Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth

Robert Molesworth was born on 7 September 1656, four days after the death of his father;{{Cite ODNB|title=Molesworth, Robert, first Viscount Molesworth|year=2008|id=18901|last=Hayton|first=D. W.}} his mother Judith Bysse later remarried Sir William Tichborne of Beaulieu. He was probably raised by his mother's family, the Bysses, at Brackenstown, near Swords, County Dublin.

In 1720, Molesworth and his grandson lost a significant investment in the South Sea Bubble. In Parliament, since his colleagues suggested there was no law under which to punish the perpetrators, he called for the Commons to "upon this occasion follow the example of the ancient Romans, who, having no law against parricide, because their legislators supposed no son could be so unnaturally wicked as to embrue his hands in his father's blood, made one to punish so heinous a crime as soon as it was committed; and adjudged the guilty wretch to be thrown alive, sewn up in a sack, into the Tiber". He concluded that he would see the same punishment applied to the directors of the South Sea Company, calling them the parricides of their country.{{Cite book |last=Boyer |first=Abel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LKdCAQAAMAAJ |title=The Political State of Great Britain |year=1720 |volume=20 |location=London |pages=552}}

With his wife Letitia, Molesworth had eleven sons and six daughters:{{cite web |url=https://anaccountofdenmark.wordpress.com/children-of-the-1st-viscount/ |title=Children of the 1st Viscount Molesworth |author=William Molesworth, MA (Cantab), MLitt (Dub) |date=29 March 2013 |access-date=5 May 2017 |archive-date=11 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811131003/https://anaccountofdenmark.wordpress.com/children-of-the-1st-viscount/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/genealogicalhera00inburk#page/776/mode/2up |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire |author=Sir Bernard Burke. |date=1869 |publisher=Harrison |location=59 Pall Mall, London}}

File:Molesworth.jpg (d.1925)]]

• John Molesworth, 2nd Viscount Molesworth of Swords (4 December 1679 – 17 or 18 February 1725/26). Ambassador at the Court of Tuscany and Sardinia in 1710 and 1720. He married Mary, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Middleton Esq. of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, by whom he had a posthumous daughter Mary, who married Frederick Gore Esq., M.P.
• Field Marshal Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth of Swords (1680/1 – 12 October 1758). Aide-de-Camp to the John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough at the Battle of Ramilles, where he saved the Duke's life. He later became a General and rose to Fieldmarshal.

: He married firstly Jane Lucas and had three daughters:

:* The Hon. Mary (wife of Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere).

:* The Hon. Letitia (wife of Lt. Colonel James Molesworth).

:* The Hon. Amelia (died unm 30 Jan 1758)

: Richard married secondly Mary, daughter of Rev. William Usher, Archdeacon of Clonfert and had a son and six daughters:

:* The Hon. Richard Nassau Molesworth (4th Viscount)

:* The Hon. Henrietta (wife of Rt. Hon John Staples of Lissan House, County Londonderry. Their daughter Charlotte married William Lenox-Conyngham of Springhill, County Londonderry, father of Sir William Fitzwilliam Lenox-Conyngham. Another daughter Frances married Richard Ponsonby, Bishop of Derry and Raphoe).

:* The Hon. Louisa (wife of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby, then William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam)

:* The Hon. Charlotte

:* The Hon. Elizabeth (wife of James Stewart Esq. of Killymoon)

:* The Hon. Mary and, who died with her mother in the fire at their London house, 6 May 1763.

:* The Hon. Melosina, who died with her mother in the fire at their London house, 6 May 1763.

