Educated at Eton, the young earl's main object of interest for some years was the turf; he kept a large racing stud and won success and reputation in the sporting world. In 1839 his name became more widely known in connection with the famous tournament which took place at Eglinton castle and is said to have cost him £30,000 or £40,000. This was made the subject of much ridicule and was, partly spoiled by the unfavourable weather, the rain falling in torrents. Yet it was a real tournament and the knights broke their spears in the orthodox way. Prince Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) took part in it, and Lady Seymour, a daughter of Thomas Sheridan and the wife of Lord Seymour, afterwards 12th duke of Somerset, was the queen of beauty. A list of the challengers with an account of the jousts and the mêlée will be found in the volume on the tournament written by John Richardson, with drawings by JH Nixon. It is also described by Disraeli in Endymion.
Eglinton was a staunch Tory, and in February 1852 he became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under the earl of Derby. He retired with the ministry in the following December, having by his princely hospitality made himself one of the most popular of Irish viceroys. When Derby returned to office in February 1858 he was again appointed lord-lieutenant, and he discharged the duties of this post until June 1859. In this year he was created earl of Wintoun, an earldom which had been held by his kinsfolk, the Setons, from 1600 until 1716, when George Seton, the 5th earl (c. 1678-1740), was deprived of his honors for high treason.
The earl was succeeded by his eldest son Archibald William (1841-1892). When this earl died in 1892 his younger brother George Arnulph (b. 1848) became 15th earl of Eglinton and 3rd earl of Winton.
See Sir W Fraser, Memorials of the Montgomeries, earls of Eglinton (1859).
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