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Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, MP

Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett (Home Rule MP, elected Feb 1872) and John Martin (the first Home Rule MP, elected Jan 1871).
Being celebrated on a set of "Home Rule" shopping bags in Waterford city.
See full size. From Bill Jehan.
See these bags in EPH C792 and EPH B806 in Ephemera collection in [NLI].

Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, MP,
born 22 July 1850, Kells, Co.Kerry.
Protestant landed gentry. One of the first Irish Home Rule MPs.
See wikipedia.
He was educ Trinity College, Dublin.
He was educ Christ Church, Oxford.
See 1870 letter from the poet Robert Browning. (Blennerhassett was friends with his son.)

He joined the Home Rule party led by Isaac Butt.
There were no Home Rule MPs in the 1868 general election. John Martin was the first Home Rule MP, elected in 1871.
Rowland was the 5th of 8 Home Rule MPs elected in by-elections in 1871-74.

Home Rule MP for Co.Kerry 1872-1885:
Rowland served as Home Rule party MP for Co.Kerry 1872 to 1885.
His election in the Co.Kerry by-election of Feb 1872 was a breakthrough for the Home Rule party. He defeated James Arthur Dease (Liberal).
The 1872 by-election was in the last few months of election by open vote in Ireland. (Secret ballot introduced in Aug 1872.) Unbelievably, up to this point, tenants had to vote in full view of and risking the wrath of their landlords. Indeed landlords often treated their tenants as simple extensions of their own vote, and used their agents to round up the tenants for voting at election time.
It was a dramatic, hard-fought campaign. There were some riots. See letter of 20 Jan 1872 which says a priest was injured and died after a riot at Castleisland.
Letter of 6 Feb 1872 says nomination is 6 Feb and polling is 9 Feb.

Kerry had two seats. The other MP for Kerry in 1872-80 was Henry Arthur Herbert.
The big breakthrough for Home Rule was the 1874 election when there were 60 Home Rule MPs elected.
Rowland mar 1876 to Mary Beatrice Armstrong.
Called to the Bar 1878.
The other MP for Kerry in 1880-85 was his 2nd cousin, the Liberal MP Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, 4th Baronet.

He moved to England. He was a barrister in London.
He continued to own Kells, and developed the garden there.
They are listed in 1881 census at 54 Hans Place, Chelsea, London. From here.
[Haugh, 2016] notes this is near the Chelsea Physic Garden, one of the oldest botanical gardens in Britain, from which he may have got many additions to the Kells garden.
He is listed in 1881 Electoral Register at 52 Hans Place. From here.
In 1885 he contested Manchester North East as a Liberal, but without success.
QC 1894.
They are listed in 1901 census at 52 Hans Place.
He writes in 1910 from 52 Hans Place to Lady Charlotte, widow of his cousin the 4th Baronet. See Add.7486/52/1.

Rowland dies, 1913:
At death he is described as of 52 Hans Place, London.
He died 7 April 1913, Hotel Prince de Galles (Hotel Prince of Wales), Monte Carlo.
See obituary, The Times, 10 Apr 1913. Also death notice, 11 Apr 1913.
He was bur at Cimetiere du Trabuquet in Menton, SE France (not far from Monte Carlo, on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border, see map).
See Dublin probate of will granted 1913 to widow Mary [NAI]. See London admin.
Mary is listed in [Post Office London Directory 1915] as of 52 Hans Place, and of Kells, Co.Kerry.

Mary dies, 1928:
She died 13 May 1928.
See death and funeral notices in The Times, 16, 17 and 18 May 1928. She was bur London.
Will pr 1 Aug 1928, London. See admin.
Rowland and Mary had issue:

Richard Francis Ponsonby Blennerhassett,
Dick, born 1879, London.

Signatures of Irish MPs on petition of 1883-84.
Includes Parnell and Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett and 4th Baronet.
See larger and full size.

In apparently 1908, Raymond Chandler gets a job in London through the help of "a wonderful old boy named Roland Ponsonby Blennerhasset".
From p.17 of The life of Raymond Chandler, Frank MacShane, 1976.

Grave of Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, Menton, France.
See larger and full size.
Photo 2023. From here.

Robert Barrett Browning

Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett (born 1850) was friends with Robert Barrett Browning ("Pen", born 1849).
They would have become friends when both went to Christ Church, Oxford.
Browning was son of the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (died 1861).

Letter dated 28 July 1870 from the poet Robert Browning (father of "Pen") to Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett (not yet an MP).
Found in Baronets papers.
See this envelope larger and full size.

See letter p.1 and pp.2-3 and p.4
The letter refers to Blennerhassett inviting them to Ireland. It refers to Blennerhassett's mother (then still alive).
The letter is written from 19 Warwick Crescent, London, where Browning lived 1861 to 1887.

The 1872 election

Extract from pp.234-236 of Romantic Hidden Kerry, by Thomas F. O'Sullivan, Tralee, 1931. [KCL] RR.
Tells the story of the 1872 election, where landlords rounded up their tenants to vote the way they wanted. Here the agent leads a procession of tenants towards Tralee, but the voters keep escaping.