• The Hon. Robert Molesworth I (living in 1688)
• Captain The Hon. William Molesworth (born 1688, died 6 March 1770), MP for Philipstown. His son Robert became 6th Viscount Molesworth. Married Anne, eldest daughter of Robert Adair Esq. of Holybrook, County Wicklow.
• Major The Hon. Edward Molesworth (born c.1689, died 29 November 1768). Married firstly, in Sept 1718 Catherine Middleton, daughter of Thomas Middleton, with whom he had a son Robert. Edward married as his second wife Mary Renouard and had a son John (d.1791). John's son was the Rev. John Molesworth (d.1877), whose sons included Sir Guildford Lindsey Molesworth (d. 1925) and solicitor John Molesworth (d.1886), the grandfather of Margaret Patricia Molesworth (1904–1985) who is the grandmother of Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. Another son was the Rev. Rennell Molesworth (died 1906), grandfather of Lady Mogg née Margaret Molesworth (1914-2018).Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, volume 2, 2003. pages 2721–2731.{{cite web |title=Good Gentlewoman - Henrietta, Louisa and Elizabeth Molesworth |url=https://goodgentlewoman.wordpress.com/ |accessdate=3 September 2017 |publisher=Wordpress.com - 2 September 2014 |archive-date=3 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903080829/https://goodgentlewoman.wordpress.com/ |url-status=live }}{{cite book |title=Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage - 2011 |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OX8ZN5qFKZgC&q=debretts++(Lady+Mogg)++cecilia |publisher=Debrett's Peerage Limited, 2011 |isbn=9781870520737 |accessdate=25 August 2017 |quote=....Cecilia Margaret (Lady Mogg) Church Close Cottage, Watlington, Oxon,.... b 1914; m 1939, Gen Sir Herbert John Mogg, .... Grandchildren of the late Rev. Rennell Francis Wynn Molesworth, son of the .....John (Molesworth).... Lawrence Teesdale... Margaret Patricia Newell... Sophie Helen.... |archive-date=27 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227213027/https://books.google.com/books?id=OX8ZN5qFKZgC&q=debretts++%28Lady+Mogg%29++cecilia |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Mogg |first1=Lady Margaret |title=Watlington was always home |url=https://watlingtonfolk.wordpress.com/2017/02/07/lady-margaret-mogg/ |quote=I learned to ride a horse age 8 or 9 years old.... went out horseriding together...we had (three) sons.... |website=wordpress.com |date=7 February 2017 |access-date=27 August 2018 |archive-date=25 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825143436/https://watlingtonfolk.wordpress.com/2017/02/07/lady-margaret-mogg/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Edward and Sophie |url=https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/australian-womens-weekly-nz/20161001/281633894681910 |publisher=Australian Women's Weekly NZ - 1 October 2016 |date=1 October 2016 |quote=The problem for those around the Queen's youngest child is that his ... They (the Queen and Sophie, Countess of Wessex) have a shared passion for horses and military history and, despite... |access-date=27 August 2018 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826150336/https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/australian-womens-weekly-nz/20161001/281633894681910 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Sophie's Brush With Greatness |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/sophies-brush-with-greatness-1168373 |accessdate=26 August 2018 |publisher=Manchester Evening - News 22 January 2013 |quote=Rochdale solicitor's firm Molesworth, Bright and Clegg. The firm was set up in 1840 by John Molesworth, one of the vicar's sons and Sophie's great-great grandfather. |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826150252/https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/sophies-brush-with-greatness-1168373 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=The Solicitors' Journal and Reporter, Volume 14 |year = 1870|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mV8qAAAAYAAJ&q=john+molesworth+solicitor+++county++coroner&pg=PA280 |publisher=Law Newspaper Company, 1870 - |accessdate=27 August 2018 |page=280 |quote=Mr John Molesworth, solicitor ...has been elected one of the County Coroners for ....}}
• The Hon. Coote Molesworth I (born c.1689)
• The Hon. Robert Molesworth II (born c.1692)
• The Hon. Walter Molesworth (born after 1692, between Robert II and Letitia II, died 1773). He left children.
• The Hon. Coote Molesworth II M.D. (born 1698, died 9 November 1782)
• The Hon. Bysse Molesworth (born 1700, died 1779). Married 7 Dec 1731, Elizabeth Cole, sister of John Cole, 1st Baron Mountflorence and widow of Edward Archdall Esq. of Castle Archdall, County Fermanagh.
• The Hon. Robert Molesworth III (born c.1702, died aged c.10 of smallpox)
• The Hon. Juliana Molesworth (died unmarried in 1759)
• The Hon. Margaret Molesworth (1677–1684)
• The Hon. Mary Molesworth (1682–1716), a celebrated beauty and poet. Married George Monk Esq. of Dublin.
• The Hon. Letitia Molesworth I (living in 1688)
• The Hon. Charlotte Amelia Molesworth (born c.1691). Married Capt. William Tichborne, younger son of Henry Tichborne, 1st Baron Ferrard who was her cousin on the Bysse side
• The Hon. Letitia Molesworth II (born 7 or 8 March 1697). Married Edward Bolton Esquire of Brazeel, County Dublin. In 1760, their son Robert Bolton (c.1727 - c.1798) translated the charter and statutes of Trinity College, Dublin from which he had graduated with an A.B.{{cite book |last1=Bolton |first1=Robert |title=A translation of the charter and statutes of Trinity-College ... |date=1760 |publisher=Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland |location=Dublin |url=https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_a-translation-of-the-cha_trinity-college-dublin-_1760 |access-date=23 November 2023 |quote=...Together with the library-statutes, and the rules of the University. ... By Robert Bolton, A.B. 1760. by: Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland)....}}

