Henry Tenison (1667–1709) was an Irish M.P. The eldest son of Richard Tenison of

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

Bishop of Meath The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric. History Unti ...

and his wife Anne, he represented

Monaghan County County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of Border Region, Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. I ...

in 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 ...

from 1695 to 1699, and thereafter represented

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

from 1703 until his death. He was educated at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

and the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

. A man of scholarly tastes, he was a college friend of

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

. Later, for a few years, he formed part of the intellectual circle which grew up around

Esther Johnson Esther Johnson (13 March 1681 – 28 January 1728) was the English friend of Jonathan Swift, known as "Stella". Whether or not she and Swift were secretly married, and if so why the marriage was never made public, is a subject of debate. Pare ...

, Swift's beloved ''Stella''. He was an active and dedicated Parliamentarian, supporting measures on social and moral reform, to strengthen the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

, and to suppress the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

faith. He worked hard to secure the passage of the

Popery Act An Act to prevent the further Growth of Popery, commonly known as the Popery Act or the Gavelkind Act,Andrew Lyall; Land Law in Ireland; was an Act of the Parliament of Ireland that was passed in 1703 and amended in 1709. One of a series of P ...

1703, which was widely regarded as an attempt to eliminate the Catholic landowning class completely, and was consequently subject to fierce attacks by prominent members of that class like Sir Theobald Butler. He married Anne Moore (died 1798), daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Moore of Knockballymore,

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

, a cousin of the

Earl of Drogheda Earl of Drogheda is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1661 for The 3rd Viscount Moore. History The Moore family descends from Sir Garrett Moore, a staunch friend of Hugh O'Neill, the Great Earl of Tyrone, whose submission ...

, and had four children, including

Thomas Tennison Thomas Tennison (1707 – 27 March 1779) was an Irish politician and judge. He served as Prime Serjeant and as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Dunleer for many years.Ball, F. Elrington, ''Th ...

, judge of the

Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is still ...

and Mary, who married Nicholas Coddington of

Oldbridge Oldbridge () is a townland near Drogheda in County Meath, Ireland. The area is home to the Boyne Navigation, the Battle of the Boyne Interpretive Centre and the southern half of the Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge (which carries the M1 motorway ...

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

, and had with other issue

Dixie Coddington Dixie Coddington (born c.1725, died 1794) was an Irish MP and army officer. Coddington was born in Drogheda, eldest son of Nicholas Coddington of Oldbridge and Mary Tenison, daughter of Henry Tenison MP, of Dillonstown, and Anne Moore of Coun ...

MP. After his own and his wife's early deaths, his children were evidently raised by his brother

Richard Tennison Richard Tenison (1642 – 29 July 1705) was an Irish bishop of Killala, Clogher and Meath. He was born the eldest son of Thomas Tenison of Carrickfergus and matriculated from Trinity College Dublin in 1659. Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbur ...

. He lived at Dillonstown,

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

References

17th-century Irish people People from Carrickfergus Irish MPs 1695–1699 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Monaghan constituencies Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Members of the Middle Temple 1667 births 1709 deaths {{Ireland-pre1801-MP-stub