Robert Nugent (1702-1788): politician and poet. Father of Mary Nugent.

• Born at Carlanstown, County Westmeath
• Son of Michael Nugent of Carlanstown and Mary, daughter of Lord Trimlestown
• Inherited an estate of £1,500 per year.
• Married three rich widows, Horace Walpole invented the description ‘to Nugentize’ to describe this practice
• 1730. Married Emilia, daughter of Peter, 4th Earl of Fingal. She died 16 August 1731. No children. 
• 1736. Married Anne Craggs, 'a fat ugly dame,' (Cundall, xlii). She was twice a widow; one husband was John Knight, of Gosfield Hall, Essex, who also owned St Mawes. Anne died 22 November 1756 (memorial). No children. 
• 1757. (2 January) Married Elizabeth Drax from whom he secured a large fortune. She was widow of Augustus, 4th Earl of Berkeley (18 February 1715 to 9 January 1755). Two daughters, the first of which was Mary, mother of the 1st Duke. Elizabeth Drax died on 29 June 1792. 
• Elevated to the Peerage as Baron Nugent on 19 January 1769
• Created Earl Nugent on 21 July 1776.
• MP for St Mawes, in Cornwall, in 1741 and 1747.
• Appointed a Privy Councillor in 1759 and served as Privy Councillor and Vice-Treasurer of Ireland until 1765.
• Died 14 October 1788. 

Children include:

• Edmund (mother Emilia Fingal)
• Mary Nugent (mother Elizabeth Drax)
• Louisa Nugent (mother Elizabeth Drax)

His literary works include:

• Essay on Justice, poem (London 1737; fol. 1738)
• Essay on Happiness, poem (London 1737)
• Ode to Mrs. Pulteney (1739)
• Odes and Epistles (1739 anon.)
• Faith, poem (anon. 1774)
• The Genius of Ireland, poem addressed to Lord Clare (1775)

Sources

Boylan  p265; Cundall.