James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy (28 July 1851 – 30 October 1920), was 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 o ...

in the British

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, and he held a title in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

during the final two months of his life. He was a great-grandfather of

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

Early life and career

He was born in 1851 at Twyford Abbey,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, the son of

Edmond Roche, 1st Baron Fermoy Edmond Burke Roche, 1st Baron Fermoy (9 August 1815 – 17 September 1874) was an Irish politician in the British parliament who was granted a title in the Peerage of Ireland. His direct ancestor was Maurice FitzEdmund Roche, Mayor of Cork, who di ...

, and his wife Eliza Caroline ''née'' Boothby. He was educated at

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

. In 1896, he stood as an Anti-Parnellite

Irish National Federation The Irish National Federation (INF) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded in 1891 by former members of the Irish National League (INL), after a split in the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) on the leadership of Charles S ...

candidate in the Kerry East by-election for a seat in the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. The Nationalists had split into two factions after the party leader,

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of t ...

, was named as co-respondent in a divorce. Roche was supported initially by both the Parnellite

Irish National League The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League ...

and the Anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation, until it was revealed that he was himself divorced. During the campaign, Roche denied publicly that he knew of the divorce or that he had deserted his wife and children. Although he went on to win the seat, the opposing Unionist candidate gained the highest vote ever recorded for a Unionist candidate in Kerry East. He served one term and did not stand in the following general election in 1900.

Personal life

He visited the United States, where he met the heiress Frances Ellen Work (1857–1947). Shortly thereafter, on 22 September 1880, they married at Christ Church,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The marriage was not a success, and they separated in December 1886. She was granted a divorce on the grounds of desertion on 3 March 1891 at

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Unami language, Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North ...

. Together, they had four children (two daughters, then twin sons): * Eileen Roche (1882−1882), who died in infancy. * The Hon.

Cynthia Roche The Hon. Cynthia Burke Roche (10 April 1884 – 18 December 1966) was a British-American socialite and art collector from Newport, Rhode Island. Life and work She was born on 10 April 1884 in London to James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy (1852–192 ...

(1884−1966), who married firstly Arthur Scott Burden (1879–1921) in 1906. After his death, she married Guy Fairfax Cary (1879–1950) in 1922. * Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy (1885–1955), who was the maternal grandfather of

. * The Hon. Francis George Burke Roche (1885–1958), who died unmarried. In 1899, he sued his ex-wife with a ''

Writ of Habeas Corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

'' to produce their daughter in court, stating that she was depriving "the child of her liberty." The case was settled out of court shortly thereafter. On 1 September 1920, he succeeded his elder brother as

Baron Fermoy Baron Fermoy is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. The title was created by Queen Victoria by letters patent of 10 September 1856 for Edmond Roche. Previous letters patent had been issued on 14 May 1855 which purported to create this barony for ...

. Just two months later, he died at Artillery Mansions,

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, aged 69. He was buried at St. Marylebone Cemetery in

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill it straddles the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, with most of East Finchley falling into the London Borough of Barnet. It ...

on 3 November 1920. Cokayne, G. E., Gibbs, Vicary, and Doubleday, H. A. ''The Complete Peerage: Volume V'' (St. Catherine Press, London, 1926), p. 303.

Descendants

Through his son Maurice, he was the great-grandfather of

. His daughter Cynthia was the

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...

great-grandmother of American actor

Oliver Platt Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is a Canadian-born American actor. He is known for his starring roles in many films such as ''Flatliners'' (1990), ''Beethoven'' (1992), '' Indecent Proposal'', ''The Three Musketeers'' (both 1993), '' Execut ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fermoy, James Roche, 3rd Baron 1851 births 1920 deaths UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs who inherited peerages Anti-Parnellite MPs Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Kerry constituencies (1801–1922) People from Ealing Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English people of Irish descent Barons Fermoy James Burials at East Finchley Cemetery