James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy (28 July 1851 – 30 October 1920), was a Member of Parliament in the British

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

, and he held a title in the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

during the final two months of his life.

Early life and career

He was born in 1851 at Twyford Abbey,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, the son of Edmond Roche, 1st Baron Fermoy, and his wife Eliza Caroline ''née'' Boothby. He was educated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 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 ...

. In 1896, he stood as an Anti-Parnellite

Irish National Federation The Irish National Federation (INF) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded in 1891 by former members of the Irish National League (INL), after a split in the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) on the leadership of Charles ...

candidate in the Kerry East by-election for a seat in the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

of the

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. The Nationalists had split into two factions after the party leader,

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1875 to 1891, Leader of the Home Rule Leag ...

, was named as co-respondent in a divorce. Roche was supported initially by both the Parnellite

Irish National League The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League ...

and the Anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation, until it was revealed that he was himself divorced. During the campaign, Roche denied publicly that he knew of the divorce or that he had deserted his wife and children. Although he went on to win the seat, the opposing Unionist candidate gained the highest vote ever recorded for a Unionist candidate in Kerry East. He served one term and did not stand in the following general election in 1900.

Personal life

He visited the United States, where he met the heiress Frances Ellen Work (1857–1947). Shortly thereafter, on 22 September 1880, they married at Christ Church,

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. The marriage was not a success, and they separated in December 1886. She was granted a divorce on the grounds of desertion on 3 March 1891 at

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. Together, they had four children (two daughters, then twin sons): * Eileen Roche (1882−1882), who died in infancy. * The Hon. Cynthia Roche (1884−1966), who married firstly Arthur Scott Burden (1879–1921) in 1906. After his death, she married Guy Fairfax Cary (1879–1950) in 1922. * Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy (1885–1955), who was the maternal grandfather of

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

. * The Hon. Francis George Burke Roche (1885–1958), who died unmarried. In 1899, he sued his ex-wife with a '' Writ of Habeas Corpus'' to produce their daughter in court, stating that she was depriving "the child of her liberty." The case was settled out of court shortly thereafter. On 1 September 1920, he succeeded his elder brother as Baron Fermoy. Just two months later, he died at Artillery Mansions,

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, aged 69. He was buried at St. Marylebone Cemetery in East Finchley on 3 November 1920. Cokayne, G. E., Gibbs, Vicary, and Doubleday, H. A. ''The Complete Peerage: Volume V'' (St. Catherine Press, London, 1926), p. 303.

Descendants

Through his son Maurice, he was the great-grandfather of

. His daughter Cynthia was the

matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...

great-grandmother of American actor Oliver Platt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fermoy, James Roche, 3rd Baron 1851 births 1920 deaths UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs who inherited peerages Anti-Parnellite MPs Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Kerry constituencies (1801–1922) People from Ealing Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English people of Irish descent Barons Fermoy James Burials at East Finchley Cemetery Younger sons of barons