Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon

File:Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon.jpg

Stephen Slaughter, Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon, in Ballyfin Demesne

Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon, PC (Ire) (1682 – 28 December 1764) was a prominent Irish politician.

Boyle was the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Boyle (1648–1693), second son of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery. His mother was Lady Mary O'Brien, daughter of Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin. In, 1707, he was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Midleton, a seat he held until 1713, and then sat for Kilmallock from 1713 to 1715. Between 1715 and 1756 he represented County Cork. He quickly gained a prominent role in Parliament and Sir Robert Walpole is said to have styled him "the King of the Irish House of Commons". In 1733 Boyle was admitted to the Irish House of Commons and appointed Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer. Later that year he was also made Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. His career was marked by a long struggle for power with George Stone, Archbishop of Armagh, which only ended with their death in the same week. He deserves some credit for helping to organise measures to alleviate the terrible Irish Famine (1740–41) which became known as "the year of slaughter".

He held these posts until 1753, when he was dismissed by the viceroy Lord Dorset for refusing to pay over an Irish tax surplus to the government in London. This led to the "Money Bill dispute" of 1753-56, and Boyle came to be seen as an early Irish patriot. Reinstated in 1755 by Devonshire, the next viceroy, in 1756 he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Castle Martyr, Viscount Boyle, of Bandon, and Earl of Shannon. He also acted several times as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.

Horace Walpole dismissed him as a "common character" who sold his patriotism for a peerage.

Lord Shannon married, firstly, Catherine, daughter of Chidley Coote, in 1715. After her death in 1725 he married, secondly, Lady Henrietta Boyle, youngest daughter of Charles Boyle, 3rd Earl of Cork and 2nd Earl of Burlington, in 1726. Lord Shannon died in December 1764, in his 82nd year, and was succeeded in his titles by his son from his second marriage, Richard.

References

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Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by St John Brodrick Robert Foulke	Member of Parliament for Midleton 1707–1713 With: Robert Foulke	Succeeded by Arthur Hyde Jephson Busteed
Preceded by John Ormsby Robert Oliver	Member of Parliament for Kilmallock 1713–1715 With: Sir Philips Coote	Succeeded by Kilner Brasier George King
Preceded by John Perceval Alan Brodrick	Member of Parliament for Cork County 1715–1756 With: St John Brodrick 1715–1728 Sir Matthew Deane, 3rd Bt 1728–1747 Arthur Hyde 1747–1756	Succeeded by Arthur Hyde Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan
Political offices
Preceded by Ralph Gore	Speaker of the Irish House of Commons 1733 – 1756	Succeeded by John Ponsonby
Peerage of Ireland
New creation	Earl of Shannon 1756 – 1764	Succeeded by Richard Boyle