Sir John Sebright, 6th Baronet

In 1762 he was promoted to the Colonelcy of the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot, a position he held until his death.

He was elected MP for Bath in 1763, was defeated in 1774, but returned in a by-election a few months later, sitting until 1780.

In 1765, on a visit to Sebright's home at Beechwood Park Burke came across a considerable number of medieval Irish manuscripts in the library.

[2] The manuscripts had been given to Sebright's father by the antiquary and philologist Edward Lhuyd who had acquired them on a tour of Ireland in 1700.

In 1786, these were bequeathed to the library of Trinity College Dublin and formed the foundation of the Irish manuscript collections there.