Sir Edward O'Brien, 2nd Baronet (7 April 1705 – 26 November 1765) was an Irish politician and

baronet 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 ...

Life

Born in England in 1705, he was the eldest surviving child of Lucius O'Brien (1675-1717 d.v.p) and Catherine Keightley (1676- c. 1733). He would be followed by a younger brother Thomas and two sisters Anne and Lucia, who both died as children. He inherited the baronetcy from his grandfather

Sir Donough O'Brien, 1st Baronet Sir Donough O'Brien, 1st Baronet of Leameneh (1642 – 17 November 1717) was an Irish politician and baronet. He was the son of Conor O'Brien of Leamanah and Máire Rua McMahon. He was the first member of his family to conform to the establi ...

as his own father had pre-deceased him. His maternal grandmother, Lady Frances Keightley (née Hyde) was the sister of Anne Hyde Duchess of York who in turn was the mother of

Queen Mary II Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife A ...

and Queen Anne. Edward was raised first in Ireland, before attending Oxford. He entered 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 ...

in 1727, sitting for

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

, the same constituency his grandfather had also represented, until his death in 1765. Edward lived extravagantly and gambled heavily on horse races, destroying the wealth which his grandfather had so carefully built. When the last Earl of Thomond Henry O'Brien died he left his large estates to Murrough, the son of

William O'Brien, 4th Earl of Inchiquin {{Infobox officeholder , honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable , name = The Earl of Inchiquin , honorific-suffix = KB PC(I) , image = William_O’Brien,_4th_Earl_of_Inchiquin.jpg , caption = , alt ...

, with remainder to Percy Wyndham. Murrough in died in 1741 and the reversion became effective. When the Earl of Thomond was seeking an heir amongst his kinsmen, he could not select the Marshal of Thomond as he refused to turn Protestant. He did not choose Edward as his heir as he was living too extravagantly and thus left him out of his will. The fortunes of the Dromoland O'Briens would have been greatly enhanced had they inherited the Thomond estates.

Issue

He married Mary Hickman in 1726 and together they had eight children: *

Sir Lucius O'Brien, 3rd Baronet Sir Lucius Henry O'Brien, 3rd Baronet PC (Ire) (2 September 1731 – 15 January 1795) was an Irish baronet and politician for 34 years. He was a man of quite different parts to his father, an intellectual, a Greek and Latin scholar and a bril ...

. *Donough O'Brien, married Mary, daughter of Richard Henn of Paradise, County Clare. Progenitor of Canadian branch of the family. *Captain Edward O'Brien, married Charlotte, daughter of Thomas Hickman of Brickhill, County Clare and died in 1787. *Henrietta, died unmarried. *Anne, married Richard Dawson of Atherdee, brother of the 1st Viscount Cremorne. *Mary, who married John Quin of Rossbrien and died in 1782. *Catherine, who married Charles MacDonnell of New Hall (Killone). *Lucy O'Brien, married Thomas Arthur of Glanmore in 1766.

Life

Issue

Ancestry

References

Further reading