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French (Ffrench), Sir Thomas

Contributed by

Woods, C. J.

French (Ffrench), Sir Thomas (c.1765–1814), 2nd Baron ffrench , catholic baronet, peer, and banker, was the elder son in the family of two sons and five daughters of Charles French of Castle French, Clogher, Co. Galway, who was mayor of Galway (1773–4) and was created a baronet (1779), and his wife Rose*, a daughter of Patrick Dillon of Killeen, Co. Roscommon. After succeeding on his father’s death (July 1784) to his baronetcy and estate in east Co. Galway, he confined himself to local affairs and did not join the Catholic Committee in Dublin. When Theobald Wolfe Tone (qv) visited the county (October 1792) in order to raise interest in the planned Catholic Convention he found French (‘a fine young fellow and of consequence among the catholics’) presiding over a meeting of Galway and Mayo catholics at Ballinasloe (Tone, Writings, i, 308). French attended the convention as a delegate from Co. Galway. On the first day (3 December) he was appointed, with five others, ‘to take the chair in succession from day to day’ and was one of five members chosen to carry the petition adopted by the convention over to the king in London (ibid., i, 347, 354, iii, 451). On returning to Ireland (January 1793), French was conciliatory towards factious members of the Catholic Committee, and expressed satisfaction with the catholic relief bill of Robert Hobart (qv) as a further but not final stage in emancipation. He doubted whether catholics would benefit from a reform of parliament, urged by the more liberal members of the convention, arguing that it would ‘shut out the catholics for ever’ (ibid., i, 441).

French was named in the act of parliament setting up a catholic seminary at Maynooth (passed 5 June 1795) as one of five lay catholic trustees, a position he held until his death. According to G.E.C., Peerage, he rendered, as a member of the Catholic Committee, some service to the government in return for which he was promised a peerage, but, as the king was unwilling to ennoble a catholic, it was conferred on his mother, nominally at least – like his father – a protestant, with a remainder to her male heirs by her late husband (12 March 1798). This explanation of the circumstances of the creation of the peerage has not been substantiated. On his mother’s death (8 December 1805) Sir Thomas, who nine months previously had been a member of another catholic delegation petitioning the king, succeeded as 2nd Baron ffrench. This ‘ludicrous mode of spelling’ (G.E.C., Peerage) was in the patent conferring the peerage.

Under the name the Hon. Sir Thomas ffrench, Bart & Co., he opened a bank at Tuam, Co. Galway (before 1804). In partnership with Michael Morris, William Keary and his eldest son, Charles Austin ffrench (1786–1860), and under the new name Lord ffrench & Co., he opened a branch in Lower Dominick St., Dublin (1807), which quickly assumed importance. The firm’s banknotes were said to have constituted the entire circulation of notes in Connacht. In 1811 or 1812 Lord ffrench ostensibly retired, leaving his partners in charge with new partners, Henry Taaffe and two other sons, Thomas (1790–1846) and Martin (1793–1871). But on 9 December 1814, disturbed by the insolvency of the bank, Lord ffrench made his will and committed suicide by shooting himself in the chambers at TCD of his youngest son, Gonville Redington ffrench (1797–1866), who had entered as a student some 15 months previously. The partners attempted to continue the banking business but by 1830 the firm was bankrupt.

Thomas French married (1785) Margaret, eldest daughter of another catholic gentleman, Thomas Redington (1742–1827) of Kilcornan, Co. Galway, and his wife Sarah (née Burke), and by her had five sons and three daughters. He was said by Richard Lalor Sheil (qv) to have been a duellist and ‘a very tall, brawny, pallid and ghastly‐looking man . . . studiously and sometimes painfully polite’ (Sketches, 175).

Sources

Gent. Mag., lxxxiv (1814), pt II, suppl.; Connaught Journal, 25 Jan. 1827, 18 May 1830; R. L. Sheil, Sketches, legal and political (1855), 174–5; John Healy, Maynooth College (1895), 125; C. MacC. Tenison, ‘The old Dublin bankers’ in Institute of Bankers of Ireland Journal, vi (1904), 10–12; Burke’s peerage (1912); G. E.C., Peerage, v (1926); F. G. Hall, The Bank of Ireland (1949); Brian MacDermot (ed.), The Irish Catholic petition of 1805: the diary of Denys Scully (1992), esp. 86; Tone, Writings, i (1998), 308–09, 347, 354, 358, 361, 399, 403, 406, 407, 431, 437, 441; iii (2007), 451

Publishing information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.003067.v1

