Arthur French : Short Biography

FRENCH, Arthur I (1765-1820), of French Park, Co. Roscommon

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832, ed. D.R. Fisher, 2009
Available from Cambridge University Press

CO. ROSCOMMON

1801 - 24 Nov. 1820

Family and Education
bap. 6 Apr. 1765,1 1st surv. s. of Arthur French of French Park and Alicia, da. of Richard Magenis of Dublin. m. 8 Oct. 1764, Margaret, da. of Edmund Costello of Edmonstown, co. Mayo, 5s. 4da. suc. fa. 1799. d. 24 Nov. 1820.

Offices Held

MP [I] 1783-1800.

Trustee, linen board [I] 1795-d.

Gov. co. Roscommon 1819-d.

Capt. Elphin and French Park cav. 1796; commdt. French Park cav. vols. 1797.

Biography

French, whose ancestors had settled in county Galway in the fifteenth century, was first elected (apparently under age) in 1783 for county Roscommon, which his family had represented, almost continuously, since 1721. A friend of Catholic relief and an importunate supporter of successive governments, who had done well for his family out of the spoils system, he retained his county seat without opposition at the general election of 1820, despite being too ill to canvass.2 He made no mark in the following session, which was his last, for he died in November 1820, ‘after a severe indisposition of a few hours’, supposedly brought on by overexertion in the hunting field. He left £18,000 to be divided among his younger children, having already provided for his eldest daughter Mary with £2,000 on her marriage. His eldest son and namesake succeeded him as head of the family and county Member.3

Ref Volumes: 1820-1832

Author: Stephen Farrell

Notes

• 1. Hist. Irish Parl. iv. 244.
• 2. Ibid. 244-5; HP Commons, 1790-1820, iii. 839-41; Add. 40296, f. 24; Dublin Evening Post, 9, 28 Mar. 1820.
• 3. Dublin Evening Post, 2 Dec. 1820; Gent. Mag. (1820), ii. 571; PROB 11/1644/333.