Robert Jocelyn, 1st Earl of Roden (baptised 31 July 1731 – 21 June 1797) was an Irish peer and politician. He was the only son of

Robert Jocelyn, 1st Viscount Jocelyn Robert Jocelyn, 1st Viscount Jocelyn Privy Council of Ireland, PC (I) Serjeant-at-law (Ireland), SL (c. 1688 ? – 3 December 1756) was an Anglo-Irish politician and judge and member of the Peerage of Ireland, best known for serving as Lord Chan ...

and his first wife Charlotte Anderson. Jocelyn was MP for Old Leighlin from 1743 to 1756 and Auditor-General of the Exchequer from 1750 until his death. He succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father on 3 December 1756, and on 1 December 1771, he was created Earl of Roden, of High Roding in County Tipperary. On the death of his cousin, Sir Conyers Jocelyn, 4th Bt, of Hyde Hall, Hertford, he also succeeded to the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

Family

On 11 December 1752, he married Lady Anne Hamilton (1730-1803), daughter of

James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Clanbrassil James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Clanbrassil Privy Council of Ireland, PC(I) (14 August 1694 – 17 March 1758) was a British politician and peer. Hamilton was the son of James Hamilton and Hon. Anne Mordaunt, the daughter of John Mordaunt, 1st Visco ...

l and his wife Henrietta Bentinck, daughter of

William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland ( Dutch: ''Hans Willem Bentinck''; 20 July 164923 November 1709) was a Dutch-born English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of William, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder in the Netherlands, ...

. The marriage was a happy one, and gave great pleasure to his father, who had been deeply saddened by his own wife's death. He died in York Street,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Robert Jocelyn, 2nd Earl of Roden, best remembered for the crucial, if somewhat ruthless, role he played in putting down the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The m ...

. The Dowager Countess, who spent much of her later life at her old home at Tollymore,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, describes the events of 1798 vividly in her diary. The Jocelyns had eleven children in all. Their son George was MP for

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

, jointly with his elder brother. Their third son Percy Jocelyn became

Bishop of Clogher The Bishop of Clogher (, ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Clogher in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Following the Reformation, there are now parallel apostolic successions: one of the Church of Ireland and ...

, but his career was ruined by a notorious sex scandal in 1822, and he lived out his life under an assumed name. His disgrace is known to have profoundly affected the mental state of Lord Castlereagh, who apparently developed a paranoid delusion that he was to be charged in connection with the Jocelyn case: this is thought to have been a major factor in Castlereagh's

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. H. Montgomery Hyde ''The Strange Death of Lord Castlereagh'' William Heinemann Ltd London 1959 pp.54-6

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Roden, Robert Jocelyn, 1st Earl of 1731 births 1791 deaths Irish MPs 1727–1760 Jocelyn, Robert Jocelyn, Viscount Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Earls of Roden