John Gustavus Crosbie (circa 1749 – 6 July 1797) 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 ...

politician, mainly remembered for killing another Member of Parliament, Sir Barry Denny, in a duel in 1794.

Biography

He lived at Tubrid House, Ardfert,

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

. He was the only son of Lancelot Crosbie (1723-1780), who like his son was MP for Kerry, and his second wife Mary Blennerhasset, daughter of Colonel John Blennerhasset and Jane Denny. John Gustavus married his distant cousin Catherine Blennerhasset, daughter of William Blennerhassett and Catherine Johnson, in 1796; they had no children. After his death she remarried George Rowan. Crosbie was a Colonel in the 22nd Foot. He was

High Sheriff of Kerry The High Sheriff of Kerry was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Kerry, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Kerry County Sheriff. The sherif ...

in 1770. He served in the Irish House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for

between 1794 and his death in 1797. In October 1794 he caused a notable scandal by killing the sitting MP for the Kerry constituency, Sir Barry Denny, 2nd Baronet, in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

. Crosbie had taken exception to certain remarks made by Denny during the recent by-election, which he regarded as a breach of Denny's avowed position of neutrality between the various candidates, and issued a challenge. At the duel, he took careful aim and shot Sir Barry through the head. As was the accepted practice at the time among members of the aristocracy, killing was treated as an affair of honour, although in law it was premeditated

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

, and no action was taken against him. His sudden death three years later, after falling from his horse, was considered to be suspicious, and there is a local tradition that the Denny family

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

ed him, in revenge for his killing of Sir Barry. Whether the rumour was true or false, the killing undoubtedly led to a bitter feud between the two families, which lasted for generations.Geoghegan, Patrick M. "Sir Edward Denny" ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' Cambridge University Press

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosbie, John Gustavus Year of birth unknown 1797 deaths 18th-century Anglo-Irish people John Gustavus Irish MPs 1790–1797 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kerry constituencies Year of birth uncertain People from Ardfert