Coollattin Estate Wentworth & Fitzwilliams Co. Wicklow p1

THE WENTWORTH FAMILY

The history of the Wentworth/Fitzwilliam family in England has been well documented (see our historical overview for a brief summary), but what is less well known is the influence they had on the history of Ireland. As well as the family seat of Wentworth Woodhouse they owned another large house called Malton House (later Coollattin House) in County Wicklow from where they managed their 88,000 acres of Irish lands. They also acquired a number of Irish titles and political positions over the years.

Acknowledgements Our Coollattin article has been produced thanks largely to the contributions of Jerry Cassidy of Shillelagh who is involved with the golf club that now own and are responsible for the upkeep of the modern-day Coollattin House. Jerry has collected a vast amount of information about the Fitzwilliam family’s presence in the village and in Ireland in general; our thanks to him, and we hope that the articles will be of interest to residents of Wentworth and Shillelagh alike. Should you wish to contact Jerry for further information about Coollattin you can e-mail him at jerry.cassidy@wentworthvillage.net.

A Wentworth Crest

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (13 April 1593 (O.S.) – 12 May 1641) was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632–39 he was Lord Deputy of Ireland. Recalled to England, he became a leading advisor to the king, attempting to strengthen the royal position against Parliament. When Parliament condemned him to death, Charles signed the death warrant and Wentworth was executed.
Thomas Wentworth was born on 13 April 1593 in London. He was the son of Sir William Wentworth, of Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, a member of an old Yorkshire family, and of Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Atkins of Stowell, Gloucestershire. He was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge, became a law student at the Inner Temple in 1607, and in 1611 was knighted and married Margaret, daughter of Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland.

Early Parliamentary career
1698 bookplate of Thomas Wentworth
Wentworth entered English Parliament in 1614 as Yorkshire’s representative in the “Addled Parliament”, but it was not until the parliament of 1621, in which he sat for the same constituency, that he took part in debate. His position was ambivalent. He did not sympathise with the zeal of the popular party for war with Spain, favoured by the Duke of Buckingham, James I’s foremost advisor and favourite, but James’s denial of the rights and privileges of parliament seems to have caused him to join in the vindication of the claims of the House of Commons, and he supported the protestation which dissolved the third parliament of James.

In 1622 Wentworth’s first wife Margaret Clifford died. Wentworth according to his friends was deeply grieved by her death; but in February 1625 he remarried Arabella Holles, daughter of John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare, a marriage which was generally believed to be a true love affair on both sides. He represented Pontefract in the Happy Parliament of 1624, but appears to have taken no active part. He expressed a wish to avoid foreign complications and “do first the business of the commonwealth”.

In the first parliament of Charles I, June 1625, Wentworth again represented Yorkshire, and showed his hostility to the proposed war with Spain by supporting a motion for an adjournment before the house proceeded to business. He opposed the demand for war subsidies made on Buckingham’s behalf—after the death of James I, Buckingham had become first minister to Charles—and after Parliament was dissolved in November he was made High Sheriff of Yorkshire, a position which excluded him from the parliament which met in 1626. Yet he had never taken up an attitude of antagonism to the King. His position was very different from that of the regular opposition. He was anxious to serve the Crown, but he disapproved of the King’s policy.

In January 1626 Wentworth asked for the presidency of the Council of the North, and was favourably received by Buckingham. But after the dissolution of the parliament, he was dismissed from the justiceship of the peace and the office of custos rotulorum of Yorkshire—which he had held since 1615—probably because he would not support the court in forcing the country to contribute money without a parliamentary grant. In 1627, he refused to contribute to the forced loan, and was subsequently imprisoned.

The Petition of Right and its aftermath
In 1628, Wentworth was one of the more vocal supporters of the Petition of Right, which attempted to curb the power of the King. Once Charles had (grudgingly) accepted the Petition, Wentworth felt it appropriate to support the crown, saying “The authority of a king is the keystone which closeth up the arch of order and government”. He was consequently branded a turncoat. On 22 July 1628, he was created Baron Wentworth.

In the parliament of 1628, Wentworth joined the popular leaders in resistance to arbitrary taxation and imprisonment, but tried to obtain his goal without offending the Crown. He led the movement for a bill which would have secured the liberties of the subject as completely as the Petition of Right afterwards did, but in a manner less offensive to the King. The proposal failed because of both the uncompromising nature of the parliamentary party and Charles’s stubborn refusal to make concessions, and the leadership was snatched from Wentworth’s hands by John Eliot and Edward Coke. Later in the session he quarrelled with Eliot, because he wanted to come to a compromise with the Lords, so as to leave room for the King to act unchecked in special emergencies.

On 22 July 1628, not long after the prorogation, Wentworth was created Baron Wentworth, and received the promise of the presidency of the Council of the North at the next vacancy. This implied no change of principle. He was now at variance with the Parliamentary Party on two great subjects of policy, disapproving both of the intention of Parliament to seize the powers of the executive and also its inclination towards Puritanism. When once the breach was made it naturally grew wider, partly from the energy each party put into its work, and partly from the personal animosities which arose.

As yet Wentworth was not directly involved in the government of the country. However, following the assassination of Buckingham, in December 1628, he became Viscount Wentworth and not long afterwards president of the Council of the North. In the speech delivered at York on taking office, he announced his intention, almost in the words of Francis Bacon, of doing his utmost to bind up the prerogative of the Crown and the liberties of the subject in indistinguishable union. “Whoever,” he said, “ravels forth into questions the right of a king and of a people shall never be able to wrap them up again into the comeliness and order he found them”. His tactics were the same as those he later practised in Ireland, leading to the accusation that he planned to centralise all power with the executive at the expense of the individual in defiance of constitutional liberties.

The parliamentary session of 1629 ended in a breach between the King and Parliament which made the task of a moderator hopeless. Wentworth had to choose between either helping the House of Commons dominate the King or helping the King to dominate the House of Commons. He chose the latter course, throwing himself into the work of repression with characteristic energy and claiming that he was maintaining the old constitution and that his opponents in Parliament were attempting to alter it by claiming supremacy for Parliament. From this time on, he acted as one of two principal members (the other being Archbishop William Laud) in a team of key royal advisors (the “Thorough Party”) during an eleven-year period of total monarchical rule without parliament (known both as “the Personal Rule” and the “eleven-year tyranny”).

Lord Deputy of Ireland

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford in an Armour, 1639, another portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck.
In November 1629 Wentworth became a privy counsellor. In January 1632, he was made Lord Deputy of Ireland (arriving in Dublin in July 1633), He had recently suffered the loss of his beloved second wife Arabella in childbirth. His third marriage to Elizabeth Rhodes in 1632 was also happy; but through a strange lapse of judgement he did not announce it publicly for almost a year, by which time damaging rumours about the presence of a young woman (reputed to be his mistress) in his house had gained wide circulation. Wedgwood remarks that it was typical of Wentworth to be oblivious to the bad impression which his actions might make on other people. Gossip later linked his name with that of Eleanor Loftus, daughter-in-law of the Lord Chancellor, but although a warm friendship existed between them there is no evidence that their relationship went beyond this.

