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George Cunningham, FSA, D.Litt., (hc UL), M.Litt., MA (hc NUI Galway), author, historian, editor, publisher and bibliophile is a former primary school principal (Coolderry Central School, Birr) and a community activist at many levels, focusing on the promotion of heritage and the environment. He has been involved with promoting the south tip of Offaly since his first guided tour to Ely O Carroll territory in 1973, and was part of the first voluntary archaeological survey of Offaly in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is also the founder and life president of Roscrea Heritage Society/Centre .

Now a national director of Crann, he has revived its South West Midlands branch, incorporating it into Roscrea’s Tidy Towns. He has taught and lectured at all levels and gave seventeen years public service to the Governing Authority, many years as Deputy Chair, of UL and chairman of its library development committee. Chairman of the Bolton Library Board, 1994 to 2010. He directed the Roscrea Conference (1987 to 2017) and the Spring conference in April 2017 was the 60th consecutive gathering at the Cistercian Abbey, Roscrea.

Prominently associated all his life with all aspects of Irish heritage and a noted bibliophile, his personal library contains in excess of 20,000 volumes. A major book project has been ongoing since 1987; to date over 65,000 books have been donated to schools, colleges, and charitable institutions. He has written or edited some sixteen books and hundreds of minor publications mainly on the Irish midlands and on the Burren.

Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, Baron of Oxmantown, 5th Baronet, was born on 21 May 1758 to Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet, and Lady Mary Clere. From 1782-1790. Laurence Parsons represented Dublin University in the Irish House of Commons. In the following years of 1791-1801, he sat as a Member of Parliament for King's County. In May 1797
Laurence Parsons married Lady Alice Lloyd, and they had five children. After the Act of Union in 1801, he sat for King's County in the British House of Commons until 1807, when he succeeded his uncle as the 2nd Earl of Rosse. He soon after became one of the Postmasters General of Ireland, in 1809. From 1809-1841 he sat in the House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer, and served as Custos Rotulorum of King's County from 1828 until his death on the 24th of February 1841. The 2nd Earl of Rosse was succeeded by his son, William Parsons.

Sir William Parsons, 1st Baronet of Bellamont, was born around the year 1570 to James Parsons and Catherine Fenton. In 1602 he succeeded Sir Geoffrey Fenton as Surveyor General of Ireland. He was later knighted for his work as Surveyor General and was created a baronet on 10 November 1611. In 1639 he represented the county of Wicklow in Parliament and was constituted Lord-Deputy, first with Lord Dillon in 1640, and again with Sir John Borlace, Master of the Ordnance. Sir William Parsons was married to Elizabeth Lany of Dublin, who was notably the niece of Sir Geoffrey Fenton. In 1643 he was removed from government, and imprisoned on charges of treason. Sir William Parsons died at Westminster in February of 1650. His grandson, Sir William Parsons, succeeded him as 2nd Baronet of Bellamont.

Sir Richard Parsons, 1st Viscount Rosse, Baron of Oxmantown, and 3rd Baronet of Bellamont, was the son of Sir William Parsons, 2nd Baronet of Bellamont, and his wife Catherine. He succeeded his father as the 3rd Baronet of Bellamont in 1658. On 2 of July 1681 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron of Oxmantown and Viscount Rosse. He married his first wife Anne Walsingham and had no children. After her death he married a second time to Catharine Brydges, the daughter of George Lord Chandos, and they also had no children before she died. In 1685 he married a third time to Elizabeth Hamilton, the niece of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, and they had two sons and three daughters. Sir Richard Parsons died in 1702, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Richard Parsons.

Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet of Birr Castle, was born on 6 May 1731 to Sir Laurence Parsons, 3rd Baronet of Birr Castle, and Lady Mary Sprigge. He succeeded his father as the 4th Baronet of Birr Castle in 1749. In 1764 He became the head of the Parsons family upon the death of Richard Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse (of the first creation). Sir William Parsons die on 1 May 1791, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son, Sir Laurence Parsons.

Lord Laurence Parsons, 1st Earl of Rosse, Viscount of Oxmantown, Baron of Oxmantown, was born 26 July 1742 to Sir Laurence Parsons, 3rd Baronet of Birr, and Lady Anne Harman. As a second son he did not inherit the baronetcy, which instead passed to his half-brother William, in 1749. He married Lady Jane, the eldest daughter of Lord Edward, 1st Earl of Kingston, and they had one daughter, Frances. On 25 September 1792 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron of Oxmantown, a title which would pass on to his nephew, William’s Son, Sir Laurence Parsons. On 6 October 1795 he was elevated to the peerage again, and given the Viscounty of Oxmantown. In February 1806, he was created the Earl of Rosse. On the 20th April 1807, Lord Laurence died without any sons, his viscounty expired, but the title of Earl of Rosse was passed on to Sir Laurence, 5th Baronet of Birr Castle.

Mary, Countess of Rosse, was born Mary Field, daughter of John Wilmer Field, in 1813. She married Lord William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse on 14 April 1836, moving from Yorkshire to Birr Castle, King’s County. She and Lord Rosse shared an interest in astronomy, and with significant financial investment on Lady Mary’s part they built the largest telescope in the world at the time, the ‘Leviathan of Parsonstown.’ Along with her interest in astronomy, Mary Rosse was an accomplished blacksmith, and aided in construction of the telescope. Her scientific interests brought her to become close friends with the cousin of the 3rd Earl, Mary Ward, who was a frequent visitor at Birr Castle. As the Countess of Rosse, she carried out significant renovations to Birr Castle under the advice of her uncle, Richard Wharton Myddleton. Through her many projects, she managed to employ over 500 men during the Great Famine of 1845-47. Overshadowing her renovations of Birr Castle, and aid in building the Leviathan of Parsonstown, Mary Rosse is best known for her work in early daguerreotype and glass plate photography. Her work was praised by a family acquaintance, William Henry Fox Talbot, and she joined the Dublin Photographic Society. In 1859 her work won her a silver medal for the best paper negative from the Photographic Society of Ireland. Mary Rosse had four children who survived to adulthood: Laurence (1840-1908), Randal (1848-1936), Richard Clere (1851-1923), and Charles (1854-1931). She died in 1885.

William Edward Parsons, 5th Earl of Rosse, Baron of Oxmantown, 8th Baronet of Birr Castle, was born 14 June 1873 to Laurence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse, and Lady Frances Cassandra Hawke. Before inheriting the earldom, Lord Oxmantown was commissioned into a militia battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1896, and was swiftly promoted to Lieutenant. A year later, he was commissioned as a regular officer in the Coldstream Guards, and later transferred to the Irish Guards on its formation in 1900, and promoted to Captain. On 19 October 1905 he married Lady Frances Lois Lister-Kaye, daughter of Sir Cecil Lister-Kaye, 4th Baronet and Lady Beatrice Adeline Pelham-Clinton. Upon the death of his father, William Parsons became the 5th Earl of Rosse and head of the Parsons family. He was promoted to Major in 1906 and resigned in 1908. In 1911 he was elected a Representative Peer. Lord Rosse returned to military service to fight in the First World War, was wounded in action, and died on 10 June 1918.

Laurence Michael Harvey Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse, Baron of Oxmantown, 9th Baronet of Birr Castle, was born 28 September 1906 to Lord William Edward Parsons, 5th Earl of Rosse, and Lady Francis Lois Lister-Kaye. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he was a member of the Railway Club. Laurence Parsons succeeded his father in 1918 as the 6th Earl of Rosse. On 19 September 1935, he married Lady Anne Messel, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Leonard Charles Rudolph Messel. Lady Anne Messel was previously married to Ronald Armstrong-Jones, and was the mother of Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, who in 1960 married the Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The 6th Earl of Rosse died on 5 July 1979 and was succeeded by his son, Sir William Brendan Parsons.