place = London, England
| nationality = Irish
| party = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| alma_mater = [[Trinity College, Dublin]]
| spouse = {{unbulleted list | {{marriage|Lady Susan Ramsay|1863|1890|end=div}} | {{marriage|Gertrude|1894|November 1898|end=d}}}}
}}

'''Robert Bourke, 1st Baron Connemara''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCIE|PC}} (11 June 1827 – 3 September 1902) was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician and colonial administrator. He served as [[Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]] between 1874 and 1880 and 1885 and 1886, and was [[Governors of Madras|Governor of Madras]] between 1886 and 1890.

==Background and education==
Bourke was born into an [[Anglo-Irish]] [[aristocracy (class)|aristocratic]] family at Hayes, [[County Meath]],<ref name="times">[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D04E5DD1E3BE733A25757C0A96F9C946397D6CF ''The New York Times'' 4 September 1902: "Lord Connemara Dead".]</ref> Ireland, the third son of Robert Bourke, 5th [[Earl of Mayo]], and Anne Charlotte, daughter of The Hon. John Jocelyn. His older brother was [[Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo|The 6th Earl of Mayo]], a [[Viceroy of India]]. He was educated at [[Hall Place|Hall Place School]], [[Bexley]], Kent, and [[Trinity College, Dublin]], and was [[Call to the Bar|called to the Bar]], [[Inner Temple]], in 1852.<ref name="thepeerage.com">[http://thepeerage.com/p5752.htm#i57514 thepeerage.com Robert Bourke, 1st and last Baron Connemara]</ref>

==Political career==
Bourke practised as a barrister for a number of years{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} before being elected Conservative Member of Parliament for [[King's Lynn (UK Parliament constituency)|King's Lynn]] in 1868.<ref name="thepeerage.com"/><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=23443 |date=20 November 1868 |page=6000 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Kcommons2.htm leighrayment.com House of Commons: Kilkenny County to Knutsford]</ref> In 1874 he became [[Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]] in [[Benjamin Disraeli]]'s [[Conservative Government 1874–1880|second administration]], a post he held until 1880,<ref name="thepeerage.com"/> when he was also sworn of the [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|Privy Council]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=24837 |date=23 April 1880 |page=2652 }}</ref> He held the same post from 1885 to 1886 in [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury's]] [[Conservative Government 1885–1886|first administration]].<ref name="thepeerage.com"/>

== Governor of Madras ==
[[Image:Connemara Public Library.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Connemara Library in Chennai]]
In 1886, Bourke was appointed [[Governor of Madras]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=25620 |date=27 August 1886 |page=4176 }}</ref> The following year he was appointed a [[Order of the Indian Empire|Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]<ref name="thepeerage.com"/> and raised to the peerage as '''Baron Connemara''', of [[Connemara]] in the [[Counties of Ireland|County]] of [[County Galway|Galway]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=25700 |date=13 May 1887 |page=2641 }}</ref> In 1890 he laid the foundations stone of the [[Connemara Public Library]] in [[Madras]], which was named after him and opened six years later.<ref>[http://www.connemarapubliclibrarychennai.com/History.htm connemarapubliclibrarychennai.com History]</ref> The building was originally planned to house the proposed [[Victoria Technical Institute]] which was constructed in 1887, the [[Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria|Golden Jubilee]] year of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]]'s reign. The third session of the [[Indian National Congress]] was held at Madras in 1887 when Lord Connemara was the governor. He hosted a garden party at Government House for the delegates. The construction of the [[Madras High Court]] was commenced in 1889.

Lord Connemara is credited with introducing a number of reforms while serving as governor. He personally supervised the famine-relief measures at [[Ganjam]] and reorganised the sanitary administration of Madras city. He also improved and extended the east coast railway line connecting Madras with [[Calcutta]]. The ''Madras Mail'', in its 4 December 1890 issue, comments that his administration was "a bright epoch in the annals of Madras". He resigned as governor on 8 November 1890 and returned to Great Britain when his wife sued him for infecting her with syphilis and his adultery with her lady's maid.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/cou.2011.16.2.004|doi=10.1179/cou.2011.16.2.004|title=A Radical Lord Chamberlain at a Tory Court: Lord Carrington, 1892–95|year=2011|last1=Davenport-Hines|first1=Richard|journal=The Court Historian|volume=16|issue=2|pages=205–225|s2cid=153827892}}</ref> He did not defend himself and accepted the verdict and paid costs.

