Henry O'Brien, 8th Earl of Thomond (14 August 1688 – 20 April 1741) was an Irish peer and Member of Parliament. He was born the son of Henry Horatio O'Brien, Lord Ibrackan, who was to predecease his own father in 1690, allowing the title of

Earl of Thomond Earl of Thomond was an hereditary title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created twice for the O'Brien dynasty which is an ancient Irish sept native to north Munster. History and background First creation Under the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, Ki ...

to pass directly to Henry from his grandfather,

Henry O'Brien, 7th Earl of Thomond Henry O'Brien, 7th Earl of Thomond Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire) (c. 16202 May 1691) was an Irish peer, styled Lord Ibrackan from 1639 to 1657. O'Brien was the son of Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond and Anne Fermor. In 1641, he marri ...

one year later. He was elected MP for

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...

, Sussex in the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1710, sitting until 1714. He was then ennobled as Viscount Tadcaster. He served as Governor of County Clare and Governor of Carlow in 1714 and as

Lord Lieutenant of Essex This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex. Since 1688, all the Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Essex. *John Petre, 1st Baron Petre *John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford 1558–? *Robert Dudley, 1st Earl ...

from 1721 to 1741. The 1722

tragedy play Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ...

Hibernia Freed ''Hibernia Freed'' is a 1722 tragedy by the writer William Phillips. It is set during the ninth century during the Viking Invasion of Ireland. It was part of a growing Anglo-Irish interest in traditional Irish history, and part of a tendency to s ...

'', staged at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, was dedicated to him by the author William Philips. He died in 1741 and was buried in Limerick Cathedral. He had married in 1707 Lady Elizabeth Seymour, daughter of

Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (13 August 16622 December 1748), known by the epithet "The Proud Duke", was an English peer. He rebuilt Petworth House in Sussex, the ancient Percy seat inherited from his wife, in the palatial form which s ...

. They had no children and thus the viscountcy expired. His other titles were forfeited and were eventually inherited by the earls of Inchiquin. He left his substantial estates in County Clare to Murrough, Lord O'Brien, the young son of his cousin,

William O'Brien, 4th Earl of Inchiquin {{Infobox officeholder , honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable , name = The Earl of Inchiquin , honorific-suffix = KB PC(I) , image = William_O’Brien,_4th_Earl_of_Inchiquin.jpg , caption = , alt ...

. On Murrough's death in 1741, the estates passed instead to Percy Wyndham, a nephew of Henry's wife, who took the additional surname of O'Brien and in 1756 was created Earl of Thomond.

References

Thepeerage
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomond, Henry O'Brien, 8th Earl of 1688 births 1741 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 Earls of Thomond Irish chiefs of the name