In Ireland Wentworth had to deal with a people who had not arrived at national cohesion, and amongst whom English colonists had been from time to time introduced, some of them, like the early Norman settlers, being Roman Catholics, whilst the later importations stood aloof and preserved their Protestantism. In his government here he showed the most remarkable abilities as a ruler. “The lord deputy of Ireland”, wrote Sir Thomas Roe to Elizabeth of Bohemia, “doth great wonders and governs like a king, and hath taught that kingdom to show us an example of envy, by having parliaments and knowing wisely how to use them.” He reformed the administration, getting rid summarily of the inefficient English officials. He succeeded in so manipulating tile parliaments that he obtained the necessary grants, and secured their co-operation in various useful legislative enactments. He started a new victualling trade with Spain, promoted linen manufacture, and encouraged the development of the resources of the country in many directions. The Court of Castle Chamber, the Irish counterpart of Star Chamber, was transformed into a regular and efficient part of the Irish administration.

Customs duties rose from a little over £25,000 in 1633–34 to £57,000 in 1637–38. Wentworth raised an army, put an end to piracy, instilled life into the Church of Ireland and rescued church property. His strong administration reduced the tyranny of the wealthy over the poor. Yet these good measures were all carried out by arbitrary methods which made them unpopular. Their aim was not the prosperity of the Irish but the benefit to the English exchequer, and Wentworth suppressed the trade in cloth “lest it should be a means to prejudice that staple commodity of England.” Castle Chamber, like its model Star Chamber, was accused of brutal and arbitrary proceedings. Individual cases of unfairness included those of Robert Esmond, a ship’s captain, and cousin of Laurence Esmonde, Lord Esmonde, accused of customs evasions, whom Strafford was alleged to have assaulted causing his death, Lord Chancellor Loftus and Lord Mountnorris, the last of whom Wentworth caused to be sentenced to death to obtain the resignation of his office, and then pardoned. Promises of legislation such as the concessions known as “The Graces” were not kept.

The Earl of Strafford with his secretary, Sir Philip Mainwaring
Wentworth ignored Charles’ promise that no colonists would be forced into Connaught, and in 1635 he raked up an obsolete title—the grant in the 14th century of Connaught to Lionel of Antwerp, whose heir Charles was—and insisted upon the grand juries finding verdicts for the king. One county only, County Galway, resisted, and the confiscation of Galway was effected by the Court of Exchequer, while Wentworth fined the sheriff £1,000 for summoning such a jury, and cited the jurymen to the Castle Chamber to answer for their offence. In Ulster the arbitrary confiscation of the property of the city companies aroused dangerous animosity against the government. His actions in Galway led to a clash with the powerful Burke family, headed by the aging Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde. Clanricarde’s death was said by some to have been hastened by the clash: Strafford, not unreasonably, said he could hardly be blamed for the man being nearly seventy. It was however unwise to have made an enemy of the new Earl, Ulick Burke, 5th Earl of Clanricarde, who through his mother Frances Walsingham had powerful English connections: Clanricarde’s half-brother, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, was to be one of Strafford’s most implacable enemies in 1641.

Strafford made many enemies in Ireland, but none more dangerous than Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, the most powerful of the “New English” magnates. A more diplomatic man than Strafford would have sought Cork’s friendship, but Strafford saw Cork’s power as a threat to the central authority of the Crown, and was determined to curb it. He prosecuted Lord Cork in Castle Chamber for misappropriating the funds of Youghal College; and in a somewhat petty action, ordered him to take down the tomb of his first wife in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. Cork, a patient and implacable enemy, worked quietly for Strafford’s downfall, and in 1641 recorded in his diary that Strafford had been beheaded “as he well deserved”.

Towards the native Wentworth had no notion of developing their qualities by a process of natural growth, his only hope for them lay in converting them into Englishmen as soon as possible. They must be made English in their habits, in their laws and in their religion. “I see plainly … that, so long as this kingdom continues popish, they are not a people for the Crown of England to be confident of”, he wrote. Although staunchly Protestant, he showed no desire to persecute Catholics: as Kenyon remarks, it was understood that so long as Catholics remained the great majority of the population, there would have to be a much larger degree of toleration than was necessary in England. He was prepared to give tacit recognition to the Catholic hierarchy, and even gave an interview to Thomas Fleming, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin.

His contribution to Irish cultural life should not be undervalued: it was under his patronage that the Werburgh Street Theatre, Ireland’s first theatre, was opened by John Ogilby, a member of his household, and survived for several years despite the opposition of Archbishop James Ussher. James Shirley, the English dramatist, wrote several plays for it, one with a distinctively Irish theme, and Landgartha, by Henry Burnell, the first known play by an Irish dramatist, was produced there in 1640.

Wentworth’s heavy-handed approach did yield some improvements, as well as contribute to the strength of royal administration in Ireland. His hindrance in 1634 of The Graces, a campaign for equality by Roman Catholics in the Parliament of Ireland, lost him goodwill but was based on fiscal and not religious principles. Wentworth regarded the proper management of Parliament as a crucial test of his success; in the short term he had some success, although his methods were often ruthless; having settled on Nathaniel Catelyn as the most suitable Speaker, he coerced the voters of Dublin into returning him as member, and ordered the Commons to elect him Speaker. The Parliament of 1634/5 did pass some useful legislation: the Act against Fraudulent Conveyances remained in force into the twenty-first century. His second Parliament, however, having paid him abject compliments, began to attack his administration as soon as he left for England.

The future Duke of Ormonde became Wentworth’s chief friend and supporter. Wentworth planned large scale confiscations of Catholic-owned land, both to raise money for the crown and to break the political power of the Irish Catholic gentry, a policy which Ormonde supported. Yet it infuriated Ormonde’s relatives and drove many of them into opposition to Wentworth and ultimately into armed rebellion. In 1640, with Wentworth having been recalled to attend to the Second Bishops’ War in England, Ormonde was made commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland. Wedgwood concludes that whatever his intentions Strafford in Ireland achieved only one thing: to unite every faction in Ireland in their determination to be rid of him.

Wentworth’s rule in Ireland made him more high-handed at court than ever. He had never been consulted on English affairs until February 1637 when King Charles asked Wentworth’s opinion on a proposed interference in the affairs of the Continent. In reply, Wentworth assured Charles it would be unwise to undertake even naval operations till he had secured absolute power at home. He wished that Hampden and his followers “were well whipped into their right senses”. The judges had given the king the right to levy ship-money, but, unless his majesty had “the like power declared to raise a land army, the Crown” seemed “to stand upon one leg at home, to be considerable but by halves to foreign princes abroad”. When the Scottish Covenanters rebelled he advocated the most decided measures of repression, in February 1639 sending the king £2000 as his contribution to the expenses of the coming war, at the same time deprecating an invasion of Scotland before the English army was trained, and advising certain concessions in religion.

