| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lord Fermoy | |
| Office: | Member of Parliament for Kerry East |
| Term Start: | 1896 |
| Term End: | 1900 |
| Predecessor: | Michael Davitt |
| Successor: | John Murphy |
| Birth Name: | James Boothby Burke Roche |
| Birth Date: | 28 July 1851 |
| Birth Place: | Twyford Abbey, Middlesex |
| Death Place: | Artillery Mansions, Westminster, London |
| Party: | Irish National Federation |
| Parents: | Edmond Roche, 1st Baron Fermoy Eliza Caroline Boothby |
| Children: | Eileen Roche Cynthia Roche Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy Francis Roche |
| Known For: | Great-grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales |
James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy (28 July 1851 – 30 October 1920),[1] was a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons, and he held a title in the Peerage of Ireland during the final two months of his life.
He was born in 1851 at Twyford Abbey, Middlesex, the son of Edmond Roche, 1st Baron Fermoy, and his wife Eliza Caroline née Boothby.[2] He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.
In 1896, he stood as an Anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation candidate in the Kerry East by-election for a seat in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Nationalists had split into two factions after the party leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, was named as co-respondent in a divorce. Roche was supported initially by both the Parnellite Irish National League and the Anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation, until it was revealed that he was himself divorced. During the campaign, Roche denied publicly that he knew of the divorce or that he had deserted his wife and children.[3] Although he went on to win the seat, the opposing Unionist candidate gained the highest vote ever recorded for a Unionist candidate in Kerry East.[4] He served one term and did not stand in the following general election in 1900.
He visited the United States, where he met the heiress Frances Ellen Work (1857–1947). Shortly thereafter, on 22 September 1880, they married at Christ Church, New York City. The marriage was not a success, and they separated in December 1886. She was granted a divorce on the grounds of desertion on 3 March 1891 at Wilmington, Delaware.[5] [6]
Together, they had four children (two daughters, then twin sons):
In 1899, he sued his ex-wife[8] with a Writ of Habeas Corpus to produce their daughter in court, stating that she was depriving "the child of her liberty."[9] The case was settled out of court shortly thereafter.[10]
On 1 September 1920, he succeeded his elder brother as Baron Fermoy. Just two months later, he died at Artillery Mansions, Westminster, London, aged 69. He was buried at St. Marylebone Cemetery in East Finchley on 3 November 1920.[11]
Through his son Maurice, he was the great-grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales. His daughter Cynthia was the matrilineal great-grandmother of American actor Oliver Platt.