Henry Flood , illeg. Only son. dsp. Of Farmley. Freemason, member of the Dublin Volunteer lodge "generally twinned with Henry Grattan in most accounts of 18th-century Irish history, but he possesses a strong claim to be remembered in his own right. A man of great personal courage and formidable intelligence, Flood was a classic patriot of the 18th-century mould. Convinced that Irish Protestants deserved to be afforded the same constitutional, political and economic rights as Englishmen, he devoted his life to the advancement of that cause. " HENRY FLOOD (1732 - 1791) statesman and orator Born 30th Dec 1732, County Kilkenny Illegitimate son of Warden Flood, Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland. Educated Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and Christ Church, Oxford, and the Inner Temple, London. Returned to Ireland 1759. MP for Kilkenny in Irish House of Commons and later for borough of Callan. He soon became leader of the opposition, whose policy included independence for the Irish legislature, and was accounted the finest orator of his day. In 1769 he killed James Agar, an electioneering opponent, in a duel and was brought to trial but acquitted. In October 1775 he accepted the post of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, a sinecure worth £3,500 a year, on the mistaken grounds that by taking office he would be better able to influence policy for the good of the country. He continued to hold nationalist views, made no attempt to support the government against opposition attacks, and was removed from office in 1781. When he resumed his seat on the opposition benches he found his popularity gone and his place as leader taken by Grattan. He advocated sweeping reforms as opposed to the conciliatory approach favoured by Grattan, and their differences culminated in a quarrel in Parliament marked by bitter personal invective. A duel was prevented only by both being arrested. In 1783 he purchased a seat for Winchester in the English House of Commons but was a failure there. In the general election of 1790 he was not returned, and he retired to his seat at Farmley, County Kilkenny, where he died on 2 December 1791. Source: A Dictionary of Irish Biography, Henry Boylan (ed.), Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1998. DEATHS. FROM THE N.Z. HERALD AND OTHER PAPERS From 1845 to 1860 incl IRELAND On the 14th January 1852, of enlargement of the liver and heart, at her residence in Shortland-street, Mrs Ireland, the wife of Mr John Ireland of Auckland. The deceased was the daughter of Capt Macdonnell, 64th Regt and grand-niece of the Right Hon. Henry Flood, Speaker in the Irish House of Commons. [NZ'er 17 Jan 1852]
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| Born: 30th Dec 1732 | Baptised:
| | Died: Farmley, Kilkenny, , Ireland 2nd Dec 1795 | Buried:
| | Family: Flood |
Sources
- Family Archivists: see
Flood
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