Recall and impeachment
Wentworth was recalled to England in September 1639. He was expected to help sort out the problems that were growing at home: namely, bankruptcy and war with the Scottish Covenanters, and became the king’s principal adviser. Unaware how much opposition had developed in England during his absence, he recommended the calling of a parliament to support a renewal of the war, hoping that by the offer of a loan from the Privy Councillors, to which he contributed £20,000, he would save Charles from having to submit to the new parliament if it proved truculent. In January 1640 the king created him Earl of Strafford, (the Wentworth family seat of Wentworth Woodhouse lay in the hundred of Strafford (Strafforth) in the West Riding of Yorkshire. and in March he went to Ireland to hold an Irish parliament, where the Catholic vote secured a grant of subsidies to be used against the Presbyterian Scots. An Irish army was to be levied to assist in the coming war. When Strafford (i.e. Thomas Wentworth) returned to England, he found that the Commons were holding back from a grant of supply, so he tried to enlist the peers on the side of the king, and persuaded Charles to be content with a smaller grant than he had originally asked for.

Detailed engraving of trial of Strafford by Wenceslas Hollar, labelling various present people.
The Commons insisted on peace with the Scots. Charles, on the advice of—or perhaps by the treachery of—Henry Vane the Elder, returned to his larger demand of twelve subsidies; and on 9 May, at the privy council, Strafford, though reluctantly, voted for a dissolution. The same morning the Committee of Eight of the privy council met again. Vane and others were for a mere defence against invasion. Strafford’s advice was the contrary. “Go on vigorously or let them alone… go on with a vigorous war as you first designed, loose and absolved from all rules of government, being reduced to extreme necessity, everything is to be done that power might admit… You have an army in Ireland you may employ here to reduce this kingdom…”. He tried to force the citizens of London to lend money, and supported a project for debasing the coinage and seizing bullion in the Tower of London (the property of foreign merchants). He also advocated the purchase of a loan from Spain by the offer of a future alliance. Strafford was now appointed to command the English army, and was made a Knight of the Garter, but he fell ill at a crucial moment. In the great council of peers, which assembled on 24 September at York, the struggle was given up, and Charles announced that he had issued writs for another parliament.

By late 1640, there was no option but to call a new Parliament. The Long Parliament assembled on 3 November 1640, and Charles immediately summoned Strafford to London, promising that he “should not suffer in his person, honour or fortune”. One of Parliament’s first utterances after its eleven-year forced hiatus was to impeach Strafford for “high misdemeanours” regarding his conduct in Ireland. He arrived on 9 November and the next day asked Charles I to forestall his impeachment by accusing the leaders of the popular party of treasonable communications with the Scots. The plan having been betrayed, John Pym immediately took up the impeachment to the House of Lords on 11 November. Strafford came in person to confront his accusers, but was ordered to withdraw and taken into custody. On 25 November his preliminary charge was brought up, whereupon he was sent to the Tower of London, and, on 31 January 1641, the accusations in detail were presented. These were that Strafford had tried to subvert the fundamental laws of the kingdom. Much stress was laid on Strafford’s reported words: “You have an army in Ireland you may employ here to reduce this kingdom”.

The failure of impeachment and the Bill of Attainder
Strafford’s speech when impeached for High Treason before the House of Lords
Lord Digby’s speech against the attainder of Strafford

An Answer to the Earle of Strafords Conclusion, likely printed at London, April 1641
However tyrannical Strafford’s earlier conduct may have been, his offence was outside the definition of high treason. Although a flood of complaints poured in from Ireland, and Strafford’s many enemies there were happy to testify against him, none of them could point to any act which was treasonable, as opposed to high-handed. The copy of rough notes of Strafford’s speech in the committee of the council obtained from Sir Henry Vane the Younger, were validated by councillors who had been present on the occasion, including Henry Vane the Elder who did ultimately corroborate them (but nearly disowned his own son for having found and leaked them in the first place), and partially by Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland. This was not evidence which would convict in a court of law, and all parties knew this. Strafford’s words, particularly the crucial phrase this kingdom, had to be arbitrarily interpreted as referring to the subjection of England and not of Scotland, and were also spoken on a privileged occasion. Strafford took full advantage of the weak points in his attack on the evidence collected. Over and over Strafford pointed to the fundamental weakness in the prosecution: how could it be treason to carry out the King’s wishes? The lords, his judges, were influenced in his favour. The impeachment failed on 10 April 1641.

The Commons therefore, feeling their victim slipping from their grasp, dropped the impeachment, and brought in and passed a bill of attainder, on 13 April by a vote of 204 to 59. Owing to the opposition of the Lords, and Pym’s own preference for the more judicial method, the procedure of an impeachment was adhered to. Few of the Lords felt much personal liking for Strafford, but there were a fair number of “moderates”, notably Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, who thought that barring him from ever serving the King again was sufficient punishment. The families of his first two wives, the Cliffords and Holleses, used all their influence to gain a reprieve: even Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, who was implacably hostile to the King, put aside political differences to plead for his favourite sister’s husband. Strafford might still have been saved but for the Charles I’s ill-advised conduct. A scheme to gain over the leaders of the parliament, and a scheme to seize the Tower of London and to liberate Strafford by force, were entertained concurrently and were mutually destructive. The revelation of the First Army Plot on 5 May 1641 caused the Lords to reject the submissions in defence of Strafford by Richard Lane and to pass the attainder. Strafford’s enemies were implacable in their determination that he should die: in the Earl of Essex’s phrase stone dead hath no fellow. Nothing now remained but the King’s signature.

Still Strafford had served Charles with what the king felt was a massive degree of loyalty, and Charles had a serious problem with signing Strafford’s death warrant as a matter of conscience. However, to refuse the will of the Parliament on this matter could seriously threaten the monarchy. When he summoned the bishops to ask for their advice, they divided, some, like James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh arguing that the King could not in conscience break his promise to Strafford to spare him, others, like John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln that reasons of State permitted the King to break his word where a private citizen could not.

Charles had, after the passing of the attainder by the Commons, for the second time assured Strafford “upon the word of a king, you shall not suffer in life, honour or fortune”. Strafford now wrote releasing the king from his engagements and declaring his willingness to die to reconcile Charles to his subjects. “I do most humbly beseech you, for the preventing of such massacres as may happen by your refusal, to pass the bill; by this means to remove… the unfortunate thing forth of the way towards that blessed agreement, which God, I trust, shall for ever establish between you and your subjects”.Whether Strafford was now resigned to death, or whether he thought that the letter, if circulated, might move his enemies to mercy, is still debated. Charles gave his assent on 10 May, remarking sadly ” My Lord Strafford’s condition is happier than mine”.[11][29] Accounts of Strafford’s reaction when he was told that he must die differ; by one account he took the news stoically, according to another he was deeply distressed and said bitterly “Put not your trust in princes”. Archbishop Laud wrote that the King’s abandonment of Strafford proved him to be “a mild and gracious prince, that knows not how to be, or be made, great”.

Death and aftermath
Strafford led to Execution, by Paul Delaroche, oil-on-canvas, 1836, depicts Laud giving his blessing to the Earl of Strafford.

An engraving by Wenceslas Hollar depicting from a distance the execution of Strafford, with significant persons labelled.
Strafford met his fate two days later on Tower Hill, receiving the blessing of Archbishop Laud. Laud would also be imprisoned in the Tower and executed on 10 January 1645. He was executed before a crowd estimated, probably with some exaggeration, at 300,000 on 12 May 1641 (as this number was roughly the population of London at the time, the crowd is likely to have been a good deal smaller).

