[1] Leinster was a member of the Irish House of Commons for Athy from 1741 before succeeding his father as 20th Earl of Kildare in 1743.

[2] He was sworn of the Irish Privy Council in 1746[3] and in 1747, on the occasion of his marriage (see below), he was created Viscount Leinster, of Taplow in the County of Buckingham, in the Peerage of Great Britain, and took his seat in the British House of Lords that same year.

[4] From 1749 to 1755 he was one of the leaders of the Popular Party in Ireland,[citation needed] and served as the country's Master-General of the Ordnance between 1758 and 1766, becoming Colonel of the Royal Irish Artillery in 1760.

[1] In 1761 Lord Kildare was created Earl of Offaly and Marquess of Kildare in the Peerage of Ireland and in 1766 he was further honoured when he was made Duke of Leinster, becoming by this time the Premier Duke, Marquess and Earl in the Peerage of Ireland.

[6] In 1999, Irish Screen, BBC America and WGBH produced Aristocrats, a six-part limited television series based on the lives of Emily Lennox and her sisters.