Henry Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely KP, PC (Ire) (18 November 1709 – 8 May 1783), styled The Honourable from 1751 to 1769 and known as Henry Loftus, 4th Viscount Loftus from 1769 to 1771, 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 State rel ...

peer and politician. He was the younger son of

Nicholas Loftus, 1st Viscount Loftus Nicholas Loftus, 1st Viscount Loftus PC (I) (c.1687 – 31 December 1763) was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer. Biography Loftus was the son of Henry Loftus and Anne Crewkern. He served in the Irish House of Commons as the Member of Par ...

and Anne Ponsonby, daughter of

William Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Duncannon William Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Duncannon (1659 – 17 November 1724), was an Anglo-Irish peer. Background He was born in 1659, the third son of John Ponsonby (colonel), Sir John Ponsonby (c. 1608/9 – 1678) of Bessborough in County Kilkenny, a ...

. His elder brother was

Nicholas Hume-Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely Nicholas Hume-Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely PC (I) (1708 – 31 October 1766) was an Anglo-Irish peer and member of the House of Lords. He was the son of Nicholas Loftus, 1st Viscount Loftus and Anne Ponsonby, daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Visc ...

of the first creation. He served as

High Sheriff of Wexford The High Sheriff of Wexford was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Wexford, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Irish Free State and replaced by the office of Wexford County Sheriff ...

in 1744 and between 1747 and 1768 represented

Bannow Bannow () is a village and civil parish lying east of Bannow Bay on the southwest coast of County Wexford, Ireland. In modern times the main settlement is the village of Carrig-on-Bannow (or ''Carrig''). In Norman times there was a borough ...

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 the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

. Subsequently, Loftus sat for

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

until 1769, when he succeeded his nephew

Nicholas Hume-Loftus, 2nd Earl of Ely Nicholas Hume-Loftus, 2nd Earl of Ely (11 September 1738 – 12 November 1769) was an Anglo-Irish peer, briefly styled Viscount Loftus in October 1766. He represented the constituency of Fethard, County Wexford in the Parliament of Ireland from ...

, as Viscount Loftus. During a celebrated hearing into his nephew's mental capacity, Loftus testified that the young man was of normal intelligence. Loftus was created Earl of Ely (second creation) in 1771 and was appointed a Knight Founder of the

Order of St Patrick The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a dormant British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by King George III at the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, ...

on 11 March 1783. He married firstly in 1745 Frances Monroe, daughter of Henry Monroe of Roe's Hall,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. Frances was a leading figure in Dublin society who wielded some political influence, and was a much stronger character than her ineffectual husband, whom she seems to have dominated completely. She died in 1774. There is a portrait of the couple, with Lady Ely's nieces, Dorothea (Dolly) and Frances Monroe, the daughters of her brother Henry Monroe of Roe's Hall, by the celebrated

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

painter

Angelica Kauffman Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss people, Swiss Neoclassicism, Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered prima ...

, who visited Ireland in 1771. Dolly Monroe was one of the greatest beauties of the age, whose admirers included

Henry Grattan Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...

and

Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish poet, novelist, playwright, and hack writer. A prolific author of various literature, he is regarded among the most versatile writers of the Georgian e ...

. She married the politician William Richardson, and died without issue in 1793. Her sister Frances married Henry Read. Henry married secondly Anne Bonfoy, daughter of Captain Henry Bonfoy and Anne Eliot, and sister of

Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot (London, 8 July 1727 – 17 February 1804, Port Eliot, Cornwall) was an English official and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1748 to 1784, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Eliot ...

. He had no issue by either marriage and at his death, his estates passed to his nephew

Charles Loftus, 1st Marquess of Ely Charles Tottenham Loftus, 1st Marquess of Ely, KP, PC (23 January 1738 – 22 March 1806) was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician. Life Born Charles Tottenham, he assumed the additional surname of Loftus in 1783, after inheriting the estate ...

, the son of his sister Elizabeth and Sir John Tottenham, 1st Baronet. His widow died in 1821, having outlived her mother, who lived to be 97, by only 5 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ely, Henry Loftus, 1st Earl Of 1709 births 1783 deaths 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Earls in the Peerage of Ireland Loftus, Henry Loftus, Henry Loftus, Henry Knights of St Patrick Loftus, Henry Members of the Privy Council of Ireland High sheriffs of Wexford