Thomas Southwell, 2nd Baron Southwell

Thomas Southwell, 2nd Baron Southwell PC (Ire), FRS (7 January 1698 – 19 November 1766),^[1] styled The Honourable from 1717 until 1720, was an Irish peer, politician and freemason.

Background

He was the oldest son of Thomas Southwell, 1st Baron Southwell and his wife Lady Meliora Coningsby, eldest daughter of Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby.^[2] His uncles were William Southwell and Richard Southwell, his younger brother was Henry Southwell.^[3] In 1743, Southwell became Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, a position he held until the following year.^[4]

Career

In 1717, Southwell entered the Irish House of Commons for Limerick County, the same constituency his father had represented before,^[1] and sat for it until 1720, when he succeeded him also as baron.^[5] In 1726, Southwell was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland.^[6] He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1735^[7] and was Governor of County Limerick until his resignation in 1762.^[8]

Family

In March 1719, he married Mary Coke, eldest daughter of Thomas Coke, and by her he had three sons.^[8] Southwell died at Craig's Court, Charing Cross, aged 68 and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest surviving son Thomas.^[8] His younger brother, Edmund Southwell, "lived in intimacy with"^[9] Samuel Johnson for many years, and was the first to introduce the great Shakespearean scholar Edmond Malone to him.^[9]

References

Notes

Sources

• Boswell, James (1824). The life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. London: G. Cowie. 
• Burke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire II (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. 
• Johnston-Liik, Edith Mary (2006). MPs in Dublin: Companion to History of the Irish Parliament 1692–1800. Ulster Historical Foundation. ISBN 1-903688-60-4. 
• Lodge, Edmund (1838). The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage (6th ed.). London: Saunder and Otley. 
• Lodge, John (1789). Archdall, Mervyn, ed. The Peerage of Ireland or A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom VI. Dublin: James Moore. 
• Lundy, Darrel (24 November 2009). "Thomas Southwell, 2nd Baron Southwell of Castle Mattress". thePeerage.com. Retrieved 8 January 2011. 
• Rayment, Leigh (23 January 2010). "Privy Council of Ireland". Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. Retrieved 8 January 2011. 
• The Royal Society (2009). "Southwell; Thomas (1698 - 1766); 2nd Baron Southwell". Library and Archive catalogue. The Royal Society. Retrieved 8 January 2011. 
• Waite, Arthur Edward (2007). A New Encyclopedia of Freemasonry I. Cosimo. ISBN 1-60206-641-8.