Henry Flood

Who was Henry Flood?

Henry Flood, Irish statesman, son of Warden Flood, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became proficient in the classics. He was a leading Irish politician, and a friend of Henry Grattan, the leader of the Irish Patriot Party.

His father was of good birth and fortune, but Henry suffered the stigma of being generally considered to be illegitimate. There is some confusion about the details but it seems that while his father and his mother Isabella Whiteside, lived together as man and wife they were not legally married. Henry himself married Lady Frances Beresford, daughter of Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone, who brought him a large fortune. In his early years he was handsome, witty, good-tempered, and a brilliant conversationalist. He had a natural gift of eloquence which had been cultivated and developed by study of classical oratory and the practice of elocution.