George Rochfort, 2nd Earl of Belvedere
George Augustus Rochfort, 2nd Earl of Belvedere (12 October 1738 – 13 May 1814) was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician. Early years George Augustus Rochfort was born on 12 October 1738, son of Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere and Hon. Mary Molesworth. The Rochfort family, originally called De Rupe Forti, had settled in Ireland in 1243. Sir Maurice de Rochfort was Lord Justice of Ireland in 1302. Gerald Rochfort was summoned to Parliament as a baron in 1339. George's great-grandfather was the prominent lawyer Robert Rochfort, Attorney General of Ireland and Speaker of the House of Commons in 1695, and Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1707. The family estate of Gaulstown lay on the shore of Lough Ennell in County Westmeath. George's father, Robert Rochfort, was a favourite courtier of King George II of Great Britain. He was made an Irish peer as Baron of Bellfield in 1737, and then Earl of Belvedere in 1756. He was estranged from his mother during his childhood, after his father locked her away after an alleged affair with George's uncle, Arthur. Politician From 1756 to 1774 George Rochfort was styled Viscount Belfield. He was Member of Parliament for Philipstown from 1758 to 1761, and Member of Parliament for Westmeath from 1761 to 1774. The 1761 Irish general election followed the death of George II. George Rochfort, the Right Honorable Lord Belfield, won the election. He was supported by The Honorable Captain Richard Rochfort, Esq. and opposed by Mr. George Rochfort and Gustavus Lambert. The election thus seems to have been very much a family affair. Mr. George Rochfort supported the "Patriots", who demanded that parliaments last only seven years before being dissolved, rather than for the lifetime of the king, as was the custom. In 1762 George Rochfort was Sheriff of County Westmeath, and from 1772 to 1814 Governor of County Westmeath. An anonymous writer named "Dymoke" published a Review of the House of Commons in the Freeman's Journal in 1774. The purpose was to "rouse the electors of Ireland to a due exertion of their lawful powers, and stimulate them to fix on proper men to maintain their rights and privileges in parliament." He noted that Belfield, who was muster-master-general of Ireland and a Governor of the County of Westmeath, had voted for the stamp act. Dykmore declared that "The present members [Lord Belfield; Anthony Malone] for the County of WESTMEATH will never represent it again if the Electors have either sense, honour, or remembrance". Irish peer On 13 November 1774 Rochfort succeeded to the titles of Baron Belfield, Viscount Belfield and Earl of Belvedere after his father's death. He released his mother. She was prematurely aged, spoke in little more than a whisper but in a harsh, agitated and uneven manner, and was dressed in the style of thirty years earlier. From 1775 to 1776 Rochfort was Grand Master of the Freemasons Grand Lodge of Ireland. On 20 August 1775 he married Dorothea Bloomfield, daughter of John Bloomfield