Algernon Coote, 6th Earl of Mountrath PC (Ire) (6 June 1689 – 27 August 1744), styled The Honourable Algernon Coote until 1720, was an

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 ...

peer who sat as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chamb ...

as well as in the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

. Coote was the third son of Charles Coote, 3rd Earl of Mountrath (1655–1709). He was educated at St Paul's School and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, where he matriculated in 1706. Coote was elected to the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fra ...

for Jamestown in 1715. His elder brothers,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

, both succeeded to the earldom before him but died unmarried. Coote succeeded in his turn on 27 March 1720 and ascended to the

Irish House of Lords The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of England, with membe ...

. Mountrath was appointed to the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

in 1723. As his earldom was also Irish, it did not disqualify him from sitting in the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

, and he entered Parliament in the same year as member for

Castle Rising Castle Rising is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated some north-east of the town of King's Lynn and west of the city of Norwich. The River Babingley skirts the north of the village separating C ...

in Norfolk, which he represented for ten years. He also became Governor of Queen's County. In 1741 he stood for Parliament again at

Hedon Hedon is a town and civil parish in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east of Hull city centre. It lies to the north of the A1033 road at the crossroads of the B1240 and B1362 roads. It is pa ...

in Yorkshire, and was initially declared defeated. However, on petition to the House of Commons (in those days the normal procedure in a disputed election), the result was overturned and on 4 March 1742 Mountrath was declared elected after all. He sat as member for the borough for the remaining two years of his life. In 1721 he married Lady Diana Newport (d. 1766), daughter of the 2nd Earl of Bradford.

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

described her as being ''"as rich and as tipsy as Cacofogo in the comedy. What a jumble of avarice, lewdness, dignity – and claret!"''. They had only one child,

(c. 1725–1802), who succeeded to the earldom on Mountrath's death in 1744, but who died unmarried, the title thereby becoming extinct.

References

*Henry Stooks Smith, "The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847" (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig – Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973) *
Coote genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountrath, Algernon Coote, 6th Earl of 1689 births 1744 deaths Coote, Algernon Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Coote, Algernon Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Algernon British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1741–1747 Earls of Mountrath