Thomas Burgh (1696 – 20 September 1758) 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 who was elected MP for Lanesborough 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 fra ...

(1727–1758).

Biography

Burgh was educated at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. He was the son of William Burgh of Bert House, near

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 9,677 (as of the 2016 census) makes it the sixth largest town in Kild ...

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

, Comptroller and Auditor General, and Margaret Parnell, sister of the High Court

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

John Parnell and the

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and preacher

Thomas Parnell Thomas Parnell (11 September 1679 – 24 October 1718) was an Anglo-Irish poet and clergyman who was a friend of both Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. He was born in Dublin, the eldest son of Thomas Parnell (died 1685) of Maryborough, Queen' ...

. His uncle, John, was an ancestor of the leading statesman

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...

. Burgh sat in the

as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Lanesborough between 1727 and his death in 1758.E. M. Johnston-Liik
''MPs in Dublin: Companion to History of the Irish Parliament, 1692-1800''
(Ulster Historical Foundation, 2006), p.74 (Retrieved 25 October 2016).

Family

Burgh married Anne Downes, daughter of Rt. Rev.

Dive Downes Dive Downes (b Thornby, Northamptonshire 1652 – d Dublin 1709) was Bishop of Cork and Ross from 1699 to 1709. Downes was born in Northamptonshire, son of the Reverend Lewis Downes. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was ordained in ...

Bishop of Cork and Ross The Bishop of Cork and Ross is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Cork and the town of Rosscarbery in Republic of Ireland. The combined title was first used by the Church of Ireland from 1638 to 1660 and again from 1679 to ...

and his fourth wife Lady Catherine Fitzgerald, sister of the

Earl of Kildare 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 1731. They had eight children, three sons and five daughters. One of their daughters, Margaretta Burgh, married

John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire) (1740 – 23 August 1828) was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland (1784–1785, 1804–1806, 1807–1811) and as the last Speak ...

and was created

Viscountess Ferrard Viscount Massereene is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1660, along with the subsidiary title of Baron Loughneagh. From 1665 to 1816 the Skeffington Baronetcy of Fisherwick was attached to the viscountcy and from 1756 to 181 ...

in 1797. Another, Catherine, married Dixie Coddington MP of

Oldbridge Oldbridge () is a townland near Drogheda in County Meath, Ireland. The area is home to the Boyne Navigation, the Battle of the Boyne Interpretive Centre and the southern half of the Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge (which carries the M1 motorway ...

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

, but had no surviving issue. One of their sons, also called Thomas, was the father of

Ulysses Burgh, 2nd Baron Downes General Ulysses de Burgh, 2nd Baron Downes (15 August 1788 – 26 July 1864), was an Irish soldier and Tory politician. A General in the British Army, he served as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance under Lord Liverpool (1820–27) and, afte ...

, who inherited the title by special remainder from his cousin

William Downes, 1st Baron Downes William Downes, 1st Baron Downes PC (1751 – 3 March 1826) was one of the leading Irish judges of his time, who held office as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Family Downes was the second son of Robert Downes (1708-1754) of Donnybrook Castle ...

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 i ...

, a nephew of Anne Downes. Bert House, a substantial

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

mansion, still exists.

References

1696 births 1758 deaths 18th-century Anglo-Irish people

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 Ap ...

Irish MPs 1727–1760 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Longford constituencies Alumni of Trinity College Dublin {{Ireland-pre1801-MP-stub