Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

John Blennerhassett (1691 – 5 May 1775) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

politician who represented two constituencies in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

between 1709 and 1775.Sir Bernard Burke, ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland'' (1899), 48. Blennerhassett was born in

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

, the eldest son of John Blennerhassett and Margaret Crosbie. He served in the Kerry Militia and was a colonel by 1756. He was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 1709, taking his father's seat representing

.ThePeerage.com (entry #279655) http://thepeerage.com/p27966.htm#i279655 Between 1713 and 1715, he was MP for

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

. He was again returned as the MP for Kerry in 1715, serving until 1727. He served as High Sheriff of Kerry in 1717. Between 1727 and 1760, he served as the MP for Tralee, before serving as MP for Kerry for a third period between 1761 and his death in 1775. He was Father of the Irish House of Commons. He married Jane Denny, with whom he had two sons,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

, and four daughters, including Mary, who married Lancelot Crosbie, who like his father-in-law was MP for Kerry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blennerhassett, John 1691 births 1775 deaths Irish MPs 1703–1713 Irish MPs 1713–1714 Irish MPs 1715–1727 Irish MPs 1727–1760 Irish MPs 1761–1768 Irish MPs 1769–1776 Politicians from County Kerry 18th-century Anglo-Irish people High sheriffs of Kerry

Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kerry constituencies