Henry Agar (1707–1746) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

politician, and the father of the 1st

Viscount Clifden Viscount Clifden, of Gowran in the County of Kilkenny, Ireland, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 12 January 1781 for James Agar, 1st Baron Clifden. He had already been created Baron Clifden, of Gowran in the County o ...

and the 1st

Earl of Normanton Earl of Normanton is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1806 for Charles Agar, 1st Viscount Somerton, Archbishop of Dublin. He had already been created Baron Somerton, of Somerton in the County of Kilkenny, in 1795 and Vis ...

. Agar was the eldest son of James Agar of

Gowran Castle Gowran Castle is located in the centre of Gowran, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The castle is a manor house and was fully restored between 2013 and 2014. Early years The first Gowran Castle was built in 1385 by James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond, c ...

and his second wife Mary Wemyss, daughter of Sir Henry Wemyss of Danesfort. He was educated at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. From 1727 to 1746, he was MP for Gowran in

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the ...

. He married Anne Ellis, daughter of Welbore Ellis,

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

and Diana Briscoe, and sister of

Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, PC, FRS (15 December 1713 – 2 February 1802) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons for 53 years from 1741 to 1794 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Mendip. He held a number of p ...

. They were the parents of five sons, including

James Agar, 1st Viscount Clifden James Agar, 1st Viscount Clifden (25 March 1734 – 1 January 1789), was an Irish peer and politician and held the office of one of the joint Postmasters General of Ireland. Family He was the second son of Henry Agar, a former MP for Gowran, ...

Charles Agar, 1st Earl of Normanton Charles Agar, 1st Earl of Normanton (22 December 1736 – 14 July 1809), was an Anglo-Irish clergyman of the Church of Ireland. He served as Dean of Kilmore, as Bishop of Cloyne, as Archbishop of Cashel, and finally as Archbishop of Dublin (Chur ...

, Archbishop of Dublin, and

Welbore Ellis Agar Welbore Ellis Agar FRS (1735 – 30 October 1805) was an Anglo-Irish gentleman, senior officer of HM Revenue and Customs, and art collector, who lived most of his life in Mayfair, Westminster. Life Agar was the middle son of Henry Agar of Go ...

, a notable art collector.Rebecca Lyons, "Selling the collection of Welbore Ellis Agar" in

Susanna Avery-Quash Susanna Mary Avery-Quash (born 1970) is a British art historian, curator, and author. She is senior research curator at the National Gallery, researching its collections and curating 19th-century items in its history collection, and a research fel ...

, Christian Huemer, eds., ''London and the Emergence of a European Art Market, 1780–1820'' (Getty Publications, 6 August 2019)
p. 176
/ref> Agar extensively rebuilt Gowran Castle and also acquired substantial interests in Dublin by marriage. He died in 1746: his widow remarried George Dunbar of

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 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and had a population of 63,585 as of ...

. She died in 1761. Political control of the town of

Callan Callan is a given name and surname of Irish and Scottish origin. It can derive from Ó Cathaláin, meaning ''descendant of Cathalán''. Callan can also be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Allin or Mac Callin. Notable people with the name includ ...

, as well as the parliamentary seat of Gowran, passed to Henry's brother James Agar. This led to a bitter feud with the rival Flood faction, whose leader

Henry Flood Henry Flood (1732 – 2 December 1791), Irish statesman, son of Warden Flood, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became proficie ...

killed James in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

in 1769.

References

Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish MPs 1727–1760 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kilkenny constituencies People from Gowran Politicians from County Kilkenny {{DEFAULTSORT:Agar, Henry