Edward Spring, 1st Baron Askeaton

Edward Spring, 1st Baron Askeaton PC (I) (19 April 1732 - 18 November 1791) was an Anglo-Irish politician.^[1]

Askeaton was the son of Francis Spring and Catherine Mason. His family owned large estates in County Kerry and County Limerick, and he was the great-grandson of Robert Blennerhassett MP and Thomas Spring of Castlemaine. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in 1753. He then attended Inner Temple in London, before returning to Ireland to practise as a lawyer.^[2]

He was elected to the Irish House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Askeaton in 1768, and served in that position until 1776. He was also Custos Rotulorum of County Limerick and served as High Sheriff of Limerick City in 1774. On 18 March 1776 he was created Baron Askeaton in the Peerage of Ireland, entitling him to a seat in the Irish House of Lords.^[3] On 4 July 1778 he was invested as a member of the Privy Council of Ireland.

Askeaton married Hon. Mary Tracy, the daughter of Thomas Charles Tracy, 5th Viscount Tracy of Rathcoole and his second wife, Frances.^[4] Together they had four children, although only one son survived to adulthood. Lord Askeaton died prematurely of influenza at his home in Foynes in 1791, and was succeeded by his son, also Edward. He died the following year in a riding accident, and the barony became extinct.^[5]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Edward Spring, 1st Baron Askeaton

16. Robert Spring               8. Thomas Spring of Castlemaine                       17. Mary Appleby               4. Thomas Spring                             18. Sir Anthony Browne               9. Annabelle Browne                       19. Alice Gage               2. Francis Spring                                   20. Captain John Blennerhassett               10. Robert Blennerhassett                       21. Martha Lynn               5. Avice Blennerhassett                             22. Edward Conway               11. Avice Conway                       1. Edward Spring, 1st Baron Askeaton                                         12. William Mason                       6. John Mason                             26. John Scudamore, 1st Viscount Scudamore               13. Hon. Charlotte Scudamore.                       27. Elizabeth Porter               3. Catherine Mason                                   7. Avis McLoughlin

References

1. John Lodge and Mervyn Archdall, The Peerage of Ireland: Or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom, Volume 7 (J. Moore, 1789), 287.
2. John Lodge and Mervyn Archdall, The Peerage of Ireland: Or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom, Volume 7 (J. Moore, 1789), 287.
3. John Lodge and Mervyn Archdall, The Peerage of Ireland: Or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom, Volume 7 (J. Moore, 1789), 287.
4. Michael C. O'Laughlin, Families of Co. Kerry, Ireland (Irish Roots Cafe, 1994), 137.
5. ThePeerage.com (entry #638575) http://www.thepeerage.com/p63858.htm#i638575