JOHN

See also:

• JOHN PONSONBY (1713-1789)

PONSONBY (1713-1789)  , Irish politician, second son of Brabazon Ponsonby, rst earl of Bessborough, was born on the 29th of March 1713 . In 1739 he entered the Irish parliament and in 1744 he became first commissioner of the revenue; in 1746 he was appointed a privy councillor, and in 1756 Speaker of the Irish House of Commons . Belonging to one of the great families which at this time monopolized the government of Ireland, Ponsonby was one of the principal " undertakers," men who controlled the whole of the king's business in Ireland, and he retained the chief authority until the marquess Townshend became lord-lieutenant in 1767 . Then followed a struggle for supremacy between the Ponsonby faction and the party dependent on Townshend, one result of this being that Ponsonby resigned the speakership in 1771 . He died on the 12th of December 1789 . His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of William Cavendish, 3rd duke of Devonshire, a connexion which was of great importance to the Ponsonbys . Ponsonby's third son, George Ponsonby (1755–1817), lord chancellor of Ireland, was born on the 5th of March 1755 and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge . A barrister, he became a member of the Irish parliament in 1776 and was chancellor of the Irish exchequer in 1782, afterwards taking a prominent part in the debates on the question of Roman Catholic relief, and leading the opposition to the union of the parliaments . After 'Soo Ponsonby represented Wicklow and then Tavistock in the united parliament; in 1806 he was lord chancellor of Ireland, and from 18o8 to 1817 he was the official leader of the opposition in the House of Commons . He left an only daughter when he died in London on the 8th of July 1817 . George Ponsonby's elder brother, William Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby (1744–1806), was also a leading Whig politician, being a member of the Irish, and after 'Soo, of the British parliament . In 'Sob shortly before his death he was created Baron Ponsonby of Imokilly .

Three of his sons were men of

note . The eldest was John (c . 1770--1855), who succeeded to the barony and was created a viscount in 1839; he was ambassador at Constantinople from 1832 to 1837 and at Vienna from 1846 to 185o . The second son was Major- General Sir William Ponsonby (1772-1815), who, after serving in the Peninsular War, was killed at the battle of Waterloo whilst leading a brigade of heavy cavalry . Another son was Richard Ponsonby (1772-1853), bishop of Derry . Sir William Ponsonby's posthumous son William (1816–1861) became 3rd Baron Ponsonby on the death of his uncle John, Viscount Ponsonby; he died childless and was succeeded by his cousin William Brabazon Ponsonby (1807–1866), only son of the bishop of Deny, on whose death the barony of Ponsonby became extinct . Among other members of this family may be mentioned Major-General Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby (1783–1837), son of the 3rd earl of Bessborough, a soldier who distinguished himself at the battles of Talavera, Salamanca and Vittoria, in the Peninsular War, and was wounded at Waterloo; he was governor of Malta from 1826 to 1835 . His eldest son, Sir Henry Frederick Ponsonby (1825–1895), a soldier who served in the Crimea, is best remembered as private secretary to Queen Victoria from 187o until a few months before his death .