Thomas Tennison (1707 – 27 March 1779) was an Irish politician and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

. He served as Prime Serjeant and as a judge of the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

. He sat 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, ...

as member for

Dunleer Dunleer () is a town and townland in County Louth, Ireland. Dunleer is situated midway between Dundalk and Drogheda and is located on the junction of the R132, R169 and R170 regional roads that intersect the town. As of the 2022 census, th ...

for many years.Ball, F. Elrington, ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'', John Murray, London, 1926, vol. 2, p. 212. He was born in Dillonstown,

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

, only son of Henry Tenison (1667–1709), Member of Parliament for

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of Border Region, Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town ...

and later for

and grandson of Richard Tennison (1642–1705),

Bishop of Meath The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric. History Until the ...

. The bishop was a cousin of, and on friendly terms with, the earlier

Thomas Tenison Thomas Tenison (29 September 163614 December 1715) was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs. Life He was born at Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, the son a ...

who was

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

. The judge's mother was Anne Moore, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Moore of Knockballymore,

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

, a cousin of the Earl of Drogheda. His father was a wealthy landowner of scholarly tastes, who was a member of the Dublin intellectual circle which revolved around

Esther Johnson Esther Johnson (13 March 1681 – 28 January 1728) was an Englishwoman known to have been a close friend of Jonathan Swift, known as "Stella". Whether or not she and Swift were secretly married, and if so why the marriage was never made public ...

, the beloved ''Stella'' of

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

; Henry and Swift had been friends at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

.Ball, p. 161. Henry died when his son was only two years old, and Anne had died the previous year. Thomas and his three sisters were raised by relatives, most likely by their uncle Richard Tenison junior, MP for

, who founded the

branch of the family. He married the heiress Dorothy Upton, daughter of Thomas Upton, Member of Parliament for Antrim, and cousin of the first

Baron Templetown Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, ...

, by his wife Sarah Rowley of

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

. They had one son, Richard, who predeceased his father by 20 years, leaving at least one daughter but no son. Thomas's estate passed at his death to his nephew Dixie Coddington, the son of his sister Mary, who married Nicholas Coddington of Oldbridge. Dixie, like his uncle, represented Dunleer in the Commons for many years. Thomas went to school in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and matriculated from

in 1725. He entered

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1726 and was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland () is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Bar of Ireland, commonly c ...

in 1728. He acted as a Commissioner for Revenue appeals and became Prime Serjeant in 1759. Two years later he was appointed justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He died in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

in 1779, while on

assize The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

. He represented Dunleer in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland () was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until the end of 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chambers: the Irish Hou ...

from 1728 to 1760 and from April to December 1761. As a politician he was noted for a style of oratory which was "warm, if not always clear"; in private life, he was noted as a connoisseur of wine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennison, Thomas 1707 births 1779 deaths People from County Louth Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Louth constituencies Irish MPs 1727–1760 Irish MPs 1761–1768 Justices of the Irish Common Pleas Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)