Wallace Collection of the wealthiest families in Europe. They owned large properties in England, Wales and Ireland, and increased their wealth through successful marriages. Politically of lesser importance, the 3rd and 4th Marquess and Sir Richard Wallace became leading art collectors of their time. The Wallace Collection, comprising about 5,500 works of art, was bequeathed to the British nation by Lady Wallace in 1897. The state then decided to buy Hertford House to display the collection and it was opened as a museum in 1900. As a museum the Wallace Collection's main strength is perhaps its extraordinary array of 18th-century French art:
Marquess of Ely previously represented County Wexford in both the Irish and British Parliaments. On his death the titles passed to his eldest son, John, the third Marquess. He briefly represented Woodstock in Parliament in 1845. This line of the family failed on the early death of his son, John, the fourth Marquess, in 1889. The late Marquess was succeeded by his first cousin John Loftus, the fifth Marquess. He was the eldest son of Reverend Lord Adam Loftus, third son of the second Marquess. The fifth Marquess died childless in 1925 and was succeeded by his youngest brother, George, the sixth Marquess.