John Blaquiere, 1st Baron de Blaquiere

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Blaquiere, 1st Baron de Blaquiere, KCB, PC (15 May 1732 – 27 August 1812) was a British soldier and politician of French descent.

Blaquiere was the fifth son of Jean de Blaquiere, a French merchant who had emigrated to England in 1732, and his wife Marie Elizabeth de Varennes. He at first served in the Army where he achieved the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1771 Blaquiere was appointed Secretary of Legation at the British Embassy in Paris, a post he held until 1772. The latter year Lord Harcourt, the British Ambassador in Paris, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Blaquiere joined him as Chief Secretary for Ireland. He was admitted to the Privy Council of Ireland the same year and made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath two years later. Blaquiere was to remain Chief Secretary until Harcourt's resignation in January 1777. He had been elected to the Irish House of Commons for Old Leighlin in 1773, a seat he held until 1783, and later sat for Carlingford from 1783 to 1790, for Charleville from 1790 to 1797 and for Newtownards from 1798 to 1800. In 1784 Blaquiere was created a Baronet, of Ardkill in the County of Londonderry, in the Baronetage of Ireland, and in 1800 he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron de Blaquiere, of Ardkill in the County of Londonderry. Lord de Blaquiere also sat as a Member of the British House of Commons for Rye from 1801 to 1802 and for Downton from 1802 to 1806.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Lord Hawkesbury Robert Saunders-Dundas	Member for Rye 1801–1802 with Lord Hawkesbury	Succeeded by Lord Hawkesbury Thomas Davis Lamb
Preceded by Edward Bouverie The Hon. John Ward	Member for Downton 1803–1806 with The Hon. John Ward 1803, Viscount Marsham 1803–1806	Succeeded by Bartholomew Bouverie Duncombe Pleydell-Bouverie
Political offices
Preceded by George Macartney	Chief Secretary for Ireland 1772–1777	Succeeded by Sir Richard Heron
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by New Creation	Baron de Blaquiere 1800–1812	Succeeded by John de Blaquiere
Baronetage of Ireland
Preceded by New Creation	Baronet (of Ardkill, Londonderry) 1784–1812	Succeeded by John de Blaquiere