Robert Boyle-Walsingham was an Irish sailor and Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

.

Born Robert Boyle, he was a younger son of Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon

Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon

Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon, PC was a prominent Irish politician.Boyle was the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Boyle , second son of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery. His mother was Lady Mary O'Brien, daughter of Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin...

, by his wife Henrietta, daughter of Charles Boyle, 2nd Earl of Burlington

Charles Boyle, 2nd Earl of Burlington

Charles Boyle, 3rd Earl of Cork and 2nd Earl of Burlington, 4th Baron Clifford, PC was a peer, courtier and politician....

. His great-grandfather Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

Roger Boyle redirects here. For others of this name, see Roger Boyle Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery was a British soldier, statesman and dramatist. He was the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Richard's second wife, Catherine Fenton. He was created Baron of Broghill on...

 had married Lady Margaret, daughter of Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk

Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk

Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, KG was an English nobleman and politician.Born at the family estate of Saffron Walden, he was the son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, by his second wife Catherine Knyvet of Charlton, and succeeded his father in 1626.Sir Theophilus Howard was named in...

; another daughter Lady Anne married Thomas Walsingham. Robert Boyle eventually succeeded to the estate of the Walsinghams' daughter Elizabeth, Lady Osborne (died 1733), and adopted the name Walsingham.

In 1759 he married Charlotte, daughter of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams

Charles Hanbury Williams

Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, KB , diplomat, writer and satirist, son of John Hanbury, a Welsh ironmaster, assumed the name of Williams on succeeding to the estate of his godfather Charles Williams, in 1720....

; she later built Boyle Farm

Boyle Farm

Boyle Farm was the earlier name of the 'Home of Compassion', a mansion on the banks of the River Thames in Thames Ditton, Surrey. The house was built on the site of Forde's Farm by Charlotte Boyle Walsingham in the late 18th century. Although the estate has been sold and divided into expensive...

. Their children included Richard (1762 – 1788) and Charlotte

Charlotte FitzGerald-de Ros, 21st Baroness de Ros

Charlotte Fitzgerald-de Ros, 21st Baroness de Ros of Helmsley , also known as Lady Henry FitzGerald, was born Charlotte Boyle-Walsingham in Castlemartyr, County Cork, Ireland or in London, where she died....

 (1769 – 1831), who in 1806 successfully claimed the Barony of de Ros

Baron de Ros

The title of Baron de Ros of Helmsley is the most ancient baronial title in the Peerage of England. The title of Baron de Ros of Helmsley is the most ancient baronial title in the Peerage of England. The title of Baron de Ros of Helmsley is the most ancient baronial title in the Peerage of England....

, to which she was a co-heiress through her maternal grandmother.

Boyle-Walsingham served in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, reaching the rank of Captain

Captain (Royal Navy)

Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...

. His last command was as Commodore commanding a squadron despatched to the West Indies. Flying his flag in HMS Thunderer

HMS Thunderer (1760)

HMS Thunderer was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 March 1760 at Woolwich. She was involved in a single-ship action with the French Achille in 1761....

, and he died when she was wrecked in a hurricane off Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

.

Besides his naval career, he sat in the Irish House of Commons

Irish House of Commons

The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland, that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords...

 for Dungarvan

Dungarvan (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

Dungarvan was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800.-History:In the Patriot Parliament of 1689 summoned by King James II, Dungarvan was represented with two members.-1689–1801:...

 between 1758 and 1768, and in the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 for Knaresborough

Knaresborough (UK Parliament constituency)

Knaresborough was a parliamentary constituency which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1868, and then one MP until its abolition in 1885.-Before the Great Reform Act:...

 between 1758 and 1760, Fowey

Fowey (UK Parliament constituency)

Fowey was a rotten borough in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the English and later British Parliament from 1571 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...

 from 1761 to 1768, and then Knaresborough again from 1768 to his death.

In 1760 his portrait was painted by Nathaniel Hone the Elder. In 1770 he became first Provincial Grand Master

Provincial Grand Master

Provincial Grand Master , sometimes called District Grand Master or Metropolitan Grand Master, is an office held by the senior Freemason in the middle management layer of masonic administration, between the national and the local levels...

 for Kent of the Premier Grand Lodge of England

Premier Grand Lodge of England

The Premier Grand Lodge of England was founded on 24 June 1717 as the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster and it existed until 1813 when it united with the Ancient Grand Lodge of England to create the United Grand Lodge of England. It was the first Masonic Grand Lodge to be created...

. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

in 1778.