JEPHSON, Denham (?1748-1813), of Mallow Castle, co. Cork.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1802 - 1812

Family and Education

b. ?1748, 1st s. of Denham Jephson, MP [I], of Mallow Castle by Frances, da. of Sir John Aubrey, 3rd Bt., of Boarstall, Berks. educ. Hertford, Oxf. 15 Apr. 1766, aged 18; L. Inn 1770-5. unm. suc. fa. 1781.

Offices Held

MP [I] 1768-1800.

Col. Mallow cav.

Biography

The Jephsons had a strong family interest in Mallow and had represented it on and off since 1695. Denham Jephson was returned on coming of age and fell under Lord Shannon’s influence. By 1791 he had transferred his allegiance to another influential Cork politician, Lord Longueville, which paid him well; he was more or less connected with Longueville’s politics for the remainder of his parliamentary career.1

He supported the Union with Longueville, but lost his seat by ballot to John Longfield. He was returned in 1802 and supported every administration except Lord Grenville’s, but no speech is known and he was evidently a reluctant attender, as pleas to him to attend in 1806 and 1808 survive. He voted against Catholic relief, 14 May 1805 and 1 June 1810, during the two sessions in which there is most evidence of his attendance. Thus in 1805 he voted with the government minority on the censure against Melville, 8 Apr., and in August he was alleged to have been ‘very attentive’ that year ‘and never missed a vote save one’. In 1810 he appeared in the government lobby on the address, 23 Jan., and on the Scheldt inquiry, 23 Feb., 5 and 30 Mar. 1810. In 1812 he gave up his seat so that the co-patrons of Mallow might return the Member, a right they had waived in his favour previously. It was thought in 1811 after Longueville’s death that ‘some little arrangement’ would be wanted to bring in Jephson again and it evidently did not take place. Jephson died 9 May 1813, ‘aged 70’.2

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: P. J. Jupp

Notes

  • 1. Procs. R. Irish Acad. xlviii, sec. C, no. 4 (1942), 184; lvi, sec. C., no. 3 (1954), 241; lix, sec. C, no. 1 (1957), 23, 47.
  • 2. HMC Fortescue, viii. 147, 157, 164, 226; M. D. Jephson, An Anglo-Irish Miscellany, 134; PRO 30/8/188, f. 338; Add. 38571, f. 167; Gent. Mag. (1813), i. 590.