{{Short description|Irish Jacobite merchant}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Richard Hennessy | image = Richardhennessy1724-1800.jpg | caption = Hennessy in the military uniform of an officer of the [[Clare's Dragoons|Clare's Regiment]], [[Irish Brigade (France)|Irish Brigade]] | birth_date = 1720 | birth_place = [[Killavullen]], County Cork, Ireland | death_date = 8 October 1800 (aged 79-80 years) | death_place = [[Cognac, France|Cognac]], Charente, France | occupation = Officer, businessman | spouse = Ellen Barrett | children = 2 | known_for = Founder of [[Hennessy]], [[cognac]] }} '''Richard Hennessy''' ({{langx|ga|Risteárd Ó hAonghusa}}; 1720 — 8 October 1800) was an Irish military officer and businessman, best known for founding the [[Hennessy]] brand of [[cognac]] in [[Charente]]. He was from [[County Cork]], and became exiled in France due to his [[Jacobitism]].
==Biography== Richard Hennessy was born in 1720 to James Hennessy and Catherine Barrett at Ballymacmoy House, [[Killavullen]], a small village on the [[Munster Blackwater|Blackwater]] river, in [[County Cork]], then part of the [[Kingdom of Ireland]].<ref name=IEye>{{cite web |url=http://www.irelandseye.com/irish/traditional/names/family/hennessy.shtm |title=Hennessy |publisher=Ireland's Eye |access-date=4 February 2025}}</ref> His family were [[Irish Catholic]]s, and Hennessy grew up supporting [[Jacobitism]], which led him to seek exile in 1740 at the age of nineteen.<ref name=IEye/>
He went to [[Bourbon France]], where he joined [[Dillon's Regiment (France)|Dillon's Regiment]] in the [[Irish Brigade (France)|Irish Brigade]] of the [[French Royal Army]], serving as an officer in the service of King [[Louis XV]].<ref name=IEye/> Hennessy fought at [[Battle of Fontenoy|Fontenoy]] in 1745. In 1763, he married Ellen Barrett and, in 1765, founded the Hennessy [[cognac]] distillery in [[Charente]].<ref name=IEye/><ref>{{cite web | title=Hennessy Launches Richard Hennessy Magnum | date=13 June 2024 | url=https://elitetraveler.com/finest-dining/hennessy-launches-richard-hennessy-magnum }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * ''Le Choix de Cognac : l'établissement des négociants irlandais en eau-de-vie au XVIIIe siècle'', by Louis Cullen * ''La naissance d'une dynastie du cognac Richard Hennessy 1727–1800'', by Monique le Tac * ''Les Réfugiés jacobites dans la France du XVIIIe siècle'', by Patric Clarke de Dromantin * ''Archives de la Maison Hennessy''
==External links== * [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-63660 "Hennessy, Richard"] at ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hennessy, Richard}} [[Category:1720 births]] [[Category:1800 deaths]] [[Category:18th-century Irish businesspeople]] [[Category:Businesspeople from County Cork]] [[Category:Irish Jacobites]] [[Category:Irish soldiers]] [[Category:Irish emigrants to France]] [[Category:Irish soldiers in the French Army]] [[Category:Military personnel from County Cork]] [[Category:Cognac]] [[Category:Wild Geese (soldiers)]] [[Category:Hennessy family|Richard]]