Corry, Somerset Lowry (1774–1841), 2nd Earl Belmore , MP, was born 11 July 1774 in Sackville St., Dublin, second (but only surviving) son among two sons and two daughters of Armar Lowry Corry, later 1st Earl Belmore, and his first wife Lady Margaret, eldest daughter of Somerset Hamilton Butler, 1st earl of Carrick. In 1796 he became captain of a unit of Fermanagh infantry, and succeeded Lord Abercorn (qv) as lieut.-col. commandant of the Tyrone militia (1798–1804). In 1797 he was returned for Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, one of his father's boroughs, but chose to sit for Tyrone (1797–1800), where he was also elected. He made his maiden speech in January 1798; known at this time as Viscount Corry, he moved the address to the crown. An MP in the last Irish parliament before the act of union, Corry was a vehement opponent of the measure: he and his father opposed it when it was introduced, and on 21 February 1800 he stated his determination to vote against it at every opportunity. On 7 June he walked out of the house, insisting that he could not remain to see the union pass.
Corry became an MP (1801–2) in the new UK parliament. On the death of his father (2 February 1802) his political ambitions came to an end, and he inherited estates worth £12,000 a year in Co. Tyrone and Co. Fermanagh, and was made a trustee of the Irish linen board. Turning his attentions to becoming a representative peer for Ireland, he was repeatedly disappointed, possibly in revenge for his opposition to the union. In 1806 Dublin Castle revealed that Corry had offered to support the government in return for having his dominance in Co. Tyrone established. It was only in 1819 that he was made a representative peer; he was made custos rotulorum of Co. Tyrone later the same year. In 1823 he supported his eldest son, Armar Lowry Corry, in his successful election campaign in Fermanagh, apparently to the sum of £8,000. In 1829 he continued to oppose catholic emancipation, despite the government's shift in policy.
On 19 November 1828 he was made governor of Jamaica, and was there during the rebellion of 1831, which speeded up the eventual abolition of slavery. Unable to come to agreement with Viscount Goderich, the secretary of state, he was recalled in 1832. In 1839 he sold his Longford estates. He had a paralytic seizure the same year and never fully recovered. He died 18 April 1841 at Leamington Spa, and was buried (29 April) at Caledon, Co. Tyrone. He married (20 October 1802) Juliana Butler, second daughter of his maternal uncle Henry Thomas Butler, 2nd earl of Carrick, and Sarah, second daughter and coheir of Edward Taylor of Askeaton, Co. Limerick. They had two sons and one daughter. He was succeeded by his eldest son as 3rd Earl Belmore.