Earl of Rosse

Earl of Rosse (not to be confused with the Scottish Earl of Ross) is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland; both times for the Parsons family.

The Parsons were originally an English family from Dishworth Grange in Leicestershire; there having been five brothers who settled in Ireland during the late 16th century. One of the brothers, William Parsons, was created a Baronet (Baronetage of Ireland) of Bellamont in the County of Dublin in 1620 by James VI & I. The third Baronet was created Viscount Rosse in Peerage of Ireland in 1681, and the second Viscount was created Earl of Rosse in the Peerage of Ireland in 1718; these titles of the first creation became extinct on the death of the second Earl in 1764.

Sir Laurence Parsons, the younger brother of Sir William Parsons, 1st Baronet, settled in Birr, King's County, which became known as Parsonstown, and was the ancestor of the younger, Birr branch of the family. His grandson Laurence Parsons was created a Baronet, of Birr Castle in King's County, in the Baronetage of Ireland in 1677. He was attainted by King James II's Parliament in 1689 and sentenced to death. The sentence was never carried out, however. His great-grandson, the third Baronet, and great-great-grandson, the fourth Baronet, both represented King's County in the Irish House of Commons. The latter's half-brother Laurence Harman Parsons was in 1792 raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Oxmantown, with remainder to his nephew Sir Lawrence Parsons, 5th Baronet, who had succeeded his father the fourth Baronet in 1791. In 1795 he was made Viscount Oxmantown in the Peerage of Ireland, with normal remainder to the heirs male of his body, and in 1806 he was even further honoured when he was created Earl of Rosse in the Peerage of Ireland, with similar remainder as for the barony. Lord Rosse sat from 1800 to 1807 as one of the original Irish Representative Peers in the British House of Lords. On his death in 1807 the viscountcy became extinct while he was succeeded in the barony and earldom according to the special remainders by his aforementioned nephew, the second Earl. He represented King's County in the British House of Commons and sat in the House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer between 1809 and 1841.

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