Rudolph William Basil Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh, 7th Earl of Desmond (9 April 1823 – 10 March 1892), styled as Viscount Feilding until 1865, was a British peer and noted Catholic convert, who founded the Franciscan friary at Pantasaph, North Wales.
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Early life
Feilding was born in 1823, the son of William Basil Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh, and his wife, Lady Mary Moreton, eldest daughter of Thomas Reynolds-Moreton, 1st Earl of Ducie. He was named after the claimed ancestor of the Feilding family, Rudolph I of Habsburg. Rollo and his twin sister Lady Mary Feilding were the first born children of their parents.
Feilding was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was president of the University Pitt Club and took the degree of M.A. in 1844.
Career
Feilding was received into the Catholic Church in 1850, and took an active part in many Catholic works of charity under Cardinal Wiseman. As Viscount Feilding he was appointed honorary treasurer, jointly with Viscount Campden and Archibald J. Dunn, of the Peter's Pence Association.
In 1850, Feilding was appointed High Sheriff of Flintshire.
On 29 June 1860, Feilding raised the 4th (Holywell) Flintshire Rifle Volunteer Corps as captain-commandant. After the unit was incorporated into the 1st Administrative Battalion, Flintshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, he commanded that from 1862 with the rank of major. On 2 July 1873, he became the battalion's honorary colonel, and continued in that role with its successor, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers.
Family
Feilding married, firstly, Louisa Pennant, great-granddaughter of the Welsh naturalist and travel writer Thomas Pennant. She died of consumption in 1853, without issue. He married, secondly, Mary Berkeley, daughter of Robert Berkeley, Esq. of Spetchley, Worcestershire. They had seven children, including:
Rudolph Feilding, 9th Earl of Denbigh (26 May 1859 –25 November 1939), who succeeded
Everard Feilding (6 March 1867 – 8 February 1936), Hon. Sec. of the Society for Psychical Research
Lady Winefride Mary Elizabeth Feilding (24 September 1868 – 24 February 1959), who married Gervase Elwes on 11 May 1889
After his death in 1892, he was interred with his first wife Louisa at Pantasaph, dressed in the habit of the Third Order of St Francis, of which he was a member.