See also William Connolly (disambiguation)

William Connolly (disambiguation)

William Connolly may refer to:*William Connolly , English recipient of the Victoria Cross*William M. Connolly , justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court...

William Conolly (1662 – 30 October 1729), also known as Speaker Conolly, was an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, Commissioner of Revenue, lawyer and landowner.

Career

William Conolly was born the son of an inn-keeper, Patrick Conolly, in Ballyshannon

Ballyshannon

Ballyshannon is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located where the N3 and N15 cross the River Erne, and claims to be the oldest town in Ireland.-Location:...

, County Donegal

County Donegal

County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...

. Patrick Conolly was a native of County Monaghan

County Monaghan

County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...

, and a descendant of the Ó Conghalaigh

Ó Conghalaigh

Ó Conghalaigh, Gaelic-Irish surname. It derives from the forename Conghal, meaning "as fierce as a wolf". It is often anglicised as Connolly or Conneelly.-Overview:...

 clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

 of Airgíalla

Airgíalla

Airgíalla or Airgialla was the name of an Irish federation and Irish kingdom which first formed around the 7th century...

. Patrick settled in County Donegal, converted to the Protestant faith, and had children William, Patrick, Hugh, Phelim and Thady. He set aside enough money that he was able to send William to Dublin to study law. William Conolly qualified as an attorney

Solicitor

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

 in 1685, aged twenty-three.

He practised as a lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 in Dublin and in 1694 he married Katherine Conyngham, daughter of General Sir Albert Conyngham, who was originally from Mount Charles in Donegal, though the family later settled Slane Castle

Slane Castle

Slane Castle is located in the town of Slane, within the Boyne Valley of County Meath, Ireland. The castle has been the family home of the Conyngham Marquessate since the 18th century....

 in County Meath

County Meath

County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...

, where the Conynghams still reside. They had no children, and on Katherine's death in 1752 the estates were inherited by William Conolly, his nephew by his brother Patrick.

He made his fortune from land transfers, following the confiscations by the Crown of lands belonging to the unsuccessful supporters of King James II

James II of England

James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

, in the wake of the Glorious Revolution

Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...

 and the accession of William and Mary

William and Mary

The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...

 in 1688-91, known as the "Williamite War in Ireland

Williamite war in Ireland

The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...

". About 600,000 Irish acres were confiscated to be sold to pay for the costs of the war, (equivalent to 972,000 statute acres

Acre

The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

), nearly 5% of the land area of Ireland. Conolly was the largest individual buyer, in particular buying 3,300 acres in County Meath

County Meath

County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...

 that had been assigned to the Earl of Albemarle

Arnold van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle

Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle KG, and lord of De Voorst in Guelders , was the son of Oswald van Keppel and his wife Anna Geertruid van Lintelo...

.

He built the first winged Palladian house in Ireland, Castletown House

Castletown House

Castletown House, Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland's is a Palladian country house built in 1722 for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It formed the centrepiece of a estate...

 in Celbridge

Celbridge

Celbridge is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. As a town within the Dublin Metropolitan Area and the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the R403 and R405 regional roads....

, County Kildare

County Kildare

County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...

, starting in 1722, and specified that every part of it had to be made from Irish materials. His Dublin town house was on Capel Street, then the most fashionable part of the city. He also commissioned the former Customs House (now the Clarence Hotel) and the Irish Houses of Parliament

Irish Houses of Parliament

The Irish Houses of Parliament , also known as the Irish Parliament House, today called the Bank of Ireland, College Green due to its use as by the bank, was the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house...

, the world's first building specifically designed as a bicameral parliament.

Conolly was the most important of the "Undertakers", the managers of Government business 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...

