Burgh was a substantial landowner in County Galway, with his Norman-descended family holding their seat at Portumna.[1] During the years of the Great Hunger in Ireland, his record was mixed. A supporter of the British Whigs and a sitting member of the Russell Ministry, his principal aim was upholding the interests of the Anglo-Irish landowning class.[1]
Although he did not initiate mass clearances of destitute tenants from the estates, as Palmerston and Lansdowne were notoriously known for, there were more small-scale displacements over a longer period of time.[1] de Burgh was the Crown's Lord Lieutenant of Galway during the Famine and did not condemn the large-scale evictions by his fellow Galway landowners, John Gerrard (and his wife Marcella Netterville) at Ballinlass, Christopher St George at Connemara and Patrick Blake at Tully.[1]
On the other hand, de Burgh highlighted in his correspondence with Russell and the Whig administration in Ireland the plight of starving tenants.[1] He advocated a paternalistic state intervention, rather than a purely laissez-faire approach. He suggested state-sponsored public works and land drainage and sought to have corn depots set up in Loughrea and Portumna to distribute food.[1] He donated some monies to local relief committees. de Burgh also financially assisted the emigration of poor tenants; this issue is controversial due to the fact that it still meant the displacement of the native population from the land, but supporters argue that it would have at least saved more lives (Charles Trevelyan opposed such programmes). de Burgh did not initiate any private work schemes on the estates under his control for tenants, like some neighbouring landlords, nor did he improve agriculture on the estates.[1][7]
Family
Lord Clanricarde married the Hon. Harriet Canning (13 April 1804 – 8 January 1876), daughter of Prime Minister George Canning, on 4 April 1825 at Gloucester Lodge in Brompton. The couple had seven children:
Lady Harriet Augusta de Burgh (c. 1834 – 18 January 1901); married Thomas Frederick Charles Vernon-Wentworth, maternal grandson Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury. They had a son and a daughter.
Lord Clanricarde died at Stratton Street, Piccadilly, London, in April 1874, aged 71, and was succeeded in the marquessate by his second but only surviving son, Hubert. The Marchioness of Clanricarde died in January 1876, aged 71.
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