Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough


Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough, was a British politician and peer. He was the son of William Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Duncannon, and Mary Moore. He was an active politician from 1705 to 1757 in Great Britain and Ireland. He represented Newtownards and Kildare County in the Irish House of Commons. He inherited his father's viscountcy in 1724 and was made Earl of Bessborough in the Peerage of Ireland in 1739. He is buried in Fiddown, County Kilkenny, Ireland.
Ponsonby married Sarah Margetson, an heiress whose family owned Bishopscourt, County Kildare, and his family remained there until the 1830s.

Family

Ponsonby married twice. His first marriage was in 1704 to Sarah Margetson, daughter of John Margetson and Alice Caulfeild. Sarah had previously been married to Hugh Colvill. Sarah's children by Brabazon Ponsonby:
Following his wife's death in May 1733, Ponsonby married Elizabeth Sankey, daughter of John Sankey and Eleanor Morgan, on 28 November 1733.

Ranks and offices held