Oliver Grace

Oliver Grace, of Shanganagh, (now Gracefield) was chosen in 1689 as the representative in Parliament of the borough of Ballynakill, in the Queen's County, Ireland.

Political career

Oliver Grace was Chief Remembrancer of the Irish Exchequer and a member of the Privy Council of King James II. Although a supporter of Catholic King James II during the Williamite War in Ireland, Oliver Grace was trusted and respected by the Protestant Landed Gentry of Queen's County. When the Jacobites held the upper hand in Ireland, several large Protestant estates were assigned over to him in trust whose proprietors relied solely on his honor for their restoration. When the forces of William of Orange ultimately triumphed, Irish Protestants prevailed on King William III to grant Oliver Grace a pardon for his adherence to James II, which he received on May 21, 1696.

Ancestry and family

Oliver Grace's 3rd great-grandfather, Sir Oliver Grace, was Knight of Ballylinch and Legan Castles, County Kilkenny, Lord of Carney, Tipperary, and Member of Parliament (MP) for that county in 1559. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Gerald Fitzgerald, 3rd Lord Decies, by his wife Ellice, daughter of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormonde.