Sir John Esmonde, 14th Baronet

Sir John Lymbrick Esmonde, 14th Baronet (5 February 1893 – 6 July 1958) was an Irish nationalist politician, son of Dr. John Joseph Esmonde MP. (1862–1915), of Drominagh, Borrisokane, County Tipperary, Ireland. On the death of his father in 1915, he was elected in his place (opposed by two nationalist contenders) as Irish Parliamentary Party MP for North Tipperary while serving in World War I with the Leinster Regiment, then as Captain The Royal Dublin Fusiliers with the Intelligence Corps; he was an engineer. [Thom’s Directory 1918]

He was one of five Irish MPs who served with Irish regiments in World War I, the others Stephen Gwynn, Willie Redmond, William Redmond and D. D. Sheehan as well as former MP Thomas Kettle. John Lymbrick Esmonde served with the forces that put down the Easter Rising. He withdrew without defending his seat in the 1918 general election. He inherited the Esmonde Baronetcy when the senior male line died out in 1943.

He subsequently served as Teachta Dála (TD) for Fine Gael for Wexford from 1937 to 1944. He lost his Dáil seat in the 1944 general election. He became barrister at the King's Inns, Dublin, called to the inner Bar as Senior Counsel in 1942, Bencher 1948. He was re-elected TD for Fine Gael from 1948 to 1951. In 1948 he was suggested as possible Taoiseach by Seán MacBride, on the grounds that he had no link to either side in the Civil War [Patrick Maume, "The Long Gestation, Irish Nationalist Life 1891-1918", pp. 153, 227, (1999) ISBN 0-7171-2744-3] . He retired from politics at the 1951 general election.

He was one of the few people who served as a Members of Parliament in the House of Commons as well as a Teachta Dála of Dáil Éireann, the lower House of the Irish parliament. His younger brother Lt. Geoffrey Esmonde (1897–1916) aged 19 was killed in action in WWI serving with the 4th Tyneside Irish Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers. His second younger brother was Sir Anthony Esmonde, 15th Baronet (1899–1981). His half-brother Eugene Esmonde was awarded a VC posthumously in 1942 during World War II.

ee also

*Families in the Oireachtas

References

External links

* [http://humphrysfamilytree.com/Fitzgerald/esmonde.html Esmonde Family Tree]
* [http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/index.asp?docID=2517 Department of the Taoiseach] - Irish Soldiers in the First World War

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