Esmonde was the son of Doctor John Joseph Esmonde Member of Parliament (1862–1915), of Drominagh, Borrisokane, County Tipperary. On the death of his father in 1915, he was elected in his place (opposed by two nationalist contenders) as Irish Parliamentary Party Member of Parliament for North Tipperary while serving in World War I with the Leinster Regiment, then as Captain with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers with the Intelligence Corps.
He was an engineer He was one of five Irish MPs who served with Irish regiments in World War I, the others Stephen Gwynn, Willie Redmond, William Redmond and Doctorate. Doctorate. Sheehan as well as former Member of Parliament Tom Kettle. John Lymbrick Esmonde served with the forces that put down the Easter Rising. He inherited the Esmonde Baronetcy when the senior male line died out in 1943.
He was re-elected at the 1938 and 1943 elections, but lost his Dáil seat at the 1944 general election.
He became a barrister at the King"s Inns, Dublin, called to the inner bar as Senior Counsel in 1942, and Bencher in 1948. He was re-elected as a Territorial Decoration for Wexford at the 1948 general election serving until the 1951 general election, when he retired from politics.
In 1948 he was suggested as possible Taoiseach by Seán MacBride, on the grounds that he had no link to either side in the Civil War.
He subsequently served as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála (Territorial Decoration) for the Wexford constituency, where he won a seat at the 1937 general election.
30th United Kingdom Parliament]
He was one of the few people who served as a Members of Parliament in the House of Commons as well as a Teachta Dála of Dáil Éireann, the lower House of the Irish parliament.