Following news of Strafford’s execution, Ireland rose in sanguinary rebellion in October 1641, which led to more bickering between King and Parliament, this time over the raising of an army. Any hope that Strafford’s death would avert the coming crisis soon vanished: Wedgwood quotes the anonymous protest “They promised us that all should be well if my Lord Strafford’s head were off, since when there is nothing better”. Many of Strafford’s Irish enemies, like Lord Cork, found that his removal had put their estates, and even their lives, at risk. When Charles I himself was executed eight years later, among his last words were that God had permitted his execution as punishment for his consenting to Strafford’s death: “that unjust sentence which I suffered to take effect”.

Assessment
In the course of his career he made many enemies, who pursued him, with a remarkable mixture of fear and hatred, to his death. Yet Strafford was capable of inspiring strong friendships in private life: at least three men who served him in Ireland, Christopher Wandesford, George Radcliffe and Guildford Slingsby remained loyal friends to the end. Wentworth’s last letter to Slingsby before his execution shows an emotional warmth with which he is not often credited. Sir Thomas Roe speaks of him as “Severe abroad and in business, and sweet in private conversation; retired in his friendships but very firm; a terrible judge and a strong enemy”. He was a good husband and a devoted father. His appearance is described by Sir Philip Warwick: “In his person he was of a tall stature, but stooped much in the neck. His countenance was cloudy whilst he moved or sat thinking, but when he spoke, either seriously or facetiously, he had a lightsome and a very pleasant air; and indeed whatever he then did he performed very gracefully”. He himself jested on his own “bent and ill-favoured brow”, Lord Exeter replying that had he been “cursed with a meek brow and an arch of white hair upon it, he would never have governed Ireland nor Yorkshire”. Despite his terrifying manner, there is no strong evidence that he was physically violent: even the most serious charge, that he ill-treated Robert Esmonde, causing his death, rests on disputed testimony.

Family
Strafford was married three times:
Margaret Clifford (died 1622), daughter of Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland.
Arabella Holles (died October 1631), daughter of John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare. Married in February 1625.
Elizabeth Rhodes, daughter of Sir Godfrey Rhodes. Married in October 1632; she died in 1688.
Strafford’s honours were forfeited by his attainder, but his only son, William, who was born on 8 June 1626, received them all by a fresh grant from Charles I on 1 December 1641. In 1662 parliament reversed his father’s attainder, and William, already 1st Earl of Strafford of the second creation, became also 2nd earl of the first creation in succession to his father.

In addition to William, Strafford and Arabella had two daughters who outlived him: Anne, born October 1627, who married Edward Watson, 2nd Baron Rockingham; and Arabella, born October 1630, who married Justin McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel.Through his daughter Anne, Strafford was the ancestor of the prominent statesman Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham. He had a daughter, Margaret, with his third wife. The hatred felt by so many for Strafford did not extend to his widow and children, and even at the height of the Civil War Parliament treated “that poor unfortunate family” with consideration

From “Making the Grand Figure” by Toby Bernard
Lives & Posessions in Ireland 1641-1770
Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Stafford was made Viceroy but in 1641 conspirators aimed to end the oppressive rule associated with him and his sucessors by seizing Dublin Castle. According to Lord-Lieutenant Essex commented bleakly in 1673 “Dublin Castle become known as one of the most incommodious dwellings that ever I came in and there is no place of pleasure beloging to it, nor any house to retire to for a little air upon reason of sickness” Wentworth himself often complained but never rectified the defects. Dublin at this time was a stinking city hence the move by the upper classes to build substantial homes outside of Dublin City in particular in North Kildare. Carton House and Castletown House as examples.
So Wentworth himself eventually decided to build a new home for him-self and his royal visitors at Jigginstown near Naas County Kildare. This was in the late 1630’s. However by the 1640’s the shell of the building was abandoned, and then cannibalized.
Pictures of the ruins attached.
Tenants, in particular were expected to obey the terms of their leases but to avoid excess. Those who engage in ambitious building, such as the lessees of the Wentworth holdings in South Wicklow and North Wexford, threatened to blur the distinction between landlord and tenant. At Coolkenna for example, the occupier ‘squire Lorenzo Hodson, tenant to 656 acres at an annual rent of £115 2s., presided over ‘ a stone and lime slated house and outhouses in good order, with handsome garden, orchards and plantation of fir trees, &c., fine hedges and ornamental trees.’
Tempted to essay the grand figure, ambitious tenants had built unnecessarily large houses and surrounded them with ornamental trees rather than useful plantations. Thereby future generations were encumbered with expenses which their farms might not meet. One prominent inhabitant typified the trend. John Nickson, heir of a former Wentworth agent in the district. He rented Nunnt for a yearly rent of £113. He leased a second farm from Wentworth in the vicinity for £113 16s 6d. With high standards been set by the Wentworths for the tenants both in farming and behavour and dress sense, the Wentworths went back to England. It is said the on the Wentworth property ‘no tenant would drink a drop of ale at any public meeting except good claret, sack or punch… The wives and daughter had coffee, tea or chocolate.

Forestry.
Many of the large estates in Ireland began to plant woodland areas, but by the late 1680’s comments were being made that too many evergreen trees were being planted. One such comment refers to the Coollattin Estate but in the year 2014 many of the trees on both the estate and the golf course are evergreen fir trees. Those of us who play golf on the former estate often curse them but they do look magnificent in the general setting of the grounds of the house and lands.
When Hume carried out his survey in late 1690’s he doubted that much of the timber had any commercial value, he was also referring to the ornamental gardens.
Timber
Reference is made in page 126 to the timber on the Coollattin Estate of Thomas Watson Wentworth in the 1720’s which was being converted in furniture.
Gardening.
Gardening was very much in vogue and the landed gentry strove to grow the rarest and the best quality fruit and veg and much competition ensued betqween the big houses.
One such report on page 209, tells of in 1741 Archbishop King thanking Lord Fitzwilliam of Coollattin for his gifts of melons, peaches, apricots and ripe almonds for his Mount Merrion property. (I am assuming that they were grown in the walled in garden which is now hole 5 on the Coollattin Golf course). (Lord Fitzwilliam was the 3rd Viscount Fitzwilliam and 1st Earl.)
From “A History of Ireland in 250 Episodes by Jonathan Bardon published by Gill & McMillen in Episode 90 he records ‘Thomas Wentworth & The Graces’. Thomas Wentworth was in January 1632 the trusted servant of King Charles, he was appointed His Lord Deputy to Ireland to look after the affairs of the King and especially in the raising of monies for the King. Wentworth was arrogant, overbearing and insencitive and his prime motivation was to ensure that Charles I had supreme control over both parliament and the church. He began a campaign of confiscating the land of Catholics and intended to have them planted in the same way as in Ulster. As part of the deal he would then give the Catholic landowner back
three-quarters of the land with a secure title of ownership. This had a big impact on the King’s support in Ireland as many of the Catholic Landowners were supporters of the crown. Land confiscation was also carried out against any non-anglicans such as Presbyterians.
Wentworth also denyed Catholics the right to hold public office.
In 1639 Sir John Clotworthy a Devonshire Planter was determined to end the activities of Wentworth. Clotworthy had a seat in the House of Commons and had many powerful friends in Parliament. In 1640 he presented a long petition to Parliament listing the many deeds which Wentworth carried out against Non Anglicans. Wentworth at this stage was the King’s first Minister and had been elevated to Lord Stafford. The House of Commons voted to impeach Wentworth and in April 1641 they found him guilty on twenty-eight charges and of treason. In May he was beheaded.
In 1670 the son of the executed Earl of Stafford donated forty tons of Oak from his Coollattin Estate to St. Patricks’s Cathedral in Dublin for a new roof.
William Earl Fitzwilliam arrived in Ireland as Lord Lieutenant in January 1795. He gave every encouragement to Henry Gratten the ‘Patriot ‘ leader to bring forward a bill to repeal the ‘Penal laws’. William had high hopes of success as he wrote back to London ‘I have little doubt the Catholic business will be carried easily’. King George was having none of it and eventually the Bill fell. Pitt the Prime Minister was furious with Fitzwilliam and he was swiftly removed from his position but not before Fitzwilliam had published all of the correspondence regarding the Bill

