Of Ballycumber, King’s County. Fourteenth child of Thomas Homan-Mulock of Bellair, King’s County. Born on the 25th July 1848, educated at the Royal School, Enniskillen, and Trinity College, Dublin. Appointed to the Indian Civil Service in 1869, serving in North Western Provinces as Assistant-Magistrate and Collector, and Joint-Magistrate 1871-1886; on special duty at Imperial assemblage at Delhi, 1876; Assistant-Commissioner, 1886; Joint-Magistrate, Ballia, 1887; Deputy Commissioner at Lucknow, 1889; Magistrate and Collector, 1890; Commissioner at Fyzabad, 1896. Retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1898 and purchased the Ballycumber Estate in King’s County. Served as Justice of the Peace for King’s County and High Sheriff in 1902. On 4th August 1878 he married at Bhavghulpore, Bengal in India Miss Ethel Annie Braddon, daughter of the Right Hon. Sir Edward Braddon, P.C., K.C.M.G., Premier of Tasmania and author of the Australian Constitution. Of this marriage there was issue, one son and two daughters.
Sir Richard Parsons, 1st Viscount Rosse, Baron of Oxmantown, and 3rd Baronet of Bellamont, was the son of Sir William Parsons, 2nd Baronet of Bellamont, and his wife Catherine. He succeeded his father as the 3rd Baronet of Bellamont in 1658. On 2 of July 1681 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron of Oxmantown and Viscount Rosse. He married his first wife Anne Walsingham and had no children. After her death he married a second time to Catharine Brydges, the daughter of George Lord Chandos, and they also had no children before she died. In 1685 he married a third time to Elizabeth Hamilton, the niece of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, and they had two sons and three daughters. Sir Richard Parsons died in 1702, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Richard Parsons.
Sir Richard Parsons, 1st Earl of Rosse, 2nd Viscount Rosse, Baron of Oxmantown, was the son of Lord Richard Parsons, 1st Viscount Rosse, and Lady Elizabeth Hamilton. In 1715, he married Lady Mary Paulet, and they had two sons and one daughter. Sir Richard Parsons was advanced to the Earldom of Rosse on 16 June 1718. Lady Mary died on 15 August 1718, and Sir Richard Parsons married Lady Frances Claxton. In 1725, he was elected the Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and held the title until 1731. Sir Richard Parsons was also a founding member of the Hell-Fire Club, and wrote the book, Dionysus Rising, before founding the Sacred Sect of Dionysus. He died in 1741, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Lord Richard Parsons.
Mary, Countess of Rosse, was born Mary Field, daughter of John Wilmer Field, in 1813. She married Lord William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse on 14 April 1836, moving from Yorkshire to Birr Castle, King’s County. She and Lord Rosse shared an interest in astronomy, and with significant financial investment on Lady Mary’s part they built the largest telescope in the world at the time, the ‘Leviathan of Parsonstown.’ Along with her interest in astronomy, Mary Rosse was an accomplished blacksmith, and aided in construction of the telescope. Her scientific interests brought her to become close friends with the cousin of the 3rd Earl, Mary Ward, who was a frequent visitor at Birr Castle. As the Countess of Rosse, she carried out significant renovations to Birr Castle under the advice of her uncle, Richard Wharton Myddleton. Through her many projects, she managed to employ over 500 men during the Great Famine of 1845-47. Overshadowing her renovations of Birr Castle, and aid in building the Leviathan of Parsonstown, Mary Rosse is best known for her work in early daguerreotype and glass plate photography. Her work was praised by a family acquaintance, William Henry Fox Talbot, and she joined the Dublin Photographic Society. In 1859 her work won her a silver medal for the best paper negative from the Photographic Society of Ireland. Mary Rosse had four children who survived to adulthood: Laurence (1840-1908), Randal (1848-1936), Richard Clere (1851-1923), and Charles (1854-1931). She died in 1885.
William Edward Parsons, 5th Earl of Rosse, Baron of Oxmantown, 8th Baronet of Birr Castle, was born 14 June 1873 to Laurence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse, and Lady Frances Cassandra Hawke. Before inheriting the earldom, Lord Oxmantown was commissioned into a militia battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1896, and was swiftly promoted to Lieutenant. A year later, he was commissioned as a regular officer in the Coldstream Guards, and later transferred to the Irish Guards on its formation in 1900, and promoted to Captain. On 19 October 1905 he married Lady Frances Lois Lister-Kaye, daughter of Sir Cecil Lister-Kaye, 4th Baronet and Lady Beatrice Adeline Pelham-Clinton. Upon the death of his father, William Parsons became the 5th Earl of Rosse and head of the Parsons family. He was promoted to Major in 1906 and resigned in 1908. In 1911 he was elected a Representative Peer. Lord Rosse returned to military service to fight in the First World War, was wounded in action, and died on 10 June 1918.
Born in Galway, 4 September 1848, and educated at St Ignatius College, Galway , he entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) on 7 November 1865 at Milltown Park, Dublin. He studied philosophy in France and theology at Louvain, Belgium. He spent three years teaching at Spring Hill, New Orleans, at Clongowes Wood College, Kildare and at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg. He was ordained in Louvain. When the school at Tullabeg was amalgamated with Clongowes Wood College in 1886, he spent time at Tonchiennes, Belgium. He taught at the Sacred Heart College, Limerick and spent many years on the missions . He joined the community at St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin where he spent the rest of his life. He was a gifted musician (violin) and a noted librarian. He died 3 February 1907.
Constance Charlotte was born 13 Nov 1876 to Maria Blanch (Fuller) and Dalkeith Plunkett-Johnston. She married Francis William JA Lamb in 1902. They had three children: Alice Blanche Anna Lamb, Francis Adam Lamb, and John George Dalkeith Lamb.
Constance Charlotte Lamb died at Woodfield House, nine days after her husband Francis, on 20 Jan 1959.