Sir Thomas Esmonde, 11th Baronet

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix   = Sir
| name               =  Thomas Esmonde
| honorific_suffix   = KHS
| image              = Sir Thomas Esmonde 001.jpg
| image_size         = 200px
| alt                = Sir Thomas Esmonde
| caption            = Sir Thomas Esmonde in 1907
| office             = Irish Senator
| term_start         = 1922
| term_end           = 1934
| taoiseach          = W. T. Cosgrave
Éamon de Valera
| governor_general   = Tim Healy
James McNeill
Domhnall Ua Buachalla
| office1            = Member of Parliament for
North Wexford  
| term_start1        = 1900
| term_end1          = 1918
| predecessor1       = Thomas Joseph Healy
| successor1         = Roger Sweetman
| monarch1           = Edward VII
George V
| governor1          = Ivor Guest
John Hamilton-Gordon
William Ward
George Cadogan
| primeminister1     = Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Arthur Balfour
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
H. H. Asquith
| office2            = Member of Parliament for
[[West Kerry (UK Parliament constituency)|West Kerry]
| term_start2        = 1892
| term_end2          = 1900
| predecessor2       = Edward Harrington
| successor2         =  Thomas O'Donnell
| monarch2           = Queen Victoria
Edward VII
| governor2          =George Cadogan
| primeminister2     = William Ewart Gladstone
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
| office3            = Member of Parliament for
South Dublin
| term_start3        = 1885
| term_end3          = 1892
| predecessor3       = New Creation
| successor3         =  Horace Plunkett
| monarch3           = Queen Victoria
| governor3          = Lawrence Dundas
Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart
John Hamilton-Gordon
| primeminister3     = Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
William Ewart Gladstone
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
| birth_date         =(1862-09-21)September 21, 1862
| birth_place        = 
| residence          = Ballynastragh House, Gorey, County Wexford
| death_date         = September 15, 1935(1935-09-15) (aged 72)
| party              = Irish Parliamentary Party(1885-1918)
Independent (after 1918)
| death_place        = 
| occupation         = 
| known_for          = 
| notable_works      =

}}

Ballynastragh House, County Wexford, home of the Esmonde family – from a drawing published 1826.[1]

Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde, 11th Baronet, KHS (21 September 1862 – 15 September 1935) was an Irish Home Rule nationalist politician and author.[2]

Politics

Esmonde was elected Irish Parliamentary Party MP for the constituencies South Dublin 1885–1892, West Kerry 1892–1900 and North Wexford 1900–1918 in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He also sat as an Independent Senator in the Oireachtas from 1922 to 1934.[3] He was High Sheriff of County Waterford in 1887.

Personal life

He was the son of Sir John Esmonde, 10th Baronet and his wife Louisa, daughter of Henry Grattan.[4]

In July 1891, he married Alice Donovan of Tralee.[5] Alice and Esmonde had five children:

Alice died in December 1922, and in September 1924 Esmonde married Anna Frances Levins.[5]

Esmonde's home, Ballynastragh House, located near Gorey, County Wexford, and dating from the 17th century, was burned down on 9 March 1923 by members of the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army. The house was rebuilt on a much smaller scale in 1937.[6]

Esmonde was a frequent traveller and author of articles on Irish folklore and antiquities, as well as a memoir, Hunting Memories of Many Lands (1920).[2] He died in Dublin, six days before his 73rd birthday.[2]

Sir Thomas Esmonde, 11th Baronet
CrestOut of a mural crown Gules a head in profile wearing a helmet all Proper.
BlazonErmine on a chief Gules three mullets Argent.
MottoMalo Mori Quam Foedari (Had Rather Die Than Be Dishonoured)[7]

In 1902 he founded the Enniscorthy Echo in co-operation with William Sears.[8]

Honours

Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre[9]

See also

References
  1. by George Petrie from Brewer, Vol. 2: where it is stated that it was published by Sherwood 1 May 1826 and engraved by James Sargant Storer and Henry Sargant Storer
  2. "Sir T. H. Gratton Esmonde: Nationalist Whip and Sinn Fein Senator". The Times. 16 September 1935. p. 14.
  3. "Thomas Esmonde". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  4. Robert Henry Mair, ed. (1886). Debrett's House of Commons and The Judicial Bench 1886. London: Dean and Son. p. 48. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  5. "Esmonde, Sir Thomas Henry Grattan". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  6. "The destruction of Ballynastragh House, Gorey, March 1923". The Archaeology of Conflict: Wexford in the Civil War, 1922–1923. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  7. Debrett's Peerage. 1878.
  8. "Sears, William". Dictionary of Irish Biography. October 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  9. Notable Irish Members (Historic): Sir Thomas Grattan Esmonde
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