Jigginstown House Naas
Many thanks to Ger McCarthy, Chairman of the County Kildare Federation of Local History Groups for his help with Jiggins. Ger has been researching and photograph Irish Country Houses for more than thirty years and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject.

Jigginstown also known as Sigginstown House was constructed under the guidance of Thomas Wentworth, the Earl of Stafford and who was also Lord Deputy of Ireland during the reign of Charles I.

Thomas Wentworth had planned the building with the idea that it could be home to the king on royal visits to Ireland.From 1632 to 1639, Wentworth instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland. Recalled back to England, he became a leading advisor to the king, attempting to strengthen the royal position against parliament.

However Thomas Wentworth was accused of treason in the House of Commons and never lived to see if Jigginstown indeed housed a king, as he was sentenced to death. Charles I signed the death warrant and Wentworth was executed before a crowd of about 200,000 on 12 May 1641. After his death there is still controversy today as to whether Jigginstown was ever really finished however it was described as ‘In a manner finished’ at a cost of £6000. Thomas Wentworth was certainly frequently resident at Jigginstown as many of his letters are written from ‘The Naas’.

Following news of Strafford’s execution, Ireland rose in rebellion in October 1641. It was at Jigginstown that James Butler, the 1st Duke of Ormonde signed the Cessation with the Confederates in 1643.
Ormonde had been working as head of government of Ireland under Stafford and had been treated with great favour. After the Restoration, Ormonde went on to move some of the marble door-cases and chimney-pieces from Jigginstown to Kilkenny Castle or Dunmore House.

Cromwell in his ‘Excursions through Ireland’ credits the actual construction of Jigginstown Castle to a member of the Allen family – most likely John Allen, who was noted for his taste in architecture. John Allen who had come to Ireland from Holland was described as ‘being skilful in architecture, was esteemed and consulted by the most eminent of the nobility in there buildings’.

The building itself measures 448ft in length and consists of fine vaulted cellars and a number of tall rooms on the ground floor, reached by an outside stairs. The actual frontage is 380 feet long, and flanked by two projecting pavilions or towers. According to tradition there was an elaborate formal layout with terraces and fishponds. The house was one of the first built with red-brick in Ireland, it was said that the bricks were of Dutch manufacture, and that a human chain was formed stretching from Dublin to Jigginstown so that each brick passed from hand to hand from Dublin until it reached Jigginstown.

Jigginstown passed into ownership of the Fitzwilliam family and over many years almost disappeared into the undergrowth. However the Fitzwilliam’s handed Jigginstown over to the Irish state in the late 1960s and eventually all the undergrowth was cleared away from the structure by a group of volunteers. The OPW (office of public works) has been carrying out work on the site for some number of years with regard to using the basement as a heritage museum for the Naas area.

The brick work is remarkable.
Jigginstown was one of the first houses in Ireland to be built of red brick. The bricks were said to have come from Holland and then hand carried by a chain of hands which stretched all the way from Dublin to Naas.
There’s still some evidence of the formal gardens, these ruined steps lead up to a avenue of trees.

The Wentworth and Fitzwilliam’s in Ireland

The Early Wentworth

His methods, however, left much to be desired and there was considerable local resentment about the way in which he manipulated the Irish parliament and appropriated lands in the name of the Crown, ostensibly to better the economy of the country by encouraging the English nobility to take up residence there.

From “Making the Grand Figure” by Toby Bernard

Lives & Posessions in Ireland 1641-1770

Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Stafford was made Viceroy but in 1641 conspirators aimed to end the oppressive rule associated with him and his sucessors by seizing Dublin Castle. According to Lord-Lieutenant Essex commented bleakly in 1673 “Dublin Castle become known as one of the most incommodious dwellings that ever I came in and there is no place of pleasure beloging to it, nor any house to retire to for a little air upon reason of sickness” 44 Swentworth himself opften complained by never rectified the defects. Dublin at this time was a stinking city hence the move by the upper classes to build substantial homes outside of Dublin City in particular in North Kildare.

So Wentworth himself eventually decided to build a new hown for him-self and his royal visitors at Jigginstown near Naas County Kildare. This was in the late 1630’s. No drawings of the house have so far been found except a drawing of the site plan of this neoclaaical Dutch designed palatial palace.

Wentworth Jigginstown House site plan p247

Site plan of the Jigginstown House

However by the 1640’s the shell of the building was abandoned, and then cannibalized allegedly by the Ormonds from Kilkenny who it is believed used the stone to build Kilkenny Castle.

Within the planning were raised walks from which the gardens could be admired. However, these same walks, as well as creating conditions appropriate to civil discourse, also served a defensive role, with their external faces lined with walling and covered with brick-built turrets in the corners. (from Ireland in the Renaissance c. 1540-1660 by Thomas Herron & Michael Potterton).

Jigginstown also known as Sigginstown House was constructed under the guidance of Thomas Wentworth, the Earl of Stafford and who was also Lord Deputy of Ireland during the reign of Charles I.

Thomas Wentworth had planned the building with the idea that it could be home to the king on royal visits to Ireland.

From 1632 to 1639, Wentworth instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland. Recalled back to England, he became a leading advisor to the king, attempting to strengthen the royal position against parliament.

Tenants, in particular were expected to obey the terms of their leases but to avoid excess. Those who engage in ambitious building, such as the lessees of the Wentworth holdings in South Wicklow and North Wexford, threatened to blur the distinction between landlord and tenant. At Coolkenna for example, the occupier ‘squire Lorenzo Hodson, tenant to 656 acres at an annual rent of £115 2s., presided over ‘ a stone and lime slated house and outhouses in good order, with handsome garden, orchards qand plantation of fir trees, &c., fine hedges andf ornamental trees.’95. Tempted to essay the grand figure, ambitious tenants had built unnecessarily large houses and surrounded them with ornamental trees rather than useful plantations. Thereby future generations were encumbered with expenses which their farms might not meet. 96 One prominent inhabitant typified the trend.John Nickson, heir of a former Wentworth agent in the district. He rented Nunnt for a yearly rent of £113. He leased a seconf farm from Wentworthin the vicinity for £113 16s 6d. With high standards beign set by the Wentworths for the tenants both in farming and behavour and dress sense, the the Wentworths went back to England. It is said the on the Wentworth property ‘no tenant would drink a drop of ale at any public meeting except good claret, sack or punch… The wives and daughter had coffee, tea or chocolate.

