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John Skeffington, 10th Viscount Massereene

Irish peer and poet (1812-1863)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ6258061 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Foster-Skeffington, 10th Viscount Massereene KP (30 November 1812 – 28 April 1863) was an Irish peer and poet.

He was the son of Thomas Skeffington, 2nd Viscount Ferrard and his wife, Harriet Skeffington, 9th Viscountess Massereene. He inherited his mother's title upon her death in 1831, and his father's title upon his death in 1843. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick on 3 July 1851. He was the first Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the Antrim Militia Artillery when it was raised at Carrickfergus Castle in November 1854.

On 1 August 1835 he married Olivia Grady, with whom he had four sons and four daughters. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, Clotworthy Skeffington.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “John Skeffington, 10th Viscount Massereene” as irish peer and poet (1812-1863). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1812, 1863, 1831, 1843—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1812-11-30. The account is most persuasive where John, Skeffington and 10th can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as irish peer and poet (1812-1863). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6258061. VIAF identifies the subject as 315629713. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1812, 1863, 1831 and 1843.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Skeffington, 10th Viscount Massereene”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Skeffington, 10th Viscount Massereene primary sources, John Skeffington, 10th Viscount Massereene archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Skeffington, 10th Viscount Massereene”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John Skeffington, 10th Viscount Massereene” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.