PARNELL, SIR HENRY, Lord Congleton, second son of Sir John Parnell, chancellor of the Irish exchequer, was born June 3, 1776, educated at Eton and at Cambridge, and afterwards travelled on the Continent. He first appeared in public life in 1802, when he sat for a few months as member of Parliament for Portarlington; but after the dissolution of Parliament he was not again a member until 1806, when he was returned for Queen's County, which he represented until 1832. During this period he was distinguished as a liberal and consistent Whig. His speeches were among the best of that period. Five of them he corrected for publication:—1st, On the "Irish Currency," in 1809; 2d, On "Tithes in Ireland," 1810; 3d, "The Bullion Report," in 1811; 4th, On the "State of Ireland," in 1824; 5th, On "Unlawful Societies in Ireland," in 1825. He was also the author of several interesting treatises or pamphlets, among which may be mentioned one on Financial Reform, in 1830, and a Treatise on Roads, which appeared in 1833. In 1830 a motion brought forward by him led to the dissolution of the Wellington cabinet; and he was chairman of the Finance Committee of the House of Commons in 1828. On the accession of his party to power, he was appointed one of the government commission to inquire into the excise laws, and became secretary at war, but resigned his appointments in 1832. In 1833 Sir Henry Parnell was returned to Parliament for Dundee, and for the same place in 1835, and again in 1837. On the formation of the Melbourne cabinet in 1835, he was appointed to the conjoint offices of paymaster of the forces and treasurer of the navy and ordnance, which he filled until the dissolution of that ministry in 1841, when he was called to the Upper House by the title of Baron Congleton of Congleton in Cheshire. In 1842 Lord Congleton's health became impaired; and, in a fit of temporary insanity, he put a period to his existence on 8th June in that year.