Robert also appears to have had a natural son:

• John Phillips of Swords (1711–1779), a surgeon, County Dublin, married to Henrietta Eccleston (b. 1715), herself a talented painter, daughter of John Eccleston of Termonfekin, and his wife Elizabeth. John was the son of William Eccleston of Drumshallon, High Sheriff of Louth (1656–1705) and his wife, Rose Brabazon (1663-1686), daughter of Captain James Brabazon.https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/299773-painting-on-ivory-of-magdalene-dorothea?in=activityhttps://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/molesworth-phillips-24-db2gm4 They had a son and two daughters:
• Brevet-Major Molesworth Phillips of Swords (1755–1832), a marine officer and adventurer who sailed to Pacific Ocean with Captain Cook. He married Susannah Elizabeth Burney (1755–1800), an English letter and journal writer, daughter of Charles Burney, a music historian by his first wife, Esther Sleepe. Molesworth thus became brother-in-law of Charles Burney, a clergyman and chaplain to George III and Fanny Burney, Madame d'Arblay, an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. He inherited entailed land in Swords, and from his maternal great-grandfather, William Eccleston (d. 1720), and his uncle, William Eccleston (d. 1795), he inherited the estate of Belcotton and the townland of Termonfeckin, County Louth.https://www.dib.ie/biography/phillips-molesworth-a7322 The couple left issue.
• Magdalene Dorothea (1750-1824), married in June 1780 to George Kiernan of Blackhall, Dublin. They had issue.https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/299773-painting-on-ivory-of-magdalene-dorothea?in=activity
• Henrietta Maria Phillips (d. 15 Dec 1792), married on 26 August 1766 to Rev Walter Shirley, Rector of Loughrea, co. Galway

File:Sophie,_grevinna_av_Wessex.jpg, granddaughter of Margaret Patricia Molesworth (1904–1985)]]

The 1st Viscount died in Dublin on 22 May 1725 at the age of sixty-nine and was buried in Swords{{Citation needed|reason=Usual reference just says Swords.Co. Dublin, with no specific location / burial ground or official reference. Theres a giant circular reference of this information going on. To date my research has shown no record of burial at swords, which includes physical and data searches. Until theres an official record of his burial at swords this information is questionable. I have found reference to the transportation of Molesworths body to England for burial. I previously added citation needed to this information in hope of fishing for a good reference. Im removing the current reference and reinstating citation needed thanks|date=November 2024}}. His widow, Letitia, died "of a great cold" on Saint Patrick's Day 1729 and was buried privately in St. Audoen's Church in Dublin. Their eldest son, John, succeeded as 2nd Viscount Molesworth in 1725. John, in turn, was succeeded by his younger brother Richard a year later in 1726.

{{Infobox COA wide

|image = File:Coronet of a British Viscount.svg File:Molesworth Escutcheon.png

|escutcheon = Gules an Escutcheon Vair within an Orle of eight Cross Crosslets Or

|crest = A Dexter Arm embowed in armour proper holding a Cross Crosslet Or

|supporters = Dexter: a Pegasus Argent wings elevated Or; Sinister: a Pegasus wings elevated Gules semée of Cross Crosslets Or

|motto = Vincit Amor Patriae (The love of my country prevails)}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20190208194103/http://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_houses/hist_hse_29molesworth.html 29 Molesworth Street] on turtlebunbury.com
• Thompson, Martyn P. "A Note on "Reason" and "History" in Late Seventeenth Century Political Thought." Political Theory, Vol. 4, No. 4. (1976), 491–504.

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