Edmond Burke Roche, 1st Baron Fermoy (9 August 1815 – 17 September 1874), was an Irish politician in the Parliament of the United Kingdom who was granted a title in the Peerage of Ireland. His direct ancestor was Maurice FitzEdmund Roche, Mayor of Cork, who died in 1593.
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Early life and career
Edmond Roche was born on 9 August 1815 in County Cork, Ireland, the son of Edward Roche (1771–1855) and his wife, Margaret Honoria Curtain (1786–1862). He was named in honour of his distant relative, Edmund Burke (1729–1797).
He was elected to the British House of Commons for County Cork in 1837, a seat he held until 1855 (Repeal, later Whig), and then represented Marylebone between 1859 and 1865 (Liberal). From 1856 to 1874, he also served as Lord Lieutenant of County Cork, and was appointed Honorary Colonel of the North Cork Rifles militia regiment on 27 September 1871.
Peerage
In 1855, he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Fermoy by Queen Victoria. After the letters patent were ruled invalid in 1856, the title was granted to him again by new letters patent.
After his death in 1874, he was succeeded in the barony by his elder son, Edward Roche, 2nd Baron Fermoy (1850–1920). James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy (1852–1920), who briefly succeeded his sonless brother in September 1920, was his younger son.
Personal life
On 22 August 1848, the then Edmond Roche married Elizabeth Caroline Boothby (1821–1897), daughter of James Brownell Boothby (1791–1850), of Twyford Abbey, and his wife Charlotte Cunningham (1799–1893). They had eight children:
Edward Roche, 2nd Baron Fermoy (1850–1920), who married The Hon. Cecilia O'Grady, daughter of Standish O'Grady, 3rd Viscount Guillamore.
James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy (1852–1920), who married Frances Ellen Work (1857–1947) in 1880. They divorced in 1891.
The Hon. Alexis Charles Burke Roche (1853–1914), who married The Hon. Lucy Maud Goschen, daughter of the 1st Viscount Goschen
The Hon. Eleanor Charlotte Burke Roche (1854–1938), who married William Nicholas Leader
The Hon. Ulick de Rupe Burke Roche (1856–1919)
The Hon. Elizabeth Caroline Burke Roche (1857–1940), who married German aristocrat Count Friedrich Maximilian von Hochberg (1868–1921), brother of Count Hans Heinrich XV of Hochberg, Prince of Pless (1861–1938), in 1905.
The Hon. Edmund Burke Roche (1859–1948)
The Hon. Ethel Kathleen Burke Roche (1861-1935), who married in 1891 Norman Maclean, son of the Hon. John Donald Maclean MLA, Colonial Treasurer of Queensland
He died on 17 September 1874 at his residence Trabolgan House, County Cork, aged 59, and was buried in a mausoleum in Corkbeg graveyard, Whitegate, County Cork. His grandson Edmund, 4th Baron Fermoy (1885–1955), was the maternal grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.