Thomas Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth (16 November 1717 – 11 January 1799) 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 and peer. He was also the last man to be summoned to parliament as

Baron Athenry Baron Athenry is one of the oldest titles in the Peerage of Ireland, but the date of its creation is thoroughly uncertain; each of the first four Berminghams listed below is claimed by some writers to have been Lord Athenry, but the evidence is di ...

. Bermingham was the son of

Francis Bermingham, 14th Baron Athenry Francis de Bermingham, 14th Baron Athenry (1692 – 1749), was an Anglo-Irish peer. He was the only son of Edward Bermingham, 13th Baron Athenry, and his second wife Bridget Browne, daughter of Colonel John Browne and Maud Bourke. Francis de B ...

, by his first marriage to Lady Mary Nugent, daughter of

Thomas Nugent, 4th Earl of Westmeath Thomas Nugent, 4th Earl of Westmeath (1669 - 30 June 1752) was an Irish soldier and peer. He was the second son of Christopher Nugent, Lord Delvin and Mary Butler, daughter of Colonel Richard Butler. He was likely the resident of Coolamber Hall Ho ...

.''The Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland: The peerage of Ireland'' ( W. Owen nd 2 others 1790), pp. 93-95. He was elected to 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 ...

as Member of Parliament for Galway County, sitting between 1745 and 1750, when on 4 March 1750 he succeeded his father as Baron Athenry and became a member of the

Irish House of Lords The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of England, with membe ...

. was invested as a member of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

, but was ejected from it in 1767 by Lord Townshend, the newly arrived

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 Kingdo ...

, who wished to make a "clean sweep" of the Irish administration, removing all those he regarded as corrupt or inefficient. On 23 April 1759, Lord Athenry was created

Earl of Louth Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

, a title previously held by

John de Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth John de Bermingham, 1st and last Earl of Louth (died 13 June 1329) was an Irish peer. He was the commander of the Anglo-Irish army in the Battle of Faughart, the decisive battle in the Irish Bruce Wars 1315–1318. In this battle, Edward Bruc ...

, a cousin of his remote ancestor Rickard de Bermingham.

Marriages and children

He married, firstly, Jane Bingham, the daughter of

Sir John Bingham, 5th Baronet Sir John Bingham, 5th Baronet (1690 – 21 September 1749) was an Irish politician. He was the eldest son of Sir George Bingham, 4th Baronet, and his first wife Mary Scott. Bingham was educated at the Middle Temple. He was appointed High Sherif ...

. and Anne Vesey, in November 1745. He married, secondly, Margaret Daly, the daughter of Peter Daly and Elizabeth Blake, on 10 January 1750. He died in 1799 and is buried in the Dominican Friary at

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th century street-plan. The town is also well known by virt ...

, founded by his ancestor in 1241. His property was divided between his three daughters and their families. He left no surviving male issue, so his earldom became extinct.''The Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland: The peerage of Ireland'' ( W. Owen nd 2 others 1790), 93-95. The barony fell into abeyance and became dormant: among those who unsuccessfully claimed it after him were his grandson Thomas Sewell, and the family of

John Birmingham John Birmingham (born 7 August 1964) is a British-born Australian author, known for the 1994 memoir ''He Died with a Felafel in His Hand'', and his ''Axis of Time'' trilogy. Early life and education Birmingham was born in Liverpool, United ...

. His daughters were- *Elizabeth, who married firstly Thomas Bailey Heath Sewell (son of Sir

Thomas Sewell Thomas Sewell may refer to: * Tom Sewell (basketball) (born 1962), American shooting guard * Tom Sewell (cricketer, born 1806) (1806–1888), English cricketer * Tom Sewell (cricketer, born 1830) (1830–1871), English cricketer, son of Tom Sewell s ...

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales a ...

) secondly Francis Duffield and thirdly Joseph Russell *Mary, married William St Lawrence, 2nd Earl of Howth *Louisa, married firstly Joseph Blake, 1st Baron Wallscourt and secondly James Daly.

References

* ''History of Galway'',

James Hardiman James Hardiman (1782–1855), also known as Séamus Ó hArgadáin, was a librarian at Queen's College, Galway. Hardiman is best remembered for his '' History of the Town and County of Galway'' (1820) and '' Irish Minstrelsy'' (1831), one of the f ...

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

, 1820 * ''The Abbey of Athenry'', Martin J. Blake, Journal of the

Galway Archaeological and Historical Society The Galway Archaeological and Historical Society was founded on 21 March 1900, at the Railway Hotel, Galway. It promotes the study of the archaeology and history of the west of Ireland. Since 1900, the Society has published 70 volumes of the ''J ...

, volume II, part ii, 1902 * ''The Birmingham family of Athenry'', H.T. Knox, J.G.A.H.S., volume ten, numbers iii and iv, 1916–17. * ''The Birmingham chalice'', J. Rabbitte, volume 17, i and ii, 1936–37 People from County Galway Earls in the Peerage of Ireland Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Irish MPs 1727–1760 18th-century Anglo-Irish people 1717 births 1799 deaths Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Galway constituencies {{Ireland-earl-stub