suc. grandfa. 2 May 1691 (a minor) as 7th earl of Thomond [I]; cr. 19 Oct. 1714 Visct. TADCASTER
First sat 21 Mar. 1715; last sat 21 June 1737
MP Arundel 1710, 1713-19 Oct. 1714
b. 14 Aug. 1688, o.s. of Henry Horatio O’Brien, Ld. O’Brien (d.1690), and Lady Henrietta, da. of Henry Somerset, duke of Beaufort. m. 14 June 1707, Lady Elizabeth (d.1734), da. of Charles Seymour, 6th duke of Somerset, s.p. d. 20 Apr. 1741; will 14 Oct. 1738, pr. 1741.1
PC [I] 1714.
Gov. co. Clare and co. Carlow 1714; ld. lt. Essex 1722-d.
Associated with: Great Billing, Northants. and co. Clare.
Thomond’s mother had remarried after the death of his father and it was on his stepfather’s interest (Henry Howard, 6th earl of Suffolk) that he was first returned to Parliament. With his earldom Thomond inherited substantial property in Ireland as well as the Great Billing estates in Northamptonshire. He was generally included on party lists as a Whig and it was undoubtedly his warm support for the Hanoverian succession that secured him the addition of a British viscountcy among George I’s coronation honours. Details of his career will be considered in the second part of this work.
R.D.E.E.- 1 TNA, PROB 11/712.