Many of the large estates in Ireland began plant woodland areas, but by the late 1680’s comments were being made that too many evergree trees were being palnted. One such comment on page 212 refers to the Coollattin Estate but in the year 2014 many of the trees on both the estate and the golf course are evergreen fir trees. Those of us who golf often curse them but they do look magnificent in the general setting oft the grounds of the hosue and lands.

When Hume carried out his survey in late 1690’s he doubted that much of the timer had any commercial value, he was also referring to the ornamental gardens.

Timber

Reference is made in page 126 to the timber on the Coollattin Estate of Thomas Watson Wentworth in the 1720’s which was being converted in furniture.

Gardening.

Gardening was very much in vogue and the landed gentry strove to grow the rarest and the best quality fruit and veg and much competition ensued betqween the big houses.

One such report on page 209, tells of in 1741 Archbishop King thanking Lord Fitzwilliam of Coollattin for his gifts of melons, peaches, apricots and ripe almonds for his Mount Merrion property. (I am assuming that they were grown in the walled in garden which is now hole 5 on the Coollattin Golf course). ( Lord Fitzwilliam was the 3rd Viscount Fitzwilliam and 1st Earl.)

Strafford himself purchased the half barony of Shillelagh in 1635 and built a hunting lodge and park (Fairwood) near Coollattin.

There are records of his writing to King Charles about the wonderful countryside and hunting in the area, although it is likely that the local O’Byrne clan, whose lands he took over, were less than enthusiastic about his presence in the area.

Even accounting for the higher shipping costs, the cost of felling and preparing timber in Ireland worked out at half the price of producing comparable timber on the Wentworth estates, hence the family’s involvement in the area continued to grow. On the death of the 2nd Earl the estates passed to his nephew, Thomas Watson Wentworth (1665-1725), whose son Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Malton and 1st Marquis of Rockingham was the father of Lady Ann Wentworth was to go on to unite the Wentworth/Fitzwilliam lines by marrying 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam.

The Earl Fitzwilliam

The history of the Fitzwilliam family in Ireland starts with Sir William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Milton (1460-1534). A successful merchant and Alderman of London, Fitzwilliam made numerous land purchases, including the family’s first estates in Ireland. Unlike many other aristocrats of the time Fitzwilliam seems to have built up his fortune by honest hard work and gained significant respect from his peers.

Fitzwilliam’s grandson (also Sir William Fitzwilliam) was the first family member to have significant political influence in Ireland. He was made Lord Deputy of Ireland (shortly after Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford) and was Commander in Chief of the Army. He seems to have lasted longer in the post than Strafford and as a reward his family was granted yet more Irish lands by the King. By 1620 the family had been granted the title Baron Fitzwilliam of Liffer (the first holder being yet another Sir William Fitzwilliam, great-great-grandson of the 1st Earl) and then in 1716 the 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (who, as you’ve probably guessed, was also called William) was created 1st Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland.

The 1st Earl’s grandson (William again!) was not only 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland but also became 1st Earl Fitzwilliam of England following his marriage to Lady Ann Wentworth, daughter of the Marquis of Rockingham and heir to the Wentworth Estates, including Wentworth family’s significant Irish landholdings.

The 4th Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland

William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland (or 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam of England) was the first heir to the combined Wentworth/Fitzwilliam family fortune.

It was the 4th Earl who built Coollattin House (it was originally called Malton House, presumably after one of his grandfather’s titles as the Earl of Malton). The house was designed by the leading architect John Carr, who was also responsible for the grandiose “stable block” at Wentworth Woodhouse as well as the Keppel’s Column and Mausoleum monuments near Wentworth. The building was started around 1794 but before completion it was burned down in a rebellion in 1798 (along with 160 other houses in the nearby village of Carnew and several Catholic churches). It isn’t clear if the house was burnt to the ground, but on Lady’s Day in 1798 a carpenter was paid £27 7s 5d and a half pence, even though his work had apparently been destroyed by the rebels. Work resumed again in 1800 and the house was completed in 1807.

As well as rebuilding their house and the village, the Fitzwilliam’s contributed to the repairs of the Catholic Churches and gave land for other churches (whilst other landlords would not even allow a Catholic church on their estate). Throughout the family’s time in Ireland they did not take sides in the various Irish struggles through the centuries, and perhaps as a consequence their house was left untouched in the last dash for independence.

Earl Fitzwilliam was a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Fitzwilliam family.

The Fitzwilliams acquired extensive holdings in the south of the West Riding of Yorkshire, largely through strategic alliances through marriage. In 1410, Sir John Fitzwilliam of Sprotborough, who died in 1421, married Margaret Clarell, daughter of Thomas Clarell of Aldwark, the descendant of a major Norman landholding family. This is how the Fitzwilliams acquired the Clarell holdings.

Sir William Fitzwilliam (c. 1460–1534) was an Alderman and Sheriff of London and acquired the Milton Hall estate in Peterborough in 1502. His grandson Sir William Fitzwilliam served as Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1571 to 1575 and from 1588 to 1594; he supervised the execution of the death sentence on Mary, Queen of Scots.

The Barons Fitzwilliam

His grandson William Fitzwilliam (d. 1643) was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Lord Fitzwilliam, Baron of Liffer, alias Lifford, in the County of Donegal, in 1620. He was the first Baron FitzWilliam.

His son was William FitzWilliam, 2nd Baron FitzWilliam (c.1609 – 21 February 1658).

His son William became 3rd Baron FitzWilliam.

The Earls Fitzwilliam

The 3rd Baron FitzWilliam succeeded his father in 1658, and in 1716 was created the first Earl Fitzwilliam, of the County of Tyrone with the subsidiary title Viscount Milton, in the County of Westmeath, also in the Peerage of Ireland.

The eldest son of the Earl Fitzwilliam bore the courtesy title Viscount Milton. He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl.

The second Earl, John Fitzwilliam, sat as Member of Parliament for Peterborough. On his death the titles passed to his son, the third Earl.

The third Earl, William Fitzwilliam, also represented Peterborough in the House of Commons. In April 1742 he was created Lord Fitzwilliam, Baron of Milton in the County of Northampton, in the Peerage of Great Britain, and in 1746 he was further honoured when he was made Earl Fitzwilliam, of Norborough with the subsidiary title Viscount Milton, both in the County of Northampton, also in the Peerage of Great Britain.

Lord Fitzwilliam married Lady Anne Watson-Wentworth (died 1769), daughter of Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, and sister of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham. He was succeeded by his son, the fourth Earl.

