William Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby (of Imokilly), PC (Ire) (15 September 17445 November 1806) was a leading Irish Whig politician, being a member of 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 Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a h ...

, and, after 1800, of the United Kingdom parliament. Ponsonby was the son of the Hon. John Ponsonby, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of the 3rd Duke of Devonshire. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor of Ireland in 1784. He served as Joint Postmaster-General of Ireland (1784–1789).

Political career

Ponsonby was educated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. He represented

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city's ...

between 1764 and 1776 and thereafter Bandonbridge between 1776 and 1783. He was the leader of a powerful family grouping of between ten and fourteen MPs, the second largest in the

. During the regency crisis of 1788–89, he gave his support to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the ruler ...

in opposition to William Pitt the Younger. As a consequence, he was dismissed from the Post Office. Thereafter he permanently aligned himself with

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled '' The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-ri ...

and together with his brother

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

gathered together the various small groups of Irish whigs into a unified opposition. As with their English counterparts, their ultimate objective was to re-establish the influence of the landowning classes at the expense of the crown. Ponsonby became committed to the cause of

Catholic Emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

, as a means of securing a loyal population at a time of radical agitation and potential foreign invasion. Pitt's coalition with the Portland whigs in July 1794 and

Earl FitzWilliam Earl Fitzwilliam (or FitzWilliam) was a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Fitzwilliam family (later Wentworth-Fitzwilliam). History The Fitzwilliams acquired extensive holdings in t ...

's consequent appointment as

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 Kin ...

gave Ponsonby and his allies an opportunity to regain office. He was on the brink of becoming Irish secretary of state and had sat on the Treasury bench. In 1795, however, he appears to have persuaded FitzWilliam to dismiss John Beresford from his post as first commissioner of the revenue on the grounds of alleged corruption, apparently in revenge for earlier political dealings. The subsequent political crisis led in 1795 to FitzWilliam's swift removal from office, Beresford's reinstatement, and to Ponsonby's humiliating return to opposition. Ponsonby was a leading opponent of the union between Ireland and Great Britain. In 1783, he stood for Newtownards and Kilkenny County. He chose the latter constituency and sat for it from 1783 until the Act of Union came into force in 1801. He became then part of the Foxite Whig opposition in the Westminster House of Commons, voting against the Addington and Pitt ministries and in favour of the Prince of Wales and Catholic Emancipation. His influence was declining, however, and by 1803 effective leadership of the Irish whigs had passed to his brother George.

Peerage

By the time Fox regained office in 1806 as member of Grenville's Ministry of All the Talents, Ponsonby's health was poor, with the result that his wife urgently pressed his claims for a peerage, arguing that it was merited by his opposition to the Regency Bill and the Union, and by his staunch support for the Foxite whigs at Westminster. As a consequence, he was raised swiftly to the peerage of the United Kingdom on 13 March 1806. He was gazetted as 'Baron Ponsonby, of Imokilly in the County of Cork', although other sources generally refer to him as 'Baron Ponsonby of Imokilly'. He died in Seymour Street, London, on 5 November 1806, and was buried in Ireland.

Testimonials

At a personal level Edmund Burke described Ponsonby in a letter to Lord Charlemont as "a manly, decided character, with ... a clear and vigorous understanding." He was as interested in sport as he was in politics and was said to have kept 'the best hunting establishment in Ireland' at Bishopscourt, his seat in

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, ...

, where it was also reported that he lived 'in the most hospitable and princely style' (Cokayne, ''

The Complete Peerage ''The Complete Peerage'' (full title: ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant''; first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition revi ...

''). In addition, he was easily irritated, especially if his status and pretensions went unacknowledged. Thus, although he took a leading part in creating a whig opposition in Ireland in the 1790s, he overplayed his hand under FitzWilliam, and his effectiveness was thereafter limited.

Family

In 1769 Ponsonby married Louisa Molesworth (1749–1824), 4th daughter of the 3rd Viscount Molesworth, and his second wife, Mary Usher. They had five sons, four of whom were men of note and one daughter. # John Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Ponsonby, was a diplomat # Hon. Sir William Ponsonby, a major-general in the army was killed at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh C ...

Richard Ponsonby The Rt. Rev. and Hon. Richard Ponsonby (1772–1853) was an Irish clergyman who held high office in the Church of Ireland. Life He was born at Dublin in 1772, the third son of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Imokilly and Louisa Mol ...

, became

bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora The Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora was the Ordinary (officer), Ordinary of the Church of Ireland diocese of Diocese of Killaloe, Killaloe and Kilfenora in the Ecclesiastical Province, Province of Archbishop of Cashel, Cashel; comprising all of ...

in 1828, Derry in 1831 and Derry and Raphoe in 1834; # George Ponsonby was a Member of Parliament and Junior Lord of the Treasury. # Mary was married to the Prime Minister, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. Ponsonby's descendants include Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax,

Sir Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative politician who se ...

and Prince William of Wales.

References

* Oxford Dictionary of National Biography * Mosley, Charles (editor). (1999). ''Burke's Peerage & Baronetage'', 106th edition * G. E. Cokayne (editor). (1910–1959) ''The Complete Peerage''..., XIII volumes; volume X, page 576 * ''Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922'', edited by B. M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponsonby, William Ponsonby, 1st Baron 1744 births 1806 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Peers of the United Kingdom created by George III Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Irish MPs 1761–1768 Irish MPs 1769–1776 Irish MPs 1776–1783 Irish MPs 1783–1790 Irish MPs 1790–1797 Irish MPs 1798–1800 Members of the Privy Council of Ireland

William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby William Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby (of Imokilly), PC (Ire) (15 September 17445 November 1806) was a leading Irish Whig politician, being a member of the Irish House of Commons, and, after 1800, of the United Kingdom parliament. Po ...

UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs who were granted peerages Whig (British political party) MPs for Irish constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for Cork City Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Down constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kilkenny constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Kilkenny constituencies (1801–1922)