William Brownlow PC (I) (10 April 1726 – 28 October 1794) of

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rail ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

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 ...

politician.

Early life

He was the only son of William Brownlow MP and Lady Elizabeth Hamilton, daughter of

James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn, PC (Ire) ( – 28 November 1734), was a Scottish and Irish peer and politician. Appointed a groom of the bedchamber to Charles II after his father's death in battle, he took the Williamite side at th ...

and Elizabeth Reading. Sir James Balfour Paul, ''The Scots Peerage: founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's The Peerage of Scotland'' (

Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

: David Douglas, 1904), volume I, page 62.

Career

Brownlow served as High Sheriff of Armagh for 1750 and was first elected to 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, ...

as the Member of Parliament for

in 1753, styled

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: The Rt Hon. or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire, and the Commonwealt ...

and holding the seat until his death. He was also returned for the

Strabane Strabane (; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,507 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Government Li ...

constituency in 1768, but was replaced in 1769. He was an officer of the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...

and one of the founding subscribers of the

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc () is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the bank occupies a unique position in Irish banking history. At ...

in 1783. He was generally seen as a reformer, although there were allegations that he misused public funds to improve his

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

Personal life

He married firstly Judith Letitia Meredyth, daughter of the Reverend Charles Meredyth,

Dean of Ardfert The Dean of Limerick and Ardfert is a Church of Ireland official based in the St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, Cathedral Church of St Mary's in the united diocese of Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe, Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert. There had been ...

, and had at least two sons and a daughter, including: * William Brownlow (1755–1815), MP for County Armagh who married Charity Forde, daughter of Mathew Forde, in 1795. * Catherine Brownlow (1755–1815), who married Mathew Forde, son of Mathew Forde, in 1782. * Charles Brownlow (1757–1822), who married Caroline Ashe, daughter of Benjamin Ashe, in 1785.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 ...

, U.S.A.:

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, 2003, volume 1, page 1033. He married secondly Catherine Hall, daughter of Roger Hall of Mount 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 ...

, and the former and Catherine Savage. Together, they had at least six further children, including: * Elizabeth Brownlow (d. 1831), who married John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley, in 1791. * Isabella Brownlow (d. 1848), who married Richard Wingfield, 4th Viscount Powerscourt, son of

Richard Wingfield, 3rd Viscount Powerscourt Richard Wingfield, 3rd Viscount Powerscourt (24 December 1730 – 8 August 1788) was an Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protest ...

and Lady Amelia Stratford, in 1796. * Frances Letitia Brownlow (d. 1840), who married John Vesey, 2nd Viscount de Vesci of

Abbeyleix Abbeyleix (; ) is a town in County Laois, Ireland, located around south of the county town of Portlaoise. Abbelyleix is in a civil parish of the same name. Abbeyleix was formerly located on the N8, the main road from Dublin to Cork. At one p ...

, son of Thomas Vesey, 1st Viscount de Vesci, in 1800. * Rev. Francis Brownlow (1779–1847), who married Lady Catherine Brabazon, daughter of

Anthony Brabazon, 8th Earl of Meath Anthony Brabazon, 8th Earl of Meath ( – 4 January 1790), styled Lord Brabazon from 1763 to 1772, was an Anglo-Irish peer. The elder son of Edward Brabazon, 7th Earl of Meath and Martha Collins, he sat for County Wicklow from 1745 to 1760. He ...

, in 1799. William, his eldest son and heir, also became an MP for County Armagh and founded the bank of William Brownlow Esq.,& Co. Charles became a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 57th Foot and succeeded his childless brother in 1815. Charles's son, also named Charles, became 1st Baron Lurgan.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownlow, William 1726 births 1794 deaths 18th-century Anglo-Irish people

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 ...

Irish MPs 1727–1760 Irish MPs 1761–1768 Irish MPs 1769–1776 Irish MPs 1776–1783 Irish MPs 1783–1790 Irish MPs 1790–1797 Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Armagh constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Tyrone constituencies High sheriffs of Armagh