The fourth Earl, William Fitzwilliam, was a prominent Whig politician and served as Lord President of the Council and as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1782 he inherited the Watson-Wentworth estates (including Wentworth Woodhouse) on the death of his uncle Lord Rockingham, which made him one of the greatest landowners in the country. When he died the titles passed to his son, the fifth Earl.

The fifth Earl, Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, represented several constituencies in the House of Commons and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1851. In 1856 Lord Fitzwilliam assumed by Royal license the additional surname of Wentworth. He was succeeded by his second but eldest surviving son, the sixth Earl.

The sixth Earl was William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam. He sat as Member of Parliament for Malton and County Wicklow and served as Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire. His eldest son William FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton, was also a member of parliament but predeceased his father. Lord Fitzwilliam was therefore succeeded by his grandson, the seventh Earl. Also, Lady Mabel Fitzwilliam, a socialist politician and an ardent pioneer in education and social welfare was a granddaughter of the 6th Earl.

The seventh Earl was William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (25 July 1872 – 15 February 1943), the eldest son of Viscount Milton (William Wentworth Fitzwilliam). He represented Wakefield in Parliament as a Liberal Unionist. When he died the titles passed to his son, the eighth Earl.

The eighth Earl was Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (31 December 1910 – 13 May 1948). He was killed in an air crash in France. On his early death the line of the eldest son of the sixth Earl failed and titles passed to the late Earl’s first cousin once removed, the ninth Earl.

The ninth Earl was the son of Captain the Hon. Sir William Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, fourth son of the sixth Earl. When he died in 1952 this line of the family also failed and the titles were inherited by his second cousin, the tenth Earl.

The tenth Earl was William Thomas George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam) (28 May 1904 – 21 September 1979. He was the son of George Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, son of the Hon. George Wentworth-FitzWilliam, MP, third son of the fifth Earl. He and his wife had no children.

After extinction

On the death of the tenth Earl, all the titles became extinct. The family seat of Wentworth Woodhouse was sold while the more than 80,000 acre (320 km²) estate including much of the town of Malton, North Yorkshire, was retained. The other family seat, Milton Hall, and its considerable estate of over 50,000 acres (200 km²) together with valuable properties in Peterborough and the surrounding area continue by descent in the family.

The Bourne Park Estate, near Canterbury, Kent, England, remains in the ownership of Lady Juliet Tadgell, née Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, only child of the 8th Earl by his wife the former Olive Dorothea Plunket.

List of the Barons Fitzwilliam (1620)

William Fitzwilliam, 1st Baron Fitzwilliam (died 1644)

William Fitzwilliam, 2nd Baron Fitzwilliam (c. 1609–1658)

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (1643–1719) (created Earl Fitzwilliam in 1716)

List of the Earls Fitzwilliam (1716; 1746)

10th Earl Fitzwilliam

William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl Fitzwilliam (1643–1719)

John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (1681–1728)

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (1719–1756) (created Earl Fitzwilliam in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1746)

William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (1748–1833)

Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam (1786–1857)

William Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton (1812–1835)

William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815–1902)

William Wentworth-FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton (1839–1877)

William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872–1943)

(William Henry Lawrence) Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam (1910–1948)

Eric Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 9th Earl Fitzwilliam (1883–1952)

William Thomas George Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam (1904–1979)

. The coat of arms of the Earls Fitzwilliam.

Earl Fitzwilliam was a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Fitzwilliam family.

The Barons Fitzwilliam

His son was William FitzWilliam, 2nd Baron FitzWilliam (c.1609 – 21 February 1658).

His son William became 3rd Baron FitzWilliam.

The Earls Fitzwilliam

The eldest son of the Earl Fitzwilliam bore the courtesy title Viscount Milton. He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl.

The second Earl, John Fitzwilliam, sat as Member of Parliament for Peterborough. On his death the titles passed to his son, the third Earl.

After extinction

List of the Barons Fitzwilliam (1620)

William Fitzwilliam, 1st Baron Fitzwilliam (died 1644)

William Fitzwilliam, 2nd Baron Fitzwilliam (c. 1609–1658)

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (1643–1719) (created Earl Fitzwilliam in 1716)

List of the Earls Fitzwilliam (1716; 1746)

10th Earl Fitzwilliam

William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl Fitzwilliam (1643–1719)

John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (1681–1728)

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (1719–1756) (created Earl Fitzwilliam in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1746)

William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (1748–1833)

Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam (1786–1857)

William Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton (1812–1835)

William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815–1902)

William Wentworth-FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton (1839–1877)

William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872–1943)

(William Henry Lawrence) Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam (1910–1948)

Eric Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 9th Earl Fitzwilliam (1883–1952)

William Thomas George Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam (1904–1979)

Around 1780 the Earl sent over an instructor in ploughing from Wentworth to train his Irish tenantry. In 1812 someone called Wakefield wrote “His estate is the best cultivated of all I have seen in Ireland”.

As well as undertaking building and agricultural projects, the 4th Earl was also Lord Lieutenant or Ireland for a short time in 1795. Knowing of the family’s strong Irish connections and relative local popularity, Prime Minister Pitt had sent the Earl to Dublin telling him to appease the Catholic leaders of the day.

On arrival in Dublin, Fitzwilliam set about dismissing senior officials with strong Protestant connections, including Beresford the Commissioner of Customs. This apparently backfired as Beresford then appealed above Fitzwilliam’s head directly to Pitt who ordered the reinstatement of the officials; inevitably Fitzwilliam then resigned. Apparently Fitzwilliam’s departure was seen as a major setback by the local population who closed all the shops in Dublin on the day he left, almost as if in mourning. Fitzwilliam and Beresford later met at the Tyburn Turnpike in London for a duel (which fortunately was stopped by the local constable!).

Landowners of Ireland of 1878 by De Burgh
Surname Forename Title Lands in County Acreage Valuation £
Fitzwilliam, Earl of (William Thomas Spencer Wentworth Fitzwilliam K. G. 6th Earl) educated at Trinity College Cambridge (M. A. 1837), Lord Lieut. W. Riding of York, Col 1st S. West York Yeomanry, was M. P. for Malton 1837-1841 1846-1847, and Wicklow 1847-1857, of Coollattin Park Shillelagh Co. Wicklow, Wentworth-Woodhouse Rotherham and 4 Grosvenor Sq W London and Sackville Street Club Dublin.

Co Kildare 1532 £1,255
Co Wexford 325 £155
Co Wicklow 89,891 £46,444
Total 91,748 £47, 854

Census of Ireland C. 1659 + Poll Money Ordinances by Seamus Pender
Dublin
Lord Oliver Fitzwilliam & William Fitzwilliam of Irishtown

The Coollattin Estate Co Wicklow Ireland

The Fitzwilliam Family Crest

This Crest appears on the front of the Coollattin House, so far it has not been possible to determine if it is part of the Fitzwilliam Family Crest or that of the last owner of Coollattin House before it came into the ownership of Coollattin Golf Club

Production

Recent research has drawn attention to the value of estate records in illustrating landscape development in the eighteenth century. Considering the large volume of these and other records available, relatively little study has been undertaken on landscape change in Ireland during this period.

