Thomas Conolly (1738–1803)
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Thomas Conolly (
Leixlip Leixlip ( or ; , ) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and ...
Castle, 1738 – 27 April 1803
Celbridge Celbridge (; ) is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the ...
) was an Irish landowner and Member of Parliament.


Early life

Conolly was the son and heir of
William James Conolly William James Conolly (died 2 January 1754) was an Irish landowner and Whig politician who sat in the Irish House of Commons from 1727 to 1754 and in the British House of Commons from 1734 to 1754. Early life Conolly was a nephew of William Con ...
(d. 1754) of
Castletown House Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of an estate. The estate was sold in 1965, and late ...
,
County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, 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 gove ...
, Ireland, by his wife Lady Anne Wentworth, daughter of
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (13 April 1593 (New Style, N.S.)12 May 1641), was an English people, English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament of England, Parliament ...
(1672–1739). In 1758 he married Lady Louisa Lennox, a daughter of
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duke of Aubigny, (18 May 17018 August 1750) of Goodwood House near Chichester in Sussex, was a British nobleman and politician. He was the son of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richm ...
, but had no children.


Career

Conolly sat in the
Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...
for
Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...
from 1759 to 1768 and for
Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...
from 1768 to 1780. In 1761 he was elected to the
Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland () was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until the end of 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chambers: the Irish Hou ...
for
Ballyshannon Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 road (Ireland), N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 road (Ireland), N15 crosses the River Erne. The town was inc ...
and for
County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...
, sitting for the latter constituency until May 1800. On 6 April 1761 he was appointed to the
Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...
. In
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, Conolly was a member of the
Kildare Street Club The Kildare Street Club is a historical member's club in Dublin, Ireland, at the heart of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy. The club remained in Kildare Street between 1782 and 1977, when it merged with the Dublin University Club to becom ...
.


Property


Wentworth Castle

In 1802 Conolly was left
Wentworth Castle Wentworth Castle is a grade-I listed country house, the former seat of the Earls of Strafford, at Stainborough, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is now home to the Northern College for Residential and Community Education. A ...
by his second cousin Augusta Anne Hatfield-Kaye, sister of
Frederick Wentworth, 3rd Earl of Strafford Frederick Thomas Wentworth, 3rd Earl of Strafford (1732 – 7 August 1799) was a British peer. He was the eldest son of William Wentworth, a gentleman usher of the privy chamber to Augusta, Princess of Wales. William was the son of Peter Wentw ...
. On his death Wentworth Castle was inherited by Frederick Thomas William Vernon, grandson of the 1st Earl of Strafford's daughter Harriet Wentworth.


Castletown House

Castletown House passed to his widow Lady Louisa and then to
Edward Pakenham Major-General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, (19 March 1778 – 8 January 1815), was a British Army officer and politician. He was the son of the Baron Longford and the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, with whom he served in the Pen ...
, grandson of Conolly's sister Harriet Conolly, and was sold by
William Conolly-Carew, 6th Baron Carew William Francis Conolly-Carew, 6th Baron Carew (23 April 1905 – 27 June 1994), was an Anglo-Irish hereditary peer who was aide-de-camp to the Governor of Bermuda, Sir Thomas Cubbitt, between 1931 and 1936. Early life and education Born Willi ...
, in 1965.


Cliff House

The Conolly summer residence 'Cliff House' on the banks of the
River Erne The River Erne ( , or ''An Éirne'') in the northwest of the island of Ireland, is the second-longest river in Ulster, flowing through Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and forming part of their border. Course The Erne rises on ...
between
Belleek, County Fermanagh Belleek (Flanagan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 182. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a large village and civil parish in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. While the greater part of the village lies within County Fermanagh, part ...
and
Ballyshannon Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 road (Ireland), N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 road (Ireland), N15 crosses the River Erne. The town was inc ...
,
County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
was demolished as part of the Erne Hydroelectric scheme, which constructed the Cliff and
Cathaleen's Fall hydroelectric power station Cathaleen's Fall hydroelectric power station is a hydroelectric plant located on the River Erne at Ballyshannon in County Donegal, Ireland. Also known as Ballyshannon, it is owned and operated by the ESB Group. The plant consists of two Kaplan t ...
s. Cliff hydroelectric power station was constructed on the site of 'Cliff House' and was commissioned in 1950.


5, St James's Square

Wentworth House,
5, St James's Square 5, St James's Square (anciently Wentworth House) is a Grade II* listed historic townhouse in London, England, built 1748–51 by William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (1722–1791) to the design of Matthew Brettingham Matthew Brettingham ...
, Conolly's London
townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...
,Dasent, Arthur Irwin, "The History of St. James's Square and the Foundation of the West End of London, with a Glimpse of Whitehall in the Reign of Charles the Second", London, 1895, Appendix A, p.22

/ref> built by his uncle William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (1722–1791), William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (1722–1791), became the property of his nephew George Byng (1764–1847), the son of his sister Anne Conolly, whose younger brother was Field Marshal
John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford Field Marshal John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford (1772 – 3 June 1860) was a British Army officer and politician. After serving as a junior officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Irish Rebellion of 1798, he became Commanding Officer of ...
(1772-1860), elevated to the peerage in 1847 with the same territorial designation as the earldom of his maternal cousins, which earldom had become extinct in 1799.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conolly, Thomas 1738 births 1803 deaths Politicians from County Kildare 19th-century Irish people British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of Ireland 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 Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Donegal constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Londonderry constituencies