Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Shannon


Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Shannon, styled Viscount Boyle until 1842, was a British politician of the Whig party. He served as Member of Parliament for Cork County from 1830 to 1832.

Background

Boyle was the son of Henry Boyle, 3rd Earl of Shannon and his wife, Sarah, daughter of John Hyde of Castle Hyde and his wife, Sarah Burton. Hyde was a descendant of the Hyde family of Denchworth in Berkshire.

Political career

Boyle was elected a Member of Parliament in the 1830 United Kingdom general election and re-elected in the 1831 United Kingdom general election. The Reform Act 1832 increased the number of individuals entitled to vote, increasing the size of electorate by 50–80%, and allowing a total of 653,000 adult males to vote, in a population of some 14 million. In the 1832 United Kingdom general election which followed, Cork County was allowed to elect two Members of Parliament instead of one. Richard failed to be re-elected, his seat taken by Feargus O'Connor, a leader of the Chartist movement, and Garrett Standish Barry. Barry was a Roman Catholic, the first one elected to Parliament following the Catholic Relief Act 1829. On 22 April 1842, his father died and Boyle succeeded him. He held no other political office until his death.

Family

On 28 May 1832, Lord Shannon married Emily Henrietta Seymour in London. She was a daughter of Lord George Seymour-Conway and Isabella Hamilton. His father-in-law was a son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford and his wife Lady Isabella Fitzroy. His mother-in-law was a daughter of the Reverend George Hamilton, Canon of Windsor and his wife Elizabeth Onslow.
They had two sons: