William Warner Westenra, 7th Baron Rossmore
William Warner Westenra, 7th Baron Rossmore (14 February 1931 – 4 May 2021), known as Hon. William Westenra, and nicknamed Paddy, was an Anglo-Irish noble, photographer and author.[1]
Biography
[edit]Born at the family seat of Rossmore Castle, William Warner Westenra was educated at Scaitcliffe prep school and Eton College before reading Theology at Cambridge University. He inherited his father's title in 1958, by then his family's ancestral home had long been abandoned, due to dry-rot, and they instead lived in a dower house on the estate, which was sold in 1961 due to debts. A former gamekeepers house on the estate to which he moved was later destroyed by a fire started by the Irish Republican Army in 1981.[2]
Following the end of his relationship with Marianne Faithfull, whose experience with drug addiction led him to support the founding of the Coolmine Theraputic Community and drug treatment centre in 1973, he met and married Valerie Marion Tobin, in 1982 and their son, Benedict William was born in 1983. Westenra, upon his marriage to Tobin, adopted her daughter Charlotte, whose father was Leonard Whiting. Charlotte took the Westenra family name. He continued to work as a photographer[3] and painter for many years. He later returned to Glin Castle where he had first encountered Faithfull and her then-boyfriend, Mick Jagger, to photograph the castle for an upcoming coffee table book.
His marriage to Valerie was dissolved, prior to his death in 2021.[4] His son Benedict inherited the barony and assumed the title 8th Baron Rossmore upon it being proved.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Cope, Rebecca (7 May 2021). "Society snapper at centre of Swinging Sixties scene Lord Rossmore has died aged 90". Irish Tatler. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
- ^ Collins, Liam (16 May 2021). "Lord Rossmore obituary: Anglo-Irish peer who set up the Coolmine drug treatment centre, was engaged to Marianne Faithfull and had his home torched by IRA sympathisers". Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
- ^ "Paddy Rossmore: Photographs". The Lilliput Press. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "Lord Rossmore obituary: Anglo-Irish peer who set up the Coolmine drug treatment centre, was engaged to Marianne Faithfull and had his home torched by IRA sympathisers". independent. 16 May 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "Lords Business". Parliament UK. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
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