 Richard had two sons, John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy (1913–1994) and James Pope-Hennessy, author of a biography, Verandah, in 1964.His personal motto was "Three Grand Qualifications to Success", which he described as "The first is audacity, the second is audacity, and the third is audacity".Hennessy died of heart failure on 7 October 1891 at his residence, Rostellan Castle, near Cork, Ireland.