Originally published October 2009 as part of the Dictionary of Irish Biography

Last revised October 2009

AI

Lady Rose ffrench (d. 1805) was an Irish peeress best known for receiving the title Baroness ffrench of Castle ffrench, Co. Galway in 1798. The honor was granted by King George III in recognition of her son’s services to the Catholic Committee, bypassing existing laws against elevating Catholics to the peerage. [1, 2]

Her life and family lineage are documented in the Dictionary of Irish Biography under the entry for her son, Sir Thomas ffrench, 2nd Baron ffrench. [1]

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Grok 4.5. 13th July 2026

No, Edmund Ffrench (the Warden/Bishop) is not the brother of Hon. Rose ffrench (daughter of Sir Thomas and Margaret Redington). There is conflicting information across sources, and the sibling claim does not hold up under scrutiny from the most reliable records.Clear, Confirmed Links

• Baroness Rose ffrench (née Dillon, d. 8 Dec 1805) was the wife of Sir Charles ffrench, 1st Bt., and the mother of Sir Thomas ffrench (c. 1765–1814), 2nd Bt. and 2nd Baron ffrench*. This is directly stated in the Dictionary of Irish Biography entry for Sir Thomas and in all standard peerage sources. dib.ie
• Sir Thomas (and his wife Margaret Redington) had a daughter Hon. Rose ffrench (d. 13 Dec 1857). She married Francis Blake-Forster of Ashfield, Co. Galway, on 14 Oct 1810. This is confirmed in peerage records (e.g., Cracroft’s Peerage, Burke’s). thepeerage.com **

These form the solid chain you asked about: Baroness Rose → her son Sir Thomas → his daughter Hon. Rose ffrench (who married into the Blake-Forster family). This line leads to later descendants, including those connected to Marcella ffrench Blake-Forster (who married Michael Comyn KC). The Confusion with Edmund Ffrench (Warden of Galway, 1775–1852). Wikipedia entries (for Edmund Ffrench and for Charles French Blake-Forster) and some family history blogs claim:

• Standard peerage sources (Cracroft’s Peerage, Burke’s Peerage, thepeerage.com citing BP2003) list the children of Sir Thomas and Margaret Redington. They include Hon. Rose and several sons (Charles Austin/3rd Baron, Thomas b. 1790, Martin b. 1793, Nicholas b. 1796, Gonville b. 1797, etc.). No Edmund is listed among the sons. cracroftspeerage.co.uk
• Birth dates make it chronologically impossible: Sir Thomas is consistently recorded as born c. 1765 (DIB, Cracroft’s, etc.). He married in 1785 and had his first known child (Charles Austin) in 1786. Hon. Rose (who married in 1810) was likely born in the late 1780s or early 1790s.

• The core links you want (Baroness Rose → Sir Thomas → Hon. Rose ffrench) are solid and well-documented.
• Edmund as brother to Hon. Rose is not supported by peerage records or chronology. It appears to be an error or unsubstantiated claim in some secondary sources (Wikipedia and certain blogs).
• The families are still connected more broadly: they are both from prominent ffrench lines among the Tribes of Galway, and Hon. Rose’s marriage to Francis Blake-Forster creates descendant links (including to Charles ffrench Blake-Forster and later Marcella ffrench Blake-Forster / Comyn line).

If you have a specific source that claims Edmund is Hon. Rose’s brother (e.g., a book, family tree, or the exact blog post), share it and I can examine it further. Peerage and DIB sources are generally the most authoritative here for the Baron ffrench line.This resolves the confusion without forcing incompatible dates or unlisted children. The ancestry for Marcella ffrench Blake-Forster still traces reliably through Hon. Rose’s marriage, as noted in the DIB for Sir Thomas. Let me know how else I can help clarify the tree!

Edmund ffrench may be far out relation of Hon. Rose ffrench.

What Is Solid

The core ancestry chain remains reliable and unaffected:

• Baroness Rose ffrench (d. 1805) → mother of Sir Thomas ffrench.
• Sir Thomas + Margaret Redington → parents of Hon. Rose ffrench (who married Francis Blake-Forster in 1810).
• This Hon. Rose is the grandmother in the line that leads to Charles ffrench Blake-Forster and later to Marcella ffrench Blake-Forster (who married Michael Comyn KC). ***

The ffrench families were large and had many branches in Galway, so distant cousin relationships are entirely possible — just not the close ones (brother or first cousin via Sir Thomas’s brother) that the online claims suggest.

*** The Irish Chieftains; Or, a Struggle for the Crown

English edition  by Charles Ffrench Blake- Forster (Author)  Format: Paperback

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