, in the early 18th century. He was associated with the moderate faction of Whigs

British Whig Party

The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

 and was opposed by the Brodrick

Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton

Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton PC was an Irish lawyer and politician.-Background:He was the second son of Sir St John Brodrick of Ballyannan, near Midleton in County Cork, by his wife Alice , daughter of Laurence Clayton of Mallow, County Cork and sister of Colonel Randall Clayton M.P., of...

 faction from Cork

Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

. He was a 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,...

 for Donegal Borough

Donegal Borough (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

Donegal Borough was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800. It is now represented in the Dáil.-History:In the Patriot Parliament of 1689 summoned by King James II, Donegal Borough was not represented.-1689–1801:...

 from 1692 to 1703 and subsequently for Londonderry County

Londonderry County (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

Londonderry County was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800.-Members of Parliament:*1634: Tristram Beresford*1656–1658: Tristram Beresford*1661–1666: Tristram Beresford -1692–1801:...

 until his death in 1729. In 1703 and 1713, he was also elected for Newtown Limavady

Newtown Limavady (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

Newtown Limavady was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800.-1692–1801:...

 and in 1727 for Ballyshannon

Ballyshannon (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

Ballyshannon was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons from 1613 to 1800.-Boundaries and Boundary Changes:This constituency was the borough of Ballyshannon in County Donegal...

, but chose each time not to sit.

He was Speaker

Speaker (politics)

The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...

 of the Irish House of Commons and a Commissioner of the Revenue from 1715 to his death in 1729. His name was spelt "Conolly", rather than the more familiar Connolly

Connolly

Connolly may refer to:* Connolly, Western Australia, a suburb in Perth, Western Australia* Connolly, County Clare, Ireland* Dublin Connolly railway station in Dublin, Ireland...

, deriving ultimately from the Gaelic

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 surname "O Conghaile".

On his death Archbishop Boulter

Hugh Boulter

Hugh Boulter was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, from 1724 until his death. He also served as the chaplain to George I from 1719.-Background and education:...

 estimated Conolly's income in 1729 at £17,000 p.a. His widow Katherine continued to live in style at Castletown until her death in 1752. She built the Wonderful Barn

The Wonderful Barn

The Wonderful Barn is a corkscrew-shaped barn built on the edge of Castletown House Estate of the Conolly family, which borders Leixlip and Celbridge, Ireland. It was built in 1743 on the Leixlip side of the Castletown Estate...

 and the Conolly Folly in the 1740s. Then their estates passed briefly to William's nephew William junior

William James Conolly

William James Conolly 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...

, and then on to his great-nephew Tom Conolly

Thomas Conolly (1738–1803)

Thomas Conolly was an Irish landowner.He was the son of William James Conolly of Castletown House, by his wife Lady Anne, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford...

 M.P., known as "Squire Tom", who was married to Lady Louisa Conolly

Lady Louisa Conolly

Lady Louisa Conolly , known from 1743 to 1758 as Lady Louisa Lennox, was the third of the four Lennox Sisters immortalised in Stella Tillyard's book Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox and the BBC television series based on it.The Lennox sisters were daughters of Charles Lennox,...

.

A pub in Celbridge, "The Speaker's Bar", was named in his memory. There is also a pub in Firhouse, Dublin called "The Speaker Conolly" named after him.

Wealth

Conolly was reputed to be the wealthiest man in Ireland at the date of his death. He paid £32,000 and an annuity of £500 p.a., for his 30,586-acre estate at his birthplace in Ballyshannon

Ballyshannon

Ballyshannon is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located where the N3 and N15 cross the River Erne, and claims to be the oldest town in Ireland.-Location:...

, County Donegal

County Donegal

County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...

 in 1718; £62,000 for his 10,360-acre estate in Rathfarnham

Rathfarnham

Rathfarnham or Rathfarnam is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin County Councils.The area of Rathfarnham...

, County Dublin

County Dublin

County Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...

, in 1723; and £12,000 for 809 acres including Leixlip

Leixlip

-Politics:Since 1988 Leixlip has had a nine member Town Council , headed by a Cathaoirleach , which has control over many local matters, although it is limited in that it is not also a planning authority...

, County Kildare

County Kildare

County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...

 in 1728, together with other properties in Dublin. His 2,300-acre property at Celbridge

Celbridge

Celbridge is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. As a town within the Dublin Metropolitan Area and the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the R403 and R405 regional roads....

 was bought in 1709 from Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick

Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick

Thomas Donegan, 2nd Earl of Limerick was a member of Irish Parliament, Royalist military officer during the English Civil War, and governor of the Province of New York...

.

By his death he owned 148,487 acres that yielded a gross income of £14,926 p.a.

External links

• http://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_family/hist_family_conolly.html
• Castletown House