Murrough O'Brien, 1st Marquess of Thomond

Murrough O'Brien, 1st Marquess of Thomond KP, PC (1726–1808), 5th Earl of Inchiquin (1777–1800), wearing purple coat, white waistcoat, pale blue sash and breast star of the Order of Saint Patrick (Henry Bone)

Sir Murrough O'Brien, 5th Baron O'Brien of Burren, 1st Baron Thomond of Taplow, 10th Baron & 5th Earl of Inchiquin, 1st Marquess of Thomond KP, PC (Ire) (1726 – 10 February 1808), known from 1777 to 1800 as the 5th Earl of Inchiquin, was an Irish peer, soldier, politician, and Chief of Clan O'Brien.

Life

Murrough O'Brien was born in 1726 to the Hon. James O' Brien and Mary Jephson in Drogheda. James' brother (and Murrough's uncle) was Henry O'Brien, 8th Earl of Thomond, whose heir was Percy Wyndham O'Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond (c. 1713 – 1774), brother of Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710–1763) of Petworth House.

He joined the Grenadier Guards and was an officer in Germany, where he carried colours at the Battle of Lauffeld in 1747. He retired in 1756 and entered the Irish House of Commons for County Clare in the following year. He represented the constituency until 1761 and sat then as Member of Parliament (MP) for Harristown until 1768.

Because of his support for the Act of Union of Great Britain and Ireland, on 29 December 1800 he was created Marquess of Thomond in the Peerage of Ireland, with a special remainder to his younger brother,^[1] and Baron Thomond, of Taplow Court in the County of Buckingham in the Peerage of the United Kingdom on 2 October 1801 (which title allowed him to sit in the United Kingdom House of Lords), but this time with no special remainder.^[2] He had a close relationship with King George III. In 1783 he was one of the Founding Knights of the Order of St Patrick. His Irish seat was at Rostellan, near Cork city.

He was a drinker, called a "'six bottle man", and a gambler^{[citation needed]}. He was a keen farmer and oversaw the enclosure of lands around Taplow and mechanisation^{[citation needed]}.

Marriages and children

Mary, Countess of Inchiquin (1750–1820), by Thomas Lawrence

He married twice:

• Firstly in 1753 to Mary O'Brien, 3rd Countess of Orkney (died 1790), by whom he had a daughter, Mary O'Brien, 4th Countess of Orkney (1755–1831).
• Secondly on 25 July 1792, to Mary Palmer (1750-1820), heiress of her maternal uncle Sir Joshua Reynolds. They initially lived in Reynolds' former home in Leicester Square.^[3]

He also is reputed to have had an illegitimate son, Thomas Carter (1769–1800), who was a composer in London during the 1790s. Thomas lived with Inchiquin at Taplow Court after his return from India in July 1789, and lent the earl all the money he earned in a benefit concert in Calcutta. In return, Inchiquin recommended Thomas to all his friends as a coal merchant; he had gone into that field after his marriage to Mary Wells in 1793 in order to support his growing family.^{[citation needed]}

Death and succession

He died after a fall from his horse in Grosvenor Square, London on 10 February 1808. The title of Marquess of Thomond passed to his nephew William O'Brien, 2nd Marquess of Thomond. The barony of Thomond became extinct.

References

1. "No. 15326". The London Gazette. 6 January 1801. p. 40.
2. "No. 15406". The London Gazette. 12 September 1801. p. 1120.
3. "Leicester Square, West Side: Leicester Estate, Nos 43-54 Leicester Square Pages 507-514 Survey of London: Volumes 33 and 34, St Anne Soho". British History Online. LCC 1966. Retrieved 28 December 2022.

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source] [better source needed]}

Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Robert Hickman Sir Edward O'Brien	Member of Parliament for County Clare 1757–1761 With: Sir Edward O'Brien	Succeeded by Sir Edward O'Brien Francis Pierpoint Burton
Preceded by John Graydon Agmondisham Vesey	Member of Parliament for Harristown 1761–1768 With: Edward Sandford	Succeeded by Garret FitzGerald Robert Graydon
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by George Fitzwilliam Marquess of Graham	Member of Parliament for Richmond (Yorkshire) 1784–1796 With: Charles Dundas 1784–1786 Sir Grey Cooper 1786–1790 Lawrence Dundas 1790–1796	Succeeded by Lawrence Dundas Charles George Beauclerk
Preceded by Edward James Eliot John Eliot	Member of Parliament for Liskeard 1797–1800 With: John Eliot	Succeeded by John Eliot Viscount Fincastle
Peerage of Ireland
New creation	Marquess of Thomond 1800–1808	Succeeded by William O'Brien
Preceded by William O'Brien	Earl of Inchiquin 1777–1808
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Thomond 1801–1808	Extinct