Barry Maxwell, 1st Earl of Farnham PC (Ire) (1723 – 7 October 1800), styled The Honourable Barry Maxwell from 1756 to 1779, was an

Irish peer 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 ...

and politician.

Background

He was the son of

John Maxwell, 1st Baron Farnham John Maxwell, 1st Baron Farnham (1687 – 6 August 1759) was an Irish peer and politician. He was the son of the Reverend Robert Maxwell and Anne Stewart, daughter of Colonel George Stewart. His paternal grandfather was Robert Maxwell, Bishop of ...

and Judith Barry.

Political career

He was

Prothonotary The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the B ...

of the Court of Common Pleas between 1741 and 1800, was called to the Irish Bar in 1748 and was appointed a Bencher in 1757. On his brother's death in November 1779, he succeeded as 3rd Baron Farnham, inheriting the Farnham estate. He commissioned

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

, one of the most fashionable architects of the time, to design a new house. These plans are now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He was created Viscount Farnham on 10 January 1781, Earl of Farnham on 22 June 1785, and became a Privy Councillor in Ireland on 6 June 1796. From 1756 to 1760 and again from 1768 to 1779, 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 fran ...

for Cavan Borough. Between 1761 and 1768, he represented Armagh Borough.

Family

He married twice, firstly in January 1757 to Margaret King, daughter of Robert King of Drewstown. They had the following children: *

John James Maxwell, 2nd Earl of Farnham John James Maxwell, 2nd Earl of Farnham (5 February 1759 – 23 July 1823) was an Representative peer, Irish Representative peer and politician. He was the son of Barry Maxwell, 1st Earl of Farnham and Margaret King. He was known as Shane Rua due ...

(5 February 1760 – 23 July 1823). * Anne Maxwell; she married Richard Fox of Fox Hall in 1787. * Judith Maxwell, died unmarried in 1818. He then married secondly on 5 August 1771 to Grace Burdett, daughter of Arthur Burdett of Ballymaney. They had the following issue: * Grace Maxwell (died 19 June 1866); she married to

Sir Ralph St George, 7th Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

(1758–1842) * Elizabeth Maxwell, died unmarried in January 1782. On his death, he was succeeded by his son John James.

Notes

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. (),
Maxwell family genealogy, part 03
showing the Maxwell of Calderwood, Maxwell of Farnham (co. Cavan), and Maxwell of Finnebrogue families.
An examination into the principles contained in a pamphlet entitled The speech of lord Minto, with some remarks upon a pamphlet entitled Observations on that part of the speaker's speech which relates to trade
A pamphlet written by the Earl opposing the Act of Union 1800

External links

Cavan County Museum – The Farnham Gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farnham, Barry Maxwell, 1st Earl of 1723 births 1800 deaths Earls in the Peerage of Ireland Irish MPs 1727–1760 Irish MPs 1761–1768 Irish MPs 1769–1776 Irish MPs 1776–1783 Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cavan constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Armagh constituencies 3 Younger sons of barons