A FRAMED PATENT OF NOBILITY, 4th July 1800, on vellum, creating John Preston of Bellinter to be Lord Baron of Tara, the initial incorporating a profile portrait of George III, the border with...

A FRAMED PATENT OF NOBILITY, 4th July 1800, on vellum, creating John Preston of Bellinter to be Lord Baron of Tara, the initial incorporating a profile portrait of George III, the border with the arms of the Kingdom of Ireland, other arms including Preston and the Rose and Thistle of the pre-union Kingdom, the seal destroyed. 85 x 80cm

John Preston 1764 - 1821
Preston came from a politically influential family that partly controlled the borough of Navan. The Prestons' built themselves large houses at Bellinter and Swainston and maintained a grand residence on St Stephen's Green. They tended towards the Ponsonby faction in the Dublin parliament and initially opposed the Union. However, they had over extended themselves financially and succumbed to the to the bribery on offer to illegally extinguish the Irish parliament and Preston was able to salve his conscience by donning the robes of an Irish Peer. However his matrimonial arrangements were awkward and the 'Union' title lapsed on his death.

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