Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse (21 May 1758 – 24 February 1841), known as Sir Lawrence Parsons, Bt, from 1791 to 1807, was an Irish peer.

Biography

Parsons was the son of

Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet of Birr Castle (6 May 1731 – 1 May 1791) was an Irish politician and baronet. He was the son of Sir Laurence Parsons, 3rd Baronet and Mary Sprigge. From 1757 until his death in 1797, Parsons served as member ...

and Mary Clere. He succeeded his father in 1791 to the baronetcy and to

Birr Castle Birr Castle ( Irish: ) is a large castle in the town of Birr in County Offaly, Ireland. It is the home of the 7th Earl of Rosse and his family, and as the castle is generally not open to the public, though the grounds and gardens of the deme ...

, King's County (now known as

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

). Between 1782 and 1790, he represented

Dublin University The University of Dublin (), corporately named as The Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin, whi ...

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 the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

. Parsons sat then as Member of Parliament (MP) for King's County from 1791 until the Act of Union in 1801. In the following

co-option Co-option, also known as co-optation and sometimes spelt cooption or cooptation, is a term with three common meanings. It may refer to: 1) The process of adding members to an elite Social group, group at the discretion of members of the body, us ...

, he chose to sit for King's County also 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 memb ...

, a seat he held until 1807. In the latter year, he succeeded his uncle as second Earl of Rosse and Lord Oxmantown. He also served as Governor of King's County from 1792 until the position was abolished in 1831. In 1793 the Parsonstown Loyal Independent Volunteers raised by his family in 1776 as part of the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...

was taken onto the official

Irish Militia The British Militia was the principal military reserve force of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Militia units were repeatedly raised in Great Britain during the Georgian era for internal security duties and to defend against external invasions. The ...

establishment as the

King's County Royal Rifle Militia The King's County Royal Rifle Militia was an Irish Militia regiment in King's County (now County Offaly) dating back to 1776. It later became a battalion of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). It saw action during the Irish ...

, and he served as the regiment's

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

until 1798. In 1809, he became one of the

Postmasters General of Ireland The Postmasters General of Ireland, held by two people simultaneously, was a new appointment set up as part of the establishment of the Irish Post Office independent from that of Great Britain, by the Act 23 & 24 Geo 3 c. 17 (I) in 1784. The po ...

with

Charles O'Neill, 1st Earl O'Neill Charles Henry St John O'Neill, 1st Earl O'Neill, Order of St Patrick, KP, Privy Council of Ireland, PC (I) (22 January 1779 – 12 February 1841) was an Irish politician, peer and landowner. He was born in 1779 to John O'Neill, 1st Viscount O'N ...

, with whom he attended the laying of the foundation stone for the new

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

in Dublin on 12 August 1814 by the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...

Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth (29 May 1752 – 13 May 1825), known as Lord Whitworth between 1800 and 1813 and as Viscount Whitworth between 1813 and 1815, was a British diplomat and politician. Early years Whitworth, the eldest of the ...

. He later sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

as an

Irish representative peer This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords after the Kingdom of Ireland was brought into union with the Kingdom of Great Britain. No new members were added to the House after ...

from 1809 until 1841 and served as

Custos Rotulorum of King's County The Custos Rotulorum of King's County was the highest civil officer in King's County, Ireland (now County Offaly). The position was later combined with that of Lord Lieutenant of King's County. Incumbents *1687–? Robert Grace *1761–1764 C ...

from 1828 until his death.

Marriage and children

He married Alice Lloyd of nearby

Gloster House Gloster House is a Georgian-Palladian country house operating as a hotel and wedding venue near Brosna, County Offaly, Ireland. The design of the house has sometimes been attributed to the architect Edward Lovett Pearce who was a cousin of the ...

, daughter of John Lloyd, on 1 May 1797. They had five children: *

Lady ''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. "Lady" is al ...

Jane Parsons (d. 31 December 1883) *

William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (17 June 1800 – 31 October 1867), was an English engineer and astronomer. He built several giant telescopes. His 72-inch telescope, built in 1845 and colloquially known as the "Leviathan of Parsonstown", was ...

(b. 17 June 1800 – d. 31 October 1867) * Hon. John Clere Parsons (b. 17 August 1802 – d. 10 August 1828) * Hon. Laurence Parsons (b. 2 November 1805 – d. 22 November 1894) *

Alicia Parsons (b. c. 1815 – d. 21 January 1885) Jane Parsons married Arthur Edward Knox. They had two sons and three daughters. One of the sons, Lawrence E. Knox founded the Irish Times.

References and sources

;Notes ;Sources * *Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosse, Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl Of 1758 births 1841 deaths Auditors of the College Historical Society Irish MPs 1790–1797 Irish MPs 1798–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for King's County constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs who inherited peerages Irish representative peers People from Birr, County Offaly King's County Militia officers Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Commissioners of the Treasury for Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for Dublin University Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for King's County constituencies Earls of Rosse (1806 creation) Postmasters general of Ireland