Thomas St Lawrence, 1st Earl of Howth

Thomas St Lawrence, 1st Earl of Howth (10 May 1730 – 29 September 1801) was Anglo-Irish peer and lawyer.

Howth was the eldest son of William St Lawrence, 14th Baron Howth and Lucy Gorges, daughter of General Richard Gorges and his first wife Nichola Sophia Hamilton.[1] He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin.

On 4 April 1748, he succeeded to his father's barony. In 1776, the Crown granted Howth a yearly pension of £500 in consideration of his own and his ancestors' services. He was a trained barrister, and was elected as a Bencher of King's Inns in Dublin in 1767. On 3 September that same year he was created Earl of Howth and Viscount St Lawrence, both in the Peerage of Ireland.[2] He was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1768.[3]

He married Isabella King, daughter of Sir Henry King, 3rd Baronet and Isabella Wingfield, daughter of Edward Wingfield and sister of Richard,1st Viscount Powerscourt on 17 November 1750. Together they had six children. His eldest son predeceased him, and he was succeeded by his second son, William. A younger son Thomas was Bishop of Cork and Ross 1807-1831. His daughter, the third Isabella, married Dudley Cosby, 1st Baron Sydney, but was widowed almost at once. Another daughter, Frances, married James Phillott, Archdeacon of Bath.[4]