Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, 1st Baronet (1741 - 14 March 1821) 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 ...

lawyer and baronet.

Life

Blennerhassett was the son of Robert Blennerhassett and Frances Yielding. He was the great-grandson of Robert Blennerhassett MP.John Debrett, ''Debrett's Baronetage of England: with alphabetical lists of such baronetcies as have merged in the peerage, or have become extinct, and also of the existing baronets of Nova Scotia and Ireland'' (J.G. & F. Rivington, 1835), 347. He trained as an attorney and practised law. He was the colonel of the 'Laune Rangers' militia regiment of volunteers from 1779 to 1782. Between 1796 and 1797 he was a Justice of the Peace in County Kerry. Blennerhassett resettled his family at Cahirmoreaun, just outside

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

, renaming both the house and the village Blennerville in his family's honour. He built a large new family home at Churchtown House, Knockane. In 1800 he was granted permission to hold four fairs a year and one market a week in Blennerville, which providing him with extra income. Blennerhassett established in Blennerville a

windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

around 1800 which still exists and a

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

school, called the Erasmus Smith School, in 1812. On 22 September 1809 he was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

of Blennerville in the County of Kerry, in the

Baronetage of the United Kingdom Baronets are hereditary titles awarded by the Crown. The current baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier, existing baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland and Great Britain. To be recognised as a baronet, it is necessary ...

. He was confirmed the right to bear the family

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

a year earlier.

Family

Blennerhassett married his first cousin, Millicent Agnes Yielding, the daughter of Richard Yielding, on 31 October 1762; she was killed in an accident in 1801, receiving a blow from one of the sails of their windmill. Together, they had five children: *Sir Robert Blennerhassett, 2nd Baronet (26 January 1769 – 21 September 1831), married Rosanna Blennerhassett *Richard Francis Blennerhassett (23 May 1772 - November 1827), married Agnes Denny, daughter of Sir Barry Denny, 1st Baronet *Arthur Blennerhassett (27 October 1776 – 31 May 1839), married Hon. Helena Jane Mullins, daughter of Thomas Mullins, 1st Baron Ventry *Rowland Blennerhassett (26 December 1780 – 12 April 1854), married Letitia Hurly *William Blennerhassett (26 December 1780 - 1842), married Elizabeth Blennerhassett

References

1741 births 1821 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom 18th-century Anglo-Irish people 19th-century Anglo-Irish people Rowland Lawyers from County Kerry {{UK-baronet-stub