Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde, 11th Baronet, KHS (21 September 1862 – 15 September 1935) was an Irish Home Rule nationalist politician and author.[2]
Esmonde was elected Irish Parliamentary Party MP for the constituencies South Dublin from 1885 to 1892; West Kerry from 1892 to 1900; and North Wexford from 1900 to 1918. He also sat as an independent Senator in the Oireachtas from 1922 to 1934.[3][4] He was High Sheriff of County Waterford in 1887.[2]
He was the son of Sir John Esmonde, 10th Baronet and his wife Louisa, daughter of Henry Grattan.[5]
In July 1891, he married Alice Donovan of Tralee.[6]Alice and Esmonde had five children:
Alice died in December 1922, and in September 1924 Esmonde married Anna Frances Levins.[6]
Esmonde's home, Ballynastragh House, located near Gorey, County Wexford, and dating from the 17th century, was burned down on 9 March 1923 by members of the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army. The house was rebuilt on a much smaller scale in 1937.[7]
Esmonde was a frequent traveller and author of articles on Irish folklore and antiquities, as well as a memoir, Hunting Memories of Many Lands (1920).[2] He died in Dublin, six days before his 73rd birthday.[2]
In 1902 he founded the Enniscorthy Echo in co-operation with William Sears.[9]
Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.[10]