Richard Hennessy (; 1720 — 8 October 1800) was an Irish military officer and businessman, best known for founding the Hennessy brand of

cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the Departments of France, departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cogn ...

Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...

. He was from

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, and became exiled in France due to his

Jacobitism Jacobitism was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, ...

Biography

Richard Hennessy was born in 1720 to James Hennessy and Catherine Barrett at Ballymacmoy House, Killavullen, a small village on the Blackwater river, in

, then part of the

Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland (; , ) was a dependent territory of Kingdom of England, England and then of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1542 to the end of 1800. It was ruled by the monarchs of England and then List of British monarchs ...

. His family were

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

s, and Hennessy grew up supporting

, which led him to seek exile in 1740 at the age of nineteen. He went to Bourbon France, where he joined Dillon's Regiment in the Irish Brigade of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

, serving as an officer in the service of King

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

. Hennessy fought at Fontenoy in 1745. In 1763, he married Ellen Barrett and, in 1765, founded the Hennessy

distillery in

. https://elitetraveler.com/finest-dining/hennessy-launches-richard-hennessy-magnum

References

External links

"Hennessy, Richard"
at ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hennessy, Richard 1720 births 1800 deaths 18th-century Irish businesspeople Businesspeople from County Cork Irish Jacobites Irish soldiers Irish emigrants to France Irish soldiers in the French Army Military personnel from County Cork Cognac Wild Geese (soldiers)

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

Biography

References

Further reading

External links