| Authorised form of name | Molesworth; Richard (1680 - 1758); 3rd Viscount Molesworth |
| Dates | 1680 - 1758 |
| Nationality | British |
| Date of birth | 1680 |
| Date of death | 12 October 1758 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
Kensington, Middlesex |
| Occupation | Soldier |
| Activity | Education:
Middle Temple (admitted 1700)
Career:
Abandoned his studies to go to Holland and join the Army as a volunteer; Ensign, then Captain in the Royal Regiment of Foot; ADC to the Duke of Marlborough, whose life he saved at the Battle of Ramillies (1706); Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel in the Coldstream Guards (1707); purchased a regiment of foot with which he served in Catalonia under the Duke of Argyll (1710); Lieutenant of the Ordanance in Ireland (1714); raised 19th Light Dragoons (1715); MP for Swords in the Irish Parliament (1715-1724); Colonel of Molesworth's Foot (1725); Colonel, 9th Dragoons (1732-1737); Colonel, 5th Dragoons (1737-death); Privy Councillor (Ireland) (1733); Major General (1735); Deputy Keeper of the Great Seal of Ireland (1736); Lieutenant General (1739); Master General of the Ordnance (1739-death); General of the Horse (1741); General (1746); Commander in Chief of the Army in Ireland (1751); Field Marshal (1757)
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 15/03/1722 |
| Proposer | James Hamilton, Earl of Abercorn |
| Sir Hans Sloane |
| Relationships | Son of Robert, 1st Viscount Molesworth (FRS 1698) and his wife, Letitia, daughter of Richard Coote, Baron Coote of Coloony, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Sir George St George; succeeded his elder brother (1731); brother of Coote Molesworth (FRS 1731).
Married: 1) Jane Lucas of Dublin; 2) Mary Jenney, daughter of William Usher, Archdeacon of Clonfert, and his first wife, Mary, daughter of the Rev Christophilus Jenney, DD; his widow, with her brother, two daughters, and five others, was burnt to death at her house in Upper Brook Street (1763) |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; GEC
References:
Obituary, Gentleman's Magazine (1758), p504 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/75874978 |
| Code | NA8390 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| IM/003132 | Molesworth, Richard, 3rd Viscount Molesworth | nd |
| CLP/3ii/15 | Observations, 'Account of Coll [Colonel] Molesworth's hourglass' by [George] Graham | [1722] |