Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse

Who was Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse?

Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, known as Sir Lawrence Parsons, Bt, from 1791 to 1807, was an Irish peer.

Parsons was the son of Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet and Mary Clere. Between 1782 and 1790, he represented Dublin University in the Irish House of Commons. Parsons sat then as Member of Parliament for King's County from 1791 until the Act of Union in 1801. In the following co-option, he chose to sit for King's County also in the British House of Commons, a seat he held until 1807. The latter year he succeeded his uncle as second Earl of Rosse. In 1809 he became one of the Postmasters General of Ireland with Charles O'Neill, 1st Earl O'Neill with whom he attended the laying of the foundation-stone for the new General Post Office in Dublin on 12 August 1814 by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth. He later sat in the House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer from 1809 until 1841.