(1686 - 1714), 1st s. of 3rd Vct. Irwin [S] of Temple Newsam, Yorks; educ. Eton, Christ's Camb. 1702 and Leiden U. 1704; suc. fa. 1702 as 4th Vct.; unm.
1705 - 7 [dep. Harwich May 1704] Venice (by 9 May - end Jul. 1705), Siena (by 27 Aug. - Oct.), Rome (by 5 Dec. 1705 - Jan. 1706), Siena (by 26 Feb.), Lucca (Apr. - early Sep.), Florence (Sep.), Genoa (Oct.), Venice (Dec. 1706 - May/ Jun. 1707) [England by Oct.]
Lord Irwin embarked on his grand tour with his German tutor John Haccius (b. c.1664), his younger brother Rich and Thomas Worsley (1686 - 1750) of Hovingham.1 The original plan was for the whole party to travel to Holland and study at the University of Leiden. Although Irwin and his three companions enrolled on 11 September 1704, he and Haccius had to flee the country after becoming embroiled in a duel. Having left his brother and Worsley in Holland, Irwin continued on his journey to Italy, secretly accompanied by his tutor who had been dismissed from service by Irwin's trustees on account of the duel. After visiting the Elector's Court in Dusseldorf, Irwin travelled on via Cologne and Augsburg into Italy. Once he entered Italy, his trustees paid funds by means of the banker, Thomas Palmer of Broad Street, London, and his agents, Messrs. Williams in Venice. The chief topic of Irwin's letters was to be the shortage of funds.
In Rome he complained that he was 'much inferior in everything than Mr Boucher [John Bourchier], who has tho' but a Gentleman, a greater allowance' (5 Dec. 1705). He resolved to move on to 'little Towns fitted to my allowance', and after spending barely two months in Rome, he left for Siena. In Lucca, where he spent six months, he commissioned Giuseppe Montuoli (1667 - 1739) to compose romantic cantatas for him,2 and he wrote to his mother about the possibility of bringing home a 'pretty Italian Lady Irwin who would charm you by the sweetness of her manners and language'. He later mentioned the 3rd Earl of Cardigan, who 'according to the custom of Venice, keeps a mistress, tho' very ugly and old, and has quartered for several years all comers and goers'.
In December 1706 Irwin at last became responsible for his own finances. The last six months of his stay were spent in Venice 'making a commotion at Balls and at feasts' along with his friends Richard Lumley and the Earl of Dorset (according to Blathwayt's governor, de Blainville). From Venice Irwin wrote about the 'good opportunity of furnishing my great rambling house with excellent paintings', probably referring to the group of about thirty paintings by Antonio Marini (seascapes, landscapes and battles, as well as a Self-Portrait) of which eighteen remain at Temple Newsam. In the summer of 1707 Irwin commenced his journey home, and he was back in England by October. Haccius remained in Italy until the end of the year, and then accompanied the consignment of pictures to Rotterdam, where he placed the boxes of rolled-up canvases aboard a ship bound for Hull.
1. Letters in the Temple Newsam MSS, Leeds City Archives. HMC Var.Colls., 8:86 - 8. C. Gilbert, Apollo, 83[1966]:358 - 63. 2. E.A. Burbridge, Leeds Arts Calendar, 100[1987]:31 - 2.
D. C.