Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse

The Earl of Rosse
2nd Earl of Rosse
Born	21 May 1758
Died	24 February 1841 (aged 82)
Occupation	Irish peer
Spouse(s)	Alice Lloyd
Children	five
Parent(s)	Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet and Mary Clere

Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse (21 May 1758 – 24 February 1841), known as Sir Lawrence Parsons, Bt, from 1791 to 1807, was an Irish peer.

Parsons was the son of Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet and Mary Clere. Between 1782 and 1790, he represented Dublin University in the Irish House of Commons. Parsons sat then as Member of Parliament (MP) for King's County from 1791 until the Act of Union in 1801. In the following co-option, he chose to sit for King's County also in the British House of Commons, a seat he held until 1807. The latter year he succeeded his uncle as second Earl of Rosse. In 1809 he became one of the Postmasters General of Ireland^[1] with Charles O'Neill, 1st Earl O'Neill with whom he attended the laying of the foundation-stone for the new General Post Office in Dublin on 12 August 1814 by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth.^[2] He later sat in the House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer from 1809 until 1841 and served as Custos Rotulorum of King's County from 1828 until his death.^[3]

Marriage and children

He married Alice Lloyd, daughter of John Lloyd, on 1 May 1797. They had five children:

• Lady Jane Parsons (d. 31 December 1883)
• William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (b. 17 June 1800, d. 31 October 1867)
• Hon. John Clere Parsons (b. 17 August 1802, d. 10 August 1828)
• Hon. Laurence Parsons (b. 2 November 1805, d. 22 November 1894)
• Lady Alicia Parsons (b. c 1815, d. 21 January 1885)

Jane Parsons married Arthur Edward Knox. They had two sons and three daughters. One of the sons, Lawrence E. Knox founded the Irish Times.

Notes

1.  Dunlop, Robert (1895). "Parsons, Lawrence (1758-1841)". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography 43. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
2. M'Gregor, John James (1821). Picture of Dublin. Dublin: C. P. Archer. p. 40.
3. "PARSONS, Sir Lawrence, 5th Bt. (1758-1841), of Parsonstown, King's Co.". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 18 June 2014.

References

• Lundy, Darryl. "p. 1279 § 12789". The Peerage. External link in |publisher= (help)
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs