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Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, MP

Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, MP (see here),
born 1850, Kells, Co.Kerry.
One of the first Irish Home Rule MPs.
Protestant landed gentry.
He joined the Home Rule party led by Isaac Butt.
There were no Home Rule MPs in the 1868 general election. John Martin was the first Home Rule MP, elected in 1871.
Rowland was the 5th of 8 Home Rule MPs elected in by-elections in 1871-74.

Home Rule MP for Co.Kerry 1872-85:
Rowland served as Home Rule party MP for Co.Kerry 1872 to 1885.
His election in the Co.Kerry by-election of 6 Feb 1872 was a breakthrough for the Home Rule party. He defeated James Arthur Dease (Liberal).
The 1872 by-election was in the last few months of election by open vote in Ireland. (Secret ballot introduced in Aug 1872.) Unbelievably, up to this point, tenants had to vote in full view of and risking the wrath of their landlords. Indeed landlords often treated their tenants as simple extensions of their own vote, and used their agents to round up the tenants for voting at election time.
[PAT/12, p.14-15] quotes [Romantic Hidden Kerry, Thomas O'Sullivan, 1931] as telling the hilarious story of this election, with the agent leading a procession of tenants towards Tralee, but the voters kept escaping.

Kerry had two seats. The other MP for Kerry in 1872-80 was Henry Arthur Herbert.
The big breakthrough for Home Rule was the 1874 election when there were 60 Home Rule MPs elected.
Rowland mar 1876 to Mary Beatrice Armstrong.
The other MP for Kerry in 1880-85 was his 2nd cousin, the Liberal MP Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, 4th Baronet.

They are listed in 1881 census at 54 Hans Place, Chelsea, London. From here.
He is listed in 1881 Electoral Register at 52 Hans Place. From here.
He was a barrister in London. QC 1894.
They are listed in 1901 census at 52 Hans Place.
At death he is described as of 52 Hans Place, London.
He died 7 April 1913, Hotel Prince de Galles (Hotel Prince of Wales), Monte Carlo.
See Dublin probate of will granted 1913 to widow Mary [NAI]. See London admin.
Mary is listed in [Post Office London Directory 1915] as of 52 Hans Place, and of Kells, Co.Kerry.
She died 13 May 1928.
Will pr 1 Aug 1928, London. See admin.
Rowland and Mary had issue:

1. Richard Francis Ponsonby Blennerhassett,
   born 1879, London.
   He mar 1914 to Sylvia Myers.
   She was dau of the classicist and psychical researcher Frederic William Henry Myers by his wife, the photographer Eveleen Tennant.
   Richard inherited Ponsonby portraits.
   He died 1938.
   Sylvia died 1957.
   They had issue:
   1. Diana Blennerhassett,
      author, born 1916, London,
      known as Deenagh.
      She mar 1939 to Richard Goold-Adams [born 1916].
      He died 1995. Death registered in Bath district, Mar 1995.
      Diana lived 33 Great Pulteney St, Bath, Avon BA2 4BX.
      She apparently died 2000.
      Her death was registered in Bath district, Nov 2000.

Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett (Home Rule MP, elected Feb 1872) and John Martin (the first Home Rule MP, elected Jan 1871).
Being celebrated on a set of "Home Rule" shopping bags in Waterford city.
From Bill Jehan.

• See these bags in EPH C792 and EPH B806 in Ephemera collection in [NLI].

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Sources yet to be consulted

• Oxford: Archive of John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley at [OU]. This has correspondence with Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett in:
  • Ms. Eng. c. 4170, ff.96-103.

• London: Gladstone papers. [BL] Ms.
  • William Ewart Gladstone papers. Add MS 44086-44835.
  • Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett letter to Gladstone, 1884. Add MS 44787. f. 157

• [PRO.NI]. D2777/7/4. Lord Chancellorship Papers. Correspondence and papers accumulated by the first Lord O'Hagan during his two periods as Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
  • Includes: "Police reports, February-April 1872, regarding the threatening behaviour of a mob at Cahirciveen, Co Kerry, towards the Knight of Kerry, the obstructive attitude of a local J.P., Dr Barry, when the police were trying to restore the peace, all placed in the context of discontent against local landlords who had supported the Liberal candidate J. A. Dease against the Home Ruler R. P. Blennerhasset during the recent by-election for the Co Kerry constituency. Dease's supporters are named as the Knight of Kerry, Sir James O'Connell, his son D. J. O'Connell, the O'Donoghue M.P., and Mr Herbert M.P., and Dr Barry is noted as the step-father of Blennerhasset."

• Lawrence J. McCaffrey
  • "Home rule and the general election of 1874 in Ireland". Irish Historical Studies, Volume 9, Issue 34, September 1954, pp.190-212.
  • "Isaac Butt and the Home Rule Movement: A Study in Conservative Nationalism". The Review of Politics, Volume 22, Issue 1, January 1960, pp.72-95.

• "That other Kerry Election", Malachy Hynes, Irish Independent, 7 December 1966.
• Kerry's most exciting election, by George Rice, in the Kerry Magazine, issue 19, 2009.

• Death and obituary of Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, MP
  • The Times, 10 and 11 Apr 1913.
  • The Kerry Sentinel, 12 Apr 1913.

Wife and descendants

• Death and obituary of Mary Beatrice Armstrong
  • The Times, 16, 17 and 18 May 1928.
  • [Co.Kerry Soc. annual report 1928-29] p.8.

• Society for Psychical Research archive. GBR/0012/MS SPR in [CUL].
  • Notes and Various Correspondence, 1932 - 1961. Including Silvia Blennerhassett. MS SPR/42/61/3/1-187.
  • Mrs S. Blennerhassett and WHS, 1946. MS SPR/50/B/76-78.
  • File 10/1. Silvia Blennerhassett research fund (1940-1970). MS SPR/95/4/1.
  • File 10/2. Silvia Blennerhassett research fund (1971-1980). MS SPR/95/4/2.

• Obituary of Richard Francis Ponsonby Blennerhassett, [Co.Kerry Soc. annual report 1938-39] p.7.
• Obituary of Richard Goold-Adams, The Times, 7 Apr 1995.
• Obituary of Richard Goold-Adams, Daily Telegraph, 1 May 1995, p.21.