Thomas Knox, 1st Viscount Northland


Thomas Knox, 1st Viscount Northland, known as The Lord Welles between 1781 and 1791, was an Irish politician.

Background

Thomas Knox was the son of Thomas Knox and Hester Echlin. He married Anne Vesey in 1753 and they had seven children. He died on 5 November 1818 at age 89.

Political career

Knox was Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons for Dungannon from 1755 until 1781. In 1781, he was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Welles, of Dungannon in the County of Tyrone.
In 1791 Knox was ennobled as Viscount Northland, of Dungannon in the County of Tyrone. With the Act of Union and the abolition of the Irish Parliament in 1800, he became one of the 28 original Irish Representative Peers in the British House of Lords from then until his death.
About that time he was also appointed Custos Rotulorum of Tyrone.