Pat Lavelle in [PAT/12, p.14-15] quotes this section from Thomas O'Sullivan's book.
Thomas O'Sullivan says he is quoting the story from the book New Ireland (1877 and many further editions) by Home Rule MP Alexander Martin Sullivan.
See the chapter "The Kerry Election" on pp.325-349 of vol.2 of New Ireland, 3rd edn (1877).
See also accounts in [Hynes, 1966] and [Rice, 2009].
(todo) See Irish Times, 10 Feb 1872.

References

Lawrence J. McCaffrey
- "Home rule and the general election of 1874 in Ireland". Irish Historical Studies, Volume 9, Issue 34, September 1954, pp.190-212.
- "Isaac Butt and the Home Rule Movement: A Study in Conservative Nationalism". The Review of Politics, Volume 22, Issue 1, January 1960, pp.72-95.
"That other Kerry Election", Malachy Hynes, Irish Independent, 7 December 1966.
"Home Rule Triumphs in Tralee", Kerry's Eye, 23 July, unknown year, maybe around 1988.
Kerry's most exciting election, by George Rice, in the Kerry Magazine, issue 19, 2009, pp.20-22.

PRO.NI papers

Lord Chancellorship Papers. [PRO.NI]. D2777/7/4. Correspondence and papers accumulated by Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan during his two periods as Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
- D2777/7/4/143. "Police reports, February-April 1872, regarding the threatening behaviour of a mob at Cahirciveen, Co Kerry, towards the Knight of Kerry, the obstructive attitude of a local J.P., Dr. Barry, when the police were trying to restore the peace, all placed in the context of discontent against local landlords who had supported the Liberal candidate J.A. Dease against the Home Ruler R.P. Blennerhassett during the recent by-election for the Co. Kerry constituency. Dease's supporters are named as the Knight of Kerry, Sir James O'Connell, his son D.J. O'Connell, The O'Donoghue M.P., and Mr. Herbert M.P., and Dr. Barry is noted as the step-father of Blennerhassett."
Kenmare Papers in the [PRO.NI].
- D4151/G. Letter-books. Dates: 1876-1921.
- These are duplicates of letters written by the Killarney Estate Office on estate business to various people. No incoming. No envelopes. No stamps.
- D4151/G/10. Dates: 1884-1885.
- This includes letters to the two MPs for Co.Kerry, who from 1880 to Nov 1885 were Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, 4th Baronet and Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett. In the Nov-Dec 1885 election both did not stand.
- Page 599. Letter to Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, 9 Mar 1885.
- Page 699. Letter to Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, 4 May 1885.
- Page 860. Letter to Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, 23 July 1885.
- Page 899. Letter to (illegible) Blennerhassett, 7 Aug 1885.
- Page 907. Letter to 4th Baronet, 10 Aug 1885.

Baronets papers

Among the Blennerhassett Baronets papers are items relating to the 4th Baronet, and also items relating to his cousin, Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett MP.
For example the 1870 letter from Robert Browning.
And also the following:

Printed speech of 3 June 1878 by Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett MP. See cover.
Letter of 1880 to "(possibly Mr.) Blennerhassett" from Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan.
- From 19 Chesham Place, London.
- Given the possible "Mr." we suspect this letter is to Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett MP and not to the 4th Baronet.
- See also O'Hagan and the 1872 election.
Letter of 9 July 1887 from the poet Robert Browning to "Blennerhassett".
- From 29 De Vere Gardens, London.
- Given the 1870 letter and the known connection, we suspect this letter is to Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett MP and not to the 4th Baronet.
Letter to "Mr. Blennerhassett" from the politician Joseph Chamberlain.
- See p.1 and p.2.
- Date is fairly illegible. Possibly 13 May 1891.
- Given the "Mr." not "Sir", we suspect this letter is to Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett MP and not to the 4th Baronet.

Sources yet to be consulted

Proceedings of the Home Rule Conference 1873, pub 1874. Blennerhassett is listed at this conference. Multiple copies at [NLI].
Irish Home Rule League papers, pamphlets, pub 1874. Multiple copies at [NLI].
Item in Kerry Evening Post, 11 Sept 1875. See notes.
Item in The Kerry Sentinel, 28 Sept 1880.
Death of Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett. The Kerry Sentinel, 12 Apr 1913.
Obituary of Mary Beatrice Armstrong, p.8 of [Co.Kerry Soc. annual report 1928].
Article in Kerry's Eye, 16 June 1988, p.22.

Papers

Oxford: Archive of John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley at [OU]. This has correspondence with Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett, 1881-1882, in:
- Ms. Eng. c. 4170, ff.96-103.
London: Gladstone papers. [BL] Ms.
- William Ewart Gladstone papers. Add MS 44086-44835.
- Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett letter to Gladstone, 1884. Add MS 44787. f. 157
Durham: Papers of Albert Henry George, 4th Earl Grey, Durham University Library, GB-0033-GRE.
- 28 December 1883. Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett to Grey.
- [December (?) 1883]. Copy letter (incomplete) Grey to Blennerhassett.