Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde, 11th Baronet, (21 September 1862 – 15 September 1935) was an Irish

Home Rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

politician and author.

Politics

Esmonde was elected

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...

MP for the constituencies South Dublin 1885–1892, West Kerry 1892–1900 and North Wexford 1900–1918 in the

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 ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

. He also sat as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Senator in the Oireachtas from 1922 to 1934. He was High Sheriff of County Waterford in 1887.

Personal life

He was the son of Sir John Esmonde, 10th Baronet and his wife Louisa, daughter of

Henry Grattan Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...

. In July 1891, he married Alice Donovan of

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...

. Alice and Esmonde had five children: *Alngelda Barbara Mary Grattan Esmonde *Eithne Moira Grattan Esmonde; married her second cousin Sir Anthony Esmonde, 15th Baronet *Patricia Alison Louisa Grattan Esmonde * Sir Osmond Esmonde, 12th Baronet (1896–1936) *John Henry Grattan Esmonde (1899–1916); killed in the Battle of Jutland Alice died in December 1922, and in September 1924 Esmonde married Anna Frances Levins. Esmonde's home, Ballynastragh House, located near

Gorey Gorey () is a market town in north County Wexford, Ireland. It is beside the main M11 Dublin to Wexford road. The town is also connected to the railway network along the same route. Local newspapers include the ''Gorey Guardian''. As a growi ...

, County Wexford, and dating from the 17th century, was burned down on 9 March 1923 by members of the anti-Treaty

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

. The house was rebuilt on a much smaller scale in 1937. Esmonde was a frequent traveller and author of articles on Irish folklore and antiquities, as well as a memoir, ''Hunting Memories of Many Lands'' (1920). He died in Dublin, six days before his 73rd birthday. In 1902 he founded the Enniscorthy Echo in co-operation with William Sears.

Honours

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

of the

Order of the Holy Sepulchre The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani, links=yes, OESSH), also called Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, is a Catholic order of knighthood under ...

Notable Irish Members (Historic): Sir Thomas Grattan Esmonde
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References

External links

Esmonde Family Tree
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esmonde, Thomas Henry 1862 births 1935 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Kerry constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Wexford constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 Members of the 1922 Seanad Members of the 1925 Seanad Members of the 1928 Seanad Members of the 1931 Seanad Politicians from County Wexford

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

High Sheriffs of County Waterford Knights of the Holy Sepulchre Independent members of Seanad Éireann People from Gorey Anti-Parnellite MPs

Politics

Personal life

Honours

See also

References

External links