Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- (1894-1918) (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
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.
Repository
Archival history
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Personal and military papers of William Edward Parsons, Major Lord Oxmantown, (from 1908 the fifth earl of Rosse) including commissions; illuminated addresses from the Heaton and Shipley tenants on his coming-of-age, 1894; and from the Birr Parish Vestry on his marriage, 1905; a fairly savage attack on him in The Midland Tribune at the time of his return from the Boer War in 1900 to join the newly formed Irish Regiment; letters from him to Toler R. Garvey during the Boer War and the first World War; a page recording the signatures of Lord Oxmantown and other Irish notabilities who attended a shoot at Ashford, Cong, Co. Mayo; during a visit by the Prince of Wales, 1905; and the fifth earl’s London address book, 1911.
Also includes copy of his birth certificate (1873); commissions and applications to Officers’ Reserve (1908); appeal to be allowed to appear before Medical Board in Dublin, not London (1916); detailed medical reports on the extent of his wound, by shell to the head, where a palm-sized piece missing, damage to his speech, comprehension and gait causing 80% disability with epileptic attacks; his death certificate plus further obituary of the fifth earl by Michael Pegum prepared for the Kildare St and University Club for publication in a book of memorials to those members of the Club who gave their lives in WWI and WWII (2010).
Includes letters to Toler R. Garvey (‘Rob’) from the front describing poisonous gas attacks in the trenches (26 April 1915 and 11 May 1915).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
By appointment only. Contact Offaly Archives at [email protected].
Conditions governing reproduction
May be reproduced in accordance with provisions of the Copyright and Related Rights Acts (2000). No reproduction online, in print or broadcast without express permission of copyright holder.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Supplementary catalogue entry: Also a copy of his birth certificate 1873; commissions; applications to appear before medical board in Dublin, not London, 1916; detailed medical reports on the extent of his wounds by shell to the head where a palm-size piece missing, damage to speech, comprehension and gait, causing 80% disability with epileptic fits; death certificate; further obituary of the 5th Earl by Micheal Pegum prepared for the Kildare St & University Club (2010) for publication in a book on war memorials to those members of the club who gave their lives in WW1 and WW2.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Name access points
- Garvey, Toler Roberts, Sr (Subject)
- Parsons, William, 5th Earl of Rosse (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
ISAD(G)
Dates of creation revision deletion
July 2021, Leslie Duggan.
Original descriptions by A.W.P Malcomson, Calendar of the Rosse Papers (Dublin, 2008).
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Shortall, L. Sources for the study of the revolutionary period in King’s County/Offaly (1912-1923) in Offaly Heritage 9, 2016