Sir Adam Loftus was an Irish

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

public official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...

of the seventeenth century. Rathfarnham Castle

He was the eldest son of Sir Dudley Loftus, and part of a powerful

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

family. His mother was Anne Bagenal of a leading

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

family. He was born and lived at

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council a ...

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

. He was the cousin of Lord Loftus, the

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...

between 1619 and 1639. Adam was appointed as

Vice-Treasurer of Ireland The Lord High Treasurer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland, chief financial officer of the Kingdom of Ireland. The designation ''High'' was added in 1695. After the Acts of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain a ...

, replacing Lord Mountnorris in the post. He became a client of the

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

Thomas Wentworth, who had him made a member of the Irish Council. Adam's younger brother

Nicholas Loftus Nicholas Loftus (1592-1666) was an Irish politician and public official. He was the son of Sir Dudley Loftus and the grandson of Adam Loftus, the Archbishop of Dublin and an influential political figure in Tudor Ireland. His mother Anne Bage ...

also received a position at the Treasury as

Clerk of the Pells The Pell Office was a department of the Exchequer in which the receipts and payments were entered upon two rolls of parchment, the one called the ''introitta'', which was the record of monies received, and the other the ''exitus'', or the record of ...

. He sat for the

County Wexford County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí Ceinns ...

seat of Newborough in the 1634 and 1640 Parliaments of Ireland where he was grouped as a supporter of Wentworth. His brother Nicholas, and his son

Arthur Loftus Sir Arthur Loftus (died 27 May 1665) was an Anglo-Irish politician and landowner. He was the son of Sir Adam Loftus and Jane Vaughan. His grandfather was Sir Dudley Loftus. He served as the Member of Parliament for County Wexford in the 1639– ...

, also represented Wexford seats.Kearney p.234-36 He was married to Jane Vaughan, with whom he had two children

and Elizabeth Loftus. His grandson was Lord Lisburn who died at the 1691 Siege of Limerick while fighting on the

Williamite A Williamite was a follower of King William III of England (r. 1689–1702) who deposed King James II and VII in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs. One ...

side.

References

Bibliography

* Kearney, Hugh F. ''Strafford in Ireland 1633-1641: A Study in Absolutism''. Cambridge University Press, 1989. Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown People from Rathfarnham 17th-century Irish politicians Irish MPs 1613–1615 Irish MPs 1634–1635 Irish MPs 1639–1649 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Wexford constituencies {{Ireland-pre1801-MP-stub