By Dan Walsh
Once favourite to become UK Prime Minister Penny Mordaunt, (49), who has created recent public interest because her ancestry is traced directly to Boolavogue, was knocked out of the Tory leadership contest today.
Ms Mordaunt, born in Torquay, who is MP for Portsmouth North, has held government posts under Boris Johnson and Theresa May, including Defence Secretary, Paymaster General, Trade Minister, and the Women and Equalities and International Development portfolios.
Ms. Mordaunt received 82 votes today, which is not enough, and means that Rishi Sunak (115) and Liz Truss (71) will go head to head during the month of August to find out who leads the Conservative Party and succeed outgoing Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
Penny is a niece of Henry Mordaunt, who maintains the family’s genealogy website. Henry traces their family roots back to Denis and Mary Mordaunt, born in north Co Wexford in the late 18th century.
The family were tenant farmers on land in Ballintlea, (carved as ‘Ballinaclay’ on the family memorial in Boolavogue graveyard) near Gorey, throughout the 19th century and in north Wexford.
Denis Mordaunt (1783-1868) was baptised in the parish of Kilanerin, near Gorey. He married Mary Byrne (1791-1851) in Avoca, Co Wicklow, in 1813, and held 30 acres in Ballinaclay, and may also have held land at Clone, near Monamolin. He died in 1868 and was buried in Boolavogue.
WexfordLocal.com 