Portrait of Emily Jane, Viscountess Hardinge (1789-1865), full-length, seated in a black dress, knitting, a red screen beyond

Lady Emily Jane, seventh daughter of the 1st Marquess of Londonderry, and widow of John James, British minister in the Netherlands, married Henry Hardinge (1785-1856), 1st Viscount Hardinge, third son of Henry Hardinge, rector of Stanhope, Kent, on 10 December 1821. The first Viscount Hardinge had entered the British Army as an ensign and rose, through a long and brilliant career, to the summit of his profession. In 1815 he was appointed K.C.B. and in recognition of his active service during the Peninsular War, was awarded in 1818, the Prussian Order of Miliary Merit and Wellington's gift of Napoleon's captured sword. After the peace he filled many high-ranking minsterial offices and in 1844 became Governor-General of India. In 1846, he was created Viscount Hardinge of Lahore and King's Newton in recognition for his services in India and his services during the Anglo-Sikh wars.

Lady Emily Jane had one son, Walter, by her first marriage, and four more children by Hardinge, including Sir Arthur Edward Hardinge and Charles Stewart Hardinge, second Viscount Hardinge. They lived at South Park, near Penshurst, Kent, which Hardinge redeveloped during the last decades of his life. After Wellington's death in 1852, Hardinge became a royal favourite, succeeding him as General Commander-in-Chief. In July 1856 he suffered a stroke and died at South Park in August of that year.