Thomas Pakenham (Irish politician)
Sir Thomas Pakenham (1649-1703) was an Irish barrister and politician: he sat in the Irish House of Commons and held the office of Serjeant-at-law (Ireland). He was the grandfather of the first Baron Longford.[1]
He was the eldest son of Henry Pakenham, of Pakenham Hall, County Westmeath, and his first wife Mary Lill.[2] The Pakenham family, originally from Suffolk, had come to Ireland in about 1575, in the entourage of Sir Henry Sidney, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, to whom they were closely related, and acquired substantial lands in Westmeath and County Wexford.[3]
He was educated at the University of Dublin and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1674. He was called to the Irish bar and became King's Counsel in 1685.[4]
He was a barrister of repute, and enjoyed the patronage of Charles Porter, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland.[5] In 1692 he was recommended for promotion as one of the three serjeants-at-law, being described as "the fittest that can be picked on for the King's service".[6] He became Second Serjeant, with a knighthood, and was made Prime Serjeant in 1695, on Porter's recommendation,[7] holding that office until his death in 1703.[8] He was MP for Augher 1695-1699.[9]
He married firstly in 1673 Mary Nelmes, daughter of Richard Nelmes, an Alderman of London, and secondly in 1696 Mary Bellingham, daughter of Sir Daniel Bellingham, first of the Bellingham Baronets of Dubber, who had been created the first Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1665. Thomas had several children by his first marriage, including:
Edward Pakenham (died 1721), his eldest son, who married Margaret Bradestan, and was the father of: