Persse was born at Roxborough House, County Galway, a great-grandson of Dudley Persse of Northumberland (see House of Percy), who settled in Galway during the Cromwellian era, and was the ancestor of all subsequent Persses in the county.
[1] In 1782, he was one of the five delegates from Galway representing the Volunteers at the Grand National Convention, alongside Edmond Kirwan, Peter D'Arcy, Major William Burke and Colonel Walter Lambert.
He supported the full emancipation of Catholics in the United Kingdom.
He personally knew both George Washington and John Wesley, the latter being a guest at his Galway home, Roxborough, in May 1785.
[4] Persse's great-granddaughter was the Irish nationalist landlord Lady Augusta Gregory.