Thomas Tennison (1707 – 27 March 1779) was an Irish politician and

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 ...

. He served as

Prime Serjeant This is a list of lawyers who held the rank of serjeant-at-law at the Irish Bar. Origins of the office of serjeant The first recorded serjeant was Roger Owen, who was appointed between 1261 and 1266, although the title itself was not commonly ...

and as a judge of the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

. He 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 fra ...

as member for

Dunleer Dunleer () is a town and townland in County Louth, Ireland. Dunleer is situated midway between Dundalk and Drogheda and is located on the junction of the R132, R169 and R170 regional roads that intersect the town. Dunleer used to be the p ...

for many years.Ball, F. Elrington, ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'', John Murray, London, 1926, vol. 2, p. 212. He was born in Dillonstown,

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

, only son of Henry Tenison (1667-1709), Member of Parliament for

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Cou ...

and later for

and grandson of

Richard Tennison Richard Tenison (1642 – 29 July 1705) was an Irish bishop of Killala, Clogher and Meath. He was born the eldest son of Thomas Tenison of Carrickfergus and matriculated from Trinity College Dublin in 1659. Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbu ...

(1642-1705),

Bishop of Meath The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric. History Unti ...

. The bishop was a cousin of, and on friendly terms with, the earlier

Thomas Tenison Thomas Tenison (29 September 163614 December 1715) was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs. Life He was born at Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, the son a ...

who was

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

. The judge's mother was Anne Moore, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Moore of Knockballymore,

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

, a cousin of the

Earl of Drogheda Earl of Drogheda is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1661 for The 3rd Viscount Moore. History The Moore family descends from Sir Garrett Moore, a staunch friend of Hugh O'Neill, the Great Earl of Tyrone, whose submission ...

. His father was a wealthy landowner of scholarly tastes, who was a member of the Dublin intellectual circle which revolved around

Esther Johnson Esther Johnson (13 March 1681 – 28 January 1728) was the English friend of Jonathan Swift, known as "Stella". Whether or not she and Swift were secretly married, and if so why the marriage was never made public, is a subject of debate. Pare ...

, the beloved ''Stella'' of

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

; Henry and Swift had been friends 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 ...

.Ball, p. 161. Henry died when his son was only two years old, and Anne had died the previous year. Thomas and his three sisters were raised by relatives, most likely by their uncle Richard Tenison junior, MP for

, who founded the

branch of the family. He married the heiress Dorothy Upton, daughter of Thomas Upton, Member of Parliament for Antrim, and cousin of the first

Baron Templetown Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

, by his wife Sarah Rowley of

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

. They had one son, Richard, who predeceased his father by 20 years, leaving at least one daughter but no son. Thomas's estate passed at his death to his nephew

Dixie Coddington Dixie Coddington (born c.1725, died 1794) was an Irish MP and army officer. Coddington was born in Drogheda, eldest son of Nicholas Coddington of Oldbridge and Mary Tenison, daughter of Henry Tenison MP, of Dillonstown, and Anne Moore of Coun ...

, the son of his sister Mary, who married Nicholas Coddington of Oldbridge. Dixie, like his uncle, represented Dunleer in the Commons for many years. Thomas went to school in

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

and matriculated from

in 1725. He entered

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1726 and was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

in 1728. He acted as a Commissioner for Revenue appeals and became Prime Serjeant in 1759. Two years later he was appointed justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He died in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

in 1779, while on

assize The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

. He represented Dunleer in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chamb ...

from 1728 to 1760 and from April to December 1761. As a politician he was noted for a style of oratory which was "warm, if not always clear"; in private life, he was noted as a connoisseur of wine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennison, Thomas 1707 births 1779 deaths People from County Louth Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Louth constituencies Irish MPs 1727–1760 Irish MPs 1761–1768 Justices of the Irish Common Pleas Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)