William James Conolly

William James Conolly (died 2 January 1754) was an Irish politician.

He was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Ballyshannon at a by-election in 1727. At the general election earlier that year his uncle William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, had been elected for the seat, but chose to continue sitting for County Londonderry instead.[1] He inherited his uncle's estate of Castletown House in 1729 and was appointed to the Irish Privy Council on 3 February 1730.[2]

In 1733 he was married to Lady Anne Wentworth, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. Their children included Thomas Conolly, who married Lady Louisa Lennox; Harriet, who married John Staples and was grandmother of Edward Michael Conolly; Frances, who married William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe; Katherine, who married Ralph Gore, 1st Earl of Ross; Anne, who married George Byng and was the mother of John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford, Caroline, who married John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire.[3] and Jane who married the duellist George Robert FitzGerald in 1770.

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