Sir Richard Reynell, 2nd Baronet (1673–1723) 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, barrister and landowner who sat 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 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

as member for

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; ga, Cill Mhantáin , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; non, Víkingaló) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has a ...

from 1692 to 1693. He was the elder son of Sir Richard Reynell, 1st Baronet and his wife Hester Beckett, daughter of Randall Beckett of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p. 354 He was probably born in

, where his father spent most of his career. The elder Sir Richard was in turn member of the House of Commons for

Athboy Athboy () is a small agricultural town located in County Meath. The town is located on the ''Yellow Ford River'', in wooded country near the County Westmeath border. Local Clubs are Clann Na nGael and Athboy Celtic. History In medieval time ...

, judge of the

Court of King's Bench (Ireland) The Court of King's Bench (of Queen's Bench when the sovereign was female, and formerly of Chief Place or Chief Pleas) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The King's Be ...

and finally

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

. The Reynells were an ancient

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

family with strong links to East Ogwell and Ashburton, Devon; after the Glorious Revolution the elder Sir Richard sat in the House of Commons of England for Ashburton. The younger Richard was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Wicklow in 1692, when he was barely 20 years old; he was also like his father a practising barrister. His father's mental health failed: he was removed from office in 1695 and retired to England; from then on the family largely severed their ties with Ireland, apart from the second baronet's younger brother Henry, a barrister in Dublin. The younger Richard married his cousin Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Reynell of

Laleham Laleham is a village on the River Thames, in the Borough of Spelthorne, about west of central London, England. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames a ...

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 ...

and Anne Balam. Elizabeth died in 1706, aged thirty-nine. They had three daughters, Hester Reynell who married Christopher Carleton, Anne Jemima who married firstly Edward Bray and then secondly Abraham Dumaresq of the Hon.

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, and Catherine who married William Harvest, and one son Sir Thomas Reynell, 3rd Baronet. Sir Richard Reynell, the 3rd Baronet, died at Laleham in June 1723. In contrast to his father, who was described as one of the most remarkable figures in Irish political life of his time,Ball p. 288 the second Sir Richard has left little mark on history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynell, Sir Richard, 2nd Baronet 1673 births 1723 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Wicklow constituencies Irish MPs 1692–1693

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...