Richard Hennessy

Richard Hennessy (; 1724 — 8 October 1800) was an Irish military officer and businessman, best known for founding the Hennessy cognac dynasty, which is today a luxury brand and one of the most prominent in the world. Hennessy was from County Cork, Ireland, and, due to his Jacobite political tendencies, went into exile in France, eventually serving in the French Army. Biography Background and early life Richard Hennessy was born in 1724 to James Hennessy and Catherine Barrett at Ballymacmoy House, Killavullen, a small village on the Blackwater river, in County Cork, Ireland. His paternal family were of Gaelic Irish stock; the Hennessys were anciently of the Laighin and claimed descent from a junior branch of the O'Dempsey family. Specifically with Richard's family, his family were able to restore themselves to a level of prominence through his grandfather's marriage to a daughter of the Norman descended Sir Richard Nagle. Growing up an Irish Catholic to a family of some ambition, in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1688, whereby Anglo-Protestant hegemony was operative in Ireland, the young Richard Hennessy at the age of 19 elected to leave the country for Bourbon France. Here he joined the Clare Regiment of the Irish Brigade in the French Army, serving as an officer. This was in the service of king Louis XV of France. Shortly after the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 he became familiar with the Charente region, famous for its cognac production. Using money he had earned in his military career, he decided to become involved in cognac investment from afar, without much success initially.