Thomas Knox, 3rd Earl of Ranfurly (13 November 1816 – 20 May 1858), styled Viscount Northland between 1840 and 1858, was an Irish peer and member of parliament.

Early life

Knox was born on 13 November 1816 as the eldest son of

Thomas Knox, 2nd Earl of Ranfurly Thomas Knox, 2nd Earl of Ranfurly (19 April 1786 – 21 March 1858), styled Viscount Northland between 1831 and 1840, was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician. Early life Ranfurly was born on 19 April 1786. He was the eldest son of Thomas Knox, 1 ...

and his wife Mary Juliana Stuart, Among his siblings were William Knox, Lady Mary Stuart Knox (wife of John Page Reade),Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes.'' Crans,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999, volume 1, page 573. Lady Louisa Juliana Knox (wife of Henry

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

),Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. ''Burke's Irish Family Records.''

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, U.K.:

Burkes Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish geneal ...

Ltd, 1976, page 10. and Lady Juliana Caroline Frances Knox (wife of Gen. Sir Edward Forestier-Walker).Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

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 ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, page 3272-3273. His paternal grandparents were

Thomas Knox, 1st Earl of Ranfurly Thomas Knox, 1st Earl of Ranfurly (5 August 1754 – 26 April 1840), styled The Honourable Thomas Knox between 1781 and 1818 and known as The Viscount Northland between 1818 and 1831, was an Irish peer and politician. Early life Ranfurly was th ...

, and the Hon. Diana Jane Pery (a daughter of the 1st Viscount Pery). His maternal grandparents were the Most Reverend William Stuart,

Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

, and the former Sophia Margaret Penn (the daughter of

Thomas Penn Thomas Penn ( – 21 March 1775) was an English landowner and mercer who was the List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania, chief proprietor of Pennsylvania from 1746 to 1775. He was one of 17 children of William Penn, the founder of the colo ...

and granddaughter of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

, founder of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

). He was educated at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

Career

He succeeded his father to represent

Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...

as a Member of Parliament between 9 June 1838 and 3 February 1851, when he resigned through the position of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds due to ill health. He was succeeded by his younger brother,

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

. He succeeded to the title of 4th

Baron Welles The title of Baron Welles has been created three times. Its first creation was for Adam de Welles on 6 May 1299 in the Peerage of England by writ of summons. This creation was extinguished by attainder in 1469. The title was created a second ti ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

on 21 March 1858, as well as the title of 3rd

Earl of Ranfurly Earl of Ranfurly, of Dungannon in the County of Tyrone, a title in the Peerage of Ireland, was created in 1831 for Thomas Knox, 2nd Viscount Northland. He had earlier represented County Tyrone in the House of Commons, and had already been cre ...

, the title of 3rd Baron Ranfurly of Ramphorlie, County Renfrew, and the title of 4th Viscount Northland of Dungannon, County Tyrone. He continued as earl for only two months, dying on 20 May 1858.

Personal life

On 10 October 1848, he married Harriet Rimington (1824–1891), daughter of James Rimington and Sarah Ward. Together, they were the parents of: * Thomas Granville Henry Stuart Knox, 4th Earl of Ranfurly (1849–1875), who died unmarried. * Lady Agnes Henrietta Sarah Knox (1851–1921), who married Nugent Murray Whitmore Daniell, a son of James F. N. Daniell of

Sandown Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, England. The neighbouring resort of Shanklin and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake are sited just to the south of t ...

House,

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...

, in 1870. * Uchter John Mark Knox, 5th Earl of Ranfurly (1856–1933), who married Hon. Constance Elizabeth Caulfeild, the only child of James Caulfeild, 7th Viscount Charlemont and Hon. Annetta Handcock (a daughter of 3rd Baron Castlemaine), in 1880. Lord Ranfurly died on 20 May 1858 and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

. After his death on a shooting expedition at

Abyssinia Abyssinia (; also known as Abyssinie, Abissinia, Habessinien, or Al-Habash) was an ancient region in the Horn of Africa situated in the northern highlands of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea.Sven Rubenson, The survival of Ethiopian independence, ...

at age 25, the titles passed to the 3rd Earl's younger son, Uchter. His widow, the dowager Lady Ranfurly, died on 16 March 1891. The 5th Earl sold Northland House in Dungannon and the family's other possessions in County Tyrone in 1927 due to "heavy post-war taxation".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranfurly, Thomas Knox, 3rd Earl of 1816 births 1858 deaths UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs who inherited peerages Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Tyrone constituencies (1801–1922) Earls of Ranfurly