William Townsend Mullins, 2nd Baron Ventry (25 September 1761 – 5 October 1827) 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 and peer. Mullins was the son of Thomas Mullins, 1st Baron Ventry, and Elizabeth Gunn, the daughter of Townsend Gunn. He served as the Member of Parliament for

Dingle Dingle ( or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula (known in Irish as ''Corca Dhuibhne''), it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coa ...

between January and December 1800. In this capacity, he was instrumental in securing the passage of the Irish Act of Union of 1800, for which his father was awarded a

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks. Peerages include: A ...

. He succeeded to his father's title in 1824 and died three years later. He was married three times: firstly in 1784 to Sarah Anne Falkiner, youngest daughter of Sir Riggs Falkiner, 1st Baronet, and his only child by his second wife Anne Maturin. Sarah Anne died in 1788, leaving two daughters. He married secondly in 1790 Frances Sage, daughter of Isaac Sage; this marriage ended in 1796 with a

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

by Act of Parliament, by which both parties were free to remarry (Frances remarried Boyle O'Sullivan: she was also awarded a sum equivalent to her widow's

jointure Jointure was a legal concept used largely in late mediaeval and early modern Britain, denoting the estate given to a married couple by the husband's family. One of its most important functions was providing a livelihood for the wife if she became ...

). His third wife was Clara Jones, daughter of Benjamin Jones who outlived him. She remarried Thomas Fitzgibbon Henchy. Her only child by Lord Ventry died young. He left daughters, but no surviving male issue, and was succeeded by his nephew, Thomas de Moleyns, 3rd Baron Ventry.Lodge Edmund, ''The peerage of the British empire as at present existing. To which is added the baronetage'' (1832), 400.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ventry, William Mullins, 2nd Baron 1761 births 1827 deaths 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Barons in the Peerage of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kerry constituencies Irish MPs 1798–1800