Sir John Lees, 1st Baronet

Sir John Lees, 1st Baronet (c.1737– 3 September 1811) was Secretary of the Irish Post Office and Black Rod in Ireland.^[1]

He was born circa 1737, probably at Cumnock in Ayrshire, the son of Adam Lees and his wife Agnes Goldie.^[1]

He served with distinction in an administrative capacity in the British Army in Germany under the command of the Marquis of Granby during the Seven Years' War. He was employed in 1767 as a secretary by the The Marquess Townshend when the latter was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and continued in the same post for his succesoor, The Earl Harcourt. In 1774 he was appointed Secretary of the Post Office in Ireland and established an efficient mail coach system. In 1780 he was given the post of Black Rod in Ireland in Ireland.^[1]

He became wealthy and in 1774 built Blackrock House at Blackrock, a Dublin suburb, The house was one of the few 18th-century houses built with red brick and has some fine features such as a two-storey red brick porch, a large coach-house, stable yard and gate-lodge. The house is still standing, although currently divided into flats.^[2]

In 1788 he was elected a member of the Dublin Society. He was a Protestant conservative and an ally of Speaker Foster’s in demanding severe punishments during the 1798 rebellion. In June 1804 he was created a Baronet 'of Blackrock in the County of Dublin'.^[3][4]

He died in 1811 and there is a mural tablet to his memory in Monkstown Church. He had married Mary, the daughter of Robert Cathcart and with her had six sons and a daughter. He was succeeded by his eldest son Harcourt, a well-known anti-catholic political pamphleteer. Another son Edward Smith succeeded him as Secretary of the Irish Post Office.^[1]

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