Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Shannon

Boyle was the son of Henry Boyle, 3rd Earl of Shannon and his wife, Sarah, daughter of John Hyde of Castle Hyde[1][2] and his wife, Sarah Burton.[3] Hyde was a descendant of the Hyde family of Denchworth in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire).

Boyle was elected a Member of Parliament in the 1830 United Kingdom general election and re-elected in the 1831 United Kingdom general election.[4] The Reform Act 1832 increased the number of individuals entitled to vote, increasing the size of electorate by 50–80%, and allowing a total of 653,000 adult males (around one in five) to vote, in a population of some 14 million.[5] In the 1832 United Kingdom general election which followed, Cork County was allowed to elect two Members of Parliament instead of one. Richard failed to be re-elected, his seat taken by Feargus O'Connor, a leader of the Chartist movement, and Garrett Standish Barry.[4] Barry was a Roman Catholic, the first one elected to Parliament following the Catholic Relief Act 1829.[6] On 22 April 1842, his father died and Boyle succeeded him. He held no other political office until his death.[1][2]

On 28 May 1832, Lord Shannon married Emily Henrietta Seymour in London. She was a daughter of Lord George Seymour-Conway and Isabella Hamilton.[7] His father-in-law was a son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford and his wife Lady Isabella Fitzroy.[8] His mother-in-law was a daughter of the Reverend George Hamilton, Canon of Windsor (1718–1787) and his wife Elizabeth Onslow.[9]

They had two sons:[7]

• Henry Bentinck Boyle, 5th Earl of Shannon (22 November 1833 – 8 February 1890).
• Frederick James Boyle (16 September 1835 – 10 October 1861).

• Burke's Peerage, 107th edition (2004)

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Shannon
• Page of "Gentleman's Magazine" listing the children of the 3rd Earl of Shannon
• Page of "Families of County Cork" giving a profile of the Hyde family
• Page of "Burke's Landed Gentry" listing his maternal ancestors