John Beresford (1738-1805) was the second son of Marcus Beresford, Earl of Tyrone who built Tyrone House (designed by Richard Cassels) in Marlborough Street. He was educated at Trinity College graduating in 1757, before entering parliament in 1760. He became a Commissioner of Revenue in 1770 and First Commissioner in 1780. He was Prime Minister Pitt's principal Irish advisor and wielded considerable influence in Ireland both through his position and family connections. Beresford was notorious for filling positions with family connections or friends and ensured that the Lord Lieutenant Carlisle and Chief Secretary Eden lived on in street and bridge names after they had left Ireland. When Lord Fitzwilliam came to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant in 1795, he found that Beresford 'was filling a situation greater than that of the Lord Lieutenant' and that he was virtually 'King of Ireland'.

As a Wide Streets Commissioner, Beresford was responsible for bringing the architect James Gandon to Dublin to design the Custom House and in his role as the First Commissioner of Revenue he enjoyed the privilege of apartments in the completed building. This apartment were in the north eastern pavilion.

After the 1798 rebellion, Beresford was sufficiently unsettled to turn the stables to the rear of Tyrone House into a torturing barracks. It is for this unfortunate lapse from genial stroke puller and political manoeuvrer into barbarity that he is mainly remembered rather than for bringing James Gandon to Ireland.

The curved terrace of Beresford Place that faces the north front of the Custom House is named after him and faces the apartments that he once inhabited.