Henry Boyle, 3rd Earl of Shannon

Henry Boyle, 3rd Earl of Shannon KP, PC (Ire) (8 August 1771 – 22 April 1842), styled Viscount Boyle from 1764 until 1807, was among the last surviving Members of the Parliament of Ireland. He represented Cork County in the new Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1807. He then briefly served as Member of Parliament for Bandon in 1807, succeeding as Earl of Shannon later in the same year. He served as Custos rotulorum for County Cork from 1807 to his death. He was the first Lord Lieutenant of Cork from 1831 to his death.

He was a son of Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Shannon and Catherine Ponsonby. His sister Catherine Henrietta Boyle married Francis Bernard, 1st Earl of Bandon. Their maternal grandparents were John Ponsonby, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons from 1756 to 1771, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Cavendish. Lady Elizabeth was a daughter of William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire and his wife Catherine Hoskins. Her maternal grandparents were John Hoskins and Catherine Hale.

Boyle was educated at Winchester College. He represented the borough of Clonakilty in the Irish Parliament from 1793 until 1797 and then Cork County from 1797 until the Act of Union in 1801. In 1798, he was also elected for Rathcormack, however chose not to sit. According to his obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine, Boyle "took an active part in arming the yeomanry in Ireland." On 31 October 1796 Boyle was commissioned Captain of five different units, those of Castlemartyr, Cloyne, Cove, Imokilly and Middleton. At the time the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland were under personal union. The Yeomanry were volunteer regiments raised in many counties from yeomen. Their purpose was to strengthen the defence of the two Kingdoms which faced the threat of an invasion by the French First Republic.

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