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
editConolly was a nephew of William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons from 1715 to 1729, and was the son of Patrick Conolly, originally of County Donegal, younger brother of William. William and Patrick had fled to England from Ireland in 1688, but while William had returned, Patrick remained and married Frances Hewett, one of the children of Neale Hewett and Mary Halford of Dunton Bassett, Leicestershire.[1] There were two children, William and his sister, and they grew up at Dunton Bassett until 1713 when their father died, having recently buried their mother.[2][3]
Career
editWilliam became cursitor in the Court of Chancery (Ireland) in 1721.[4] He was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Ballyshannon at a by-election in 1727, after his uncle who had been elected in the 1727 Irish general election earlier in the year decided to continue sitting for County Londonderry instead.[5] In 1729, he succeeded to Castletown, the estate of his uncle, who was said to be the richest man in Ireland. He was appointed to the Irish Privy Council on 3 February 1730.[6]
At the 1734 British general election Conolly was returned as Member of Parliament for Aldeburgh in the interest of his father-in-law Lord Strafford. Although Strafford was a Tory, Conolly considered himself "an incorrigible Whig". He voted consistently with the Government and was returned for Aldeburgh in 1741. He was classed as Old Whig in 1746. At the 1747 British general election he changed seats and was returned as MP for Petersfield instead.[4]
Marriage and issue
editOn 28 April 1733, he married Lady Anne Wentworth, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford and his wife Anne Johnson;[4][7] and in that year he purchased Stretton Hall, Staffordshire as his seat in England, his uncle's great mansion of Castletown in Kildare still being in the hands of his widowed aunt.[8] The couple had a London home in Grosvenor Square.[9]
He had a son and seven daughters.[4]
- Thomas Conolly, who married Lady Louisa Lennox
- Frances, who married William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
- Katherine, who married Ralph Gore, 1st Earl of Ross;
- Anne, who married George Byng and was the mother of John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford
- Jane, who married the notoriously eccentric landowner and duellist George Robert FitzGerald ("Fighting FitzGerald") in 1770 and had issue. He was hanged for conspiracy to murder in 1786;
- Lucy, unmarried;
- Harriet, who married John Staples and was grandmother of Edward Michael Conolly
- Caroline, who married John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire.
Conolly died on 2 January 1754 leaving an estate of £15,000 per annum. The widowed Lady Conolly moved to Boyle Street, Mayfair, London.[10]
References
edit- ^ 'Pedigree of Hewett of Dunton Bassett, 1681-82', J. Nichols, History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester, (2nd Edn: J. Nichols, London 1810; S.R. Publishers Limited with Leicestershire County Council, Leicester 1971), Vol. II Part 2, p. 581; Vol. IV Part 1: Guthlaxton Hundred p. 156 (Hathi Trust). The Hewitt monumental inscriptions at Dunton Bassett existed, but were illegible in 1790.
- ^ M.-L. Jennings and G.L. Ashford, The Letters of Katherine Conolly 1707-1747 (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin 2018), Letters 5 and 6, at p. 13 ff (Commission pdf, partial preview); P. Walsh and A.P.W. Malcomson (eds), The Conolly Archive (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin 2010), pp. 112-14.
- ^ 'Letters of Revd. Thomas Seagrave to William Conolly', "Lot 443/10022: 11 Conolly Letters", in #0294, Rare Book Sale (13 December 2016), Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers, Kilkenny, Ireland, Lot description.
- ^ a b c d "CONOLLY, William (d.1754), of Stratton Hall, Staffs. and Castletown, co. Kildare". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 2 February 2019. This reference refers to his uncle as Thomas, and states the number of daughters as four, and contains other inaccuracies.
- ^ leighrayment.com[usurped] (Dead link).
- ^ leighrayment.com[usurped] (Dead link).
- ^ The Register of Marriages in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster. 1723-1754. 28 April 1733.
- ^ A.P.W. Malcomson, 'The fall of the house of Conolly, 1758-1803', in A. Blackstock and E. Magennis (eds), Politics and Political Culture in Britain and Ireland, 1750-1850: Essays in Tribute to Peter Jupp (Ulster Historical Foundation/Queen's University Bookshop, Belfast 2007), pp. 107-55 (Google).
- ^ "Grosvenor Square: Individual Houses built before 1926 Pages 117-166 Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings)". British History Online. LCC 1980. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
- ^ "Cork Street and Savile Row Area: Table of notable inhabitants on the Burlington Estate Pages 566-572 Survey of London: Volumes 31 and 32, St James Westminster, Part 2". British History Online. LCC 1963. Retrieved 5 December 2022.