Portrait of Cardinal Weld, three-quarter length, seated, facing slightly to the right, with his head turned half to the left; his left hand rests on his biretta; he wears cardinal's robes, cap and lace albe, and an enamelled cross hangs from a gold chain around his neck Thomas Weld (1773-1837) was the son of Thomas Weld of Lulworth castle, Dorsetshire, who was the founder of the Roman catholic college at Stoneyhurst in Lancashire. He inherited his ancestral estates on the death of his father in 1810, but after the death of his wife, in 1815, he took holy orders and some years later was consecrated coadjutor Bishop of Canada. In 1829 he was appointed a cardinal by Pope Pius VIII, and he renounced his inheritance in favour of his brother. In 1830 he welcomed the exiled royal family of France to his mansion at Lulworth castle, where they stayed for some weeks until their removal to Holyrood House. The cardinal's reputation is encapsulated in a letter from Rome, written days after his death in 1837; ‘Yesterday the Pope was present at a requiem, celebrated in honour of Cardinal Weld. The Sovereign Pontiff wished thus to express the great esteem he felt for that dignitary. Never was mourning more general here.'