Admiral Fish, whose family were seated at Tobberogan, co. Kildare and renamed it Castle Fish, was a naval friend of Richard Nevill, Member for Wexford, and stood as surety for £10,000 when Nevill was appointed teller of the Irish exchequer in 1801.1Add. 40274, f. 95. In December 1812 the chief secretary informed the ailing Nevill that government would have no objection to his substituting Fish, who ‘not having been employed since he was appointed Admiral is so high on the list that he cannot be employed’, for himself in Parliament, until his health was re-established.2Add. 40223, f. 214; 40280, f. 141. The new writ was moved on 2 Feb. 1813, Fish being returned for the session ‘merely to oblige’ Nevill and as a government supporter.
Evidence of Fish’s parliamentary activity is thin, though it is known that he voted for Catholic relief on 2 Mar. but against it on 11 and 24 May 1813, and in favour of Christian missions to India, 22 June and 1 July. Even so, his patron was satisfied with his attendance. On 20 June Nevill informed the Castle that Fish was ‘ready either to vacate or to continue as I wish’ and asked if government wanted him to resume his seat, though he preferred to wait another session. Fish did not vacate until July 1814, and then at his own request.3Add. 40226, f. 181; 40228, f. 1; 40237, f. 213. He died at St. Germain-en-Laye, 10 Sept. 1834, aged 76.4Gent. Mag. (1835), i. 558; P. Montague Smith, ‘The Fam. of Fish of Castle Fish’, Irish Ancestor (1982) no. 1, p. 13.