== Later life ==
[[File:Robert Bourke, 1st Baron Connemara, Kensal Green Cemetery 01.JPG|thumb|Monument, Kensal Green Cemetery]]
[[File:Robert Bourke, 1st Baron Connemara, Kensal Green Cemetery 02.JPG|thumb|Monument detail, Kensal Green Cemetery]]
Lord Connemara contributed occasionally in the [[House of Lords]], mostly on matters dealing with foreign affairs, making his last speech in June 1898.<ref>[http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/people/mr-robert-bourke Hansard Mr Robert Bourke]</ref> He also published the work ''Parliamentary Precedents''.<ref name="times"/>

==Family==
Lord Connemara was twice married. He married firstly Lady Susan Georgiana, daughter of [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie|The 1st Marquess of Dalhousie]], a former [[Governor-General of India]], in 1863. They divorced in 1890. In 1894, he married Gertrude, former wife of Edward Coleman. Both marriages were childless. His second wife died in November 1898. Lord Connemara died in London in September 1902, aged 75,<ref name="thepeerage.com"/> and was buried in the city's [[Kensal Green Cemetery]].<ref>[http://www.kensalgreencemetery.com/famous/index4.html kensalgreencemetery.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713143214/http://www.kensalgreencemetery.com/famous/index4.html |date=13 July 2011 }}</ref> His barony became extinct at his death.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.connemarapubliclibrarychennai.com/History.htm Portrait of Lord Connemara at connemarapubliclibrarychennai.com]

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs |mr-robert-bourke | Lord Connemara }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title = Member of Parliament for [[King's Lynn (UK Parliament constituency)|King's Lynn]]
| with = [[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|Lord Stanley]] 1868–1869
| with2 = [[Lord Claud Hamilton (1843–1925)|Lord Claud Hamilton]] 1869–1880
| with3 = [[Sir William ffolkes, 3rd Baronet|Sir William ffolkes]] 1880–1885
| with4 = (representation reduced to one member 1885)
| years = [[1868 United Kingdom general election|1868]]–[[1886 United Kingdom general election|1886]]
| before = [[Sir Thomas Buxton, 3rd Baronet|Sir Thomas Buxton]] <br />[[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|Lord Stanley]]
| after = [[Weston Jarvis]]
}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|title=[[Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]]|before=[[George Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford|Viscount Enfield]]|after=[[Sir Charles Dilke, 2nd Baronet|Sir Charles Dilke]]|years=1874–1880}}
{{succession box|title=[[Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]]|before=[[Edmond Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Fitzmaurice|Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice]]|after=[[James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce|James Bryce]]|years=1885–1886}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box | title = [[Governors of Madras|Governor of Madras]] | years = 1886–1890 | before = [[M. E. Grant Duff]] | after = [[John Henry Garstin]]}}

{{s-reg|uk}}
{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl| title = [[Baron Connemara]]
| years = 1887–1902
{{s-non| reason = Extinct}}
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connemara, Robert Bourke, 1st Baron}}
[[Category:1827 births]]
[[Category:1902 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from County Mayo]]
[[Category:Politicians from County Meath]]
[[Category:Younger sons of earls|Bourke, Robert]]
[[Category:Irish knights]]
[[Category:Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:British barristers]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies|Bourke, Robert]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1868–1874|Bourke, Robert]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1874–1880|Bourke, Robert]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1880–1885|Bourke, Robert]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1885–1886|Bourke, Robert]]
[[Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages]]
[[Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery]]
[[Category:House of Burke|Robert]]
[[Category:Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria]]

Robert Bourke, 1st Baron Connemara - Revision history

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