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Thomas Conolly (1738–1803)

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Thomas Conolly
Member of the Parliament of Ireland
In office
1761–1800
Member of the Parliament of Great Britain
In office
1759–1780
Personal details
Died27 April 1803
SpouseLady Louisa Conolly

Thomas Conolly (Leixlip Castle, 1738 – 27 April 1803 Celbridge) was an Irish landowner and Member of Parliament.

Early life

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Arms of Conolly: Argent, on a saltire sable five escallops of the field

Conolly was the son and heir of William James Conolly (d. 1754) of Castletown House, County Kildare, Ireland, by his wife Lady Anne Wentworth, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1672–1739). In 1758 he married Lady Louisa Lennox, a daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, but had no children.

Career

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Conolly sat in the Parliament of Great Britain for Malmesbury from 1759 to 1768[1] and for Chichester from 1768 to 1780.[2] In 1761 he was elected to the Parliament of Ireland for Ballyshannon and for County Londonderry, sitting for the latter constituency until May 1800.[3] On 6 April 1761 he was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland.[4] In Dublin, Conolly was a member of the Kildare Street Club.[5]

Property

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Wentworth Castle

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Wentworth Castle: Horace Walpole found the south front (finished 1764) evinced "the most perfect taste in architecture".

In 1802 Conolly was left Wentworth Castle by his second cousin Augusta Anne Hatfield-Kaye, sister of Frederick Wentworth, 3rd Earl of Strafford. 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

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Castletown House

Castletown House passed to his widow Lady Louisa and then to Edward Pakenham, grandson of Conolly's sister Harriet Conolly, and was sold by William Conolly-Carew, 6th Baron Carew, in 1965.[6]

Cliff House

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The Conolly summer residence 'Cliff House' on the banks of the River Erne between Belleek, County Fermanagh and Ballyshannon, County Donegal was demolished as part of the Erne Hydroelectric scheme, which constructed the Cliff and Cathaleen's Fall hydroelectric power stations. Cliff hydroelectric power station was constructed on the site of 'Cliff House' and was commissioned in 1950.

5, St James's Square

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Left: Wentworth House, 5, St James's Square, London

Wentworth House, 5, St James's Square, Conolly's London townhouse,[7] built by his uncle 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 (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

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  1. ^ "THE HOUSE OF COMMONS CONSTITUENCIES BEGINNING WITH "M"". Leighrayment.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ "THE HOUSE OF COMMONS CONSTITUENCIES BEGINNING WITH "C"". Leighrayment.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ "IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS 1692-1800". Leighrayment.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ "PRIVY COUNSELLORS - IRELAND". Leighrayment.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ "Club makers and club members". Archive.org. 21 July 2010. pp. 329–333. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Turtle Bunbury – Award-winning travel writer, historian and author based in Ireland". Turtlebunbury.com. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  7. ^ 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.227 [1]
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Malmesbury
1759–1768
With: Brice Fisher to 1761
The Earl Tylney 1761–68
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Chichester
1768–1780
With: William Keppel
Succeeded by
Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Ballyshannon
1761
With: Michael Clarke
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for County Londonderry
1761–1800
With: Edward Cary to 1790
Henry Beresford, Early of Tyrone from 1790
Succeeded by