The records of the Coollattin estate in South Wicklow are exceptionally well preserved by Irish standards. Records such as maps, account books, rentals and estate correspondence contain information on such issues as changing agricultural techniques, improvements in house – and town-building and land-lord-tenant relationships. They therefore provide a very detailed picture of the changing economic and social conditions within the estate area beginning around 1730. The study area comprises the half Barony of Shillelagh, the regions formally known as Gashaw and Towerboy, and one town land in county Wexford – Motabower, a total area of almost 69,000 statute acres (based on a ratio of 1 acre on the 1885 Ordnance Survey six inch map to 0.605 acres on the estate map drawn up by Moland in 1728) This area formed the major part of the estate in the eighteenth century, which also consisted of lands around Rathdrum, Newcastle and Wicklow Town in East Wicklow, and a few town-lands centered on Naas County Kildare. .

The total area of the estate in Ireland is almost 89,000 statute acres. The landlord of this estate, who also had estates in South Yorkshire, were permanent absentees in Ireland. The agent, therefore, was largely responsible for running the estate, with reference to the Landlord in England. After 1748 the agent came from Yorkshire and was engaged full-time on estate business.

Moland gives the total area of Shillelagh barony as 26,869 acres, which is given as 44,393 acres in the Ordinance Survey six inch map of 1885.

Land owners in Ireland

Map of the Coollattin Area of County Wicklow

Coollattin Estate its History

This area of south Wicklow was traditionally the territory of the native Irish family, the O’Byrne’s. There is some evidence of Norman settlement in the area, but this has left little trace in the modern landscape. The first reference to significant English colonization of the area dates from Elizabethan times, when lands were granted to Sir Henry Harrington, an English adventurer. .

This lease was drawn up in 1578:‘Lease… to Sir Henry Farrington, knt.: of the country of Shilelaughe alias Shilealie in county Dublin, lying nigh the Birnes country, in the queen’s disposition as by good matter of record doth appear. To hold for twenty-one years, rent, u13.6s.8d. maintaining (?) English horsemen’

Sir Henry’s Castle

Sir Henry built ‘a defensible castle of stone and lime at Knocklow, near the Carlow border, in the west of the present-day Shillelagh barony.

This was subsequently destroyed in 1597, when Sir Henry was defeated by the native O’Byrne’s. A hand-painted plan of this battle survives; shoving the castle at Knocklow beside the river Dereen, but unfortunately it shows little detail of’ the surrounding landscape.

Sir Henry’s Castle at Carnew which was rebuilt after its destruction during the Cromwellian wars, and Black Tom’s Cabin – the house begun by Thomas Wentworth near Tinahely about 1635, but was never completed.

Sir Henry rebuilt his castle at Carnew in the early seventeenth century, which still stands. Sir Henry died in 1612,11 and the castle passed into the possession of Calcott Chambers, a Welshman who, by the time the English traveller, William Brereton, journeyed through South Wicklow in 1635, had built a deer park ‘seven miles in compass around the castle.

Much attention has recently been focussed by historians on the transactions in Ireland of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford arid Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1632 and 1640. In May 1638, a rent charge of €500 a year was bought by Strafford for £4,000 on Calcott Chambers’ lands in Shillelagh (presumably that part of Shillelagh which was created a half Barony around 1600). .

The way in which Strafford came into his other lands in Wicklow around this is more complicated, however. The lands of the junior branch of the O’Byrne’s, led by Phelim McPheagh, in the territories of Ranelagh and Cashaw, were forfeited to the crown following the junior O’Byrne’s’ support for Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, the new settlers on these lands were dispossessed by Stafford, and the crown obtained land worth £2000. Stafford was rewarded by Charles I by the granting of the manors of Wicklow and Newcastle, and lands in Towerboy and Cashaw. Strafford was later seized in fee of his lands, but his son William was repossessed during the reign of Charles II. The lands then passed into the hands of the family of Lord Malton, the Marquis of Rockingham (and after 1783 to Earl Fitzwilliam, son-in-law of the second Marquis), who remained landlords of the estate until it was sold in 1977.

The Estate Boundaries

The estate boundaries remained unaltered throughout the eighteenth century, despite negotiation for the purchase of the estate of Sir John Esmond ‘adjacent to Coollattin’ in 1749. The town lands listed in the Books of Survey and Distribution of c. 1703 under the ownership of ‘Lord Strafford’ comprise the exact same area as the estate of Earl Fitzwilliam, as seen in Griffith’s Valuation of 1853. This area was distinct from the remainder of the estate in several ways; it possessed no large town and a poorer communications network, it included the estate house and demesne of Coollattin and, very importantly from the estate point of view, it possessed substantial reserves of forests, in the beginning of the century at least. .

The estate records for this are in general, more numerous and more detailed. It should be noted, however, that the regulations laid down by the estate in relation to agriculture, building and other improvements, and general estate management and practice, were similar in every part of the estate. Such regulations created a very distinctive landscape which is still very noticeable today, especially in the area around Coollattin demesne and Shillelagh. This is seen in such features as the oak woods, the distinctive house-types and the regular field boundaries enclosing large fields.

A view of Coollattin House

A view of Coollattin House left side

Four pictures of the hand painted Wall coverings in Coollattin House

One of the many driveways around Coollattin House

A view alongside the walled in garden

A view of the grounds

Beautiful blooms

Open landscape view

Coollattin House nortside view

Typical houses of Tenant Farmers in the 1800′s

Old Irish Village

Estate Records

The estate records used in this study cover the period from 1728, when the records began, to around 1800. This latter date was chosen as it marks an interruption in the estate economy following the 1798 rebellion, which led to virtually the comp1ete destruction of Tinahely and Carnew, the two main towns in the area, and brought a temporary halt to the agricultural and planting improvements which were being carried on with estate guidance. .

This period was also the time when the influence of the estate on all aspects of the local economy, and the income drawn from the estate, was at its greatest, not just in this area, but throughout Ireland. The management of the estate necessitated an efficient system of record—keeping on a regular basis. Luckily the records of this estate have survived almost entirely, and form part of the manuscript collection of the National Library of Ireland.

The earliest accord in this collection is the volume of estate maps drawn up by Moland in 1728. This survey accompanied by a valuation, was completed before many leases on the estate expired in the early 1730s, and gives a detailed picture of land use and the extent of head-tenants improvements on each town land.

Map of Coollattin Estate

Moland’s survey 1743

Moland’s survey, together with a volume of maps drawn up by George Hibbard in 1743 showing the extent of the coppices and woods on the estate, arrived in the National Library only in August 1978, and are as yet un-catalogued, The other records, however, have been available for almost thirty years, yet surprisingly they do not appear to have been used in any academic research during this period.

These records are of three main types: account books, rentals and estate correspondence, the account books are continuous from 1745, and provide a day-to-day record of every item of estate income and expenditure. These are very detailed, and are especially useful in studying the level of estate investment on the demesne and estate in general.

The rentals, which were drawn up at approximately six—yearly intervals after 1748 and are continuous (yearly) from l778, contain information not only on the number of holdings, their area and valuation, but also on the permissive and restrictive clauses imposed by the estate on each tenant when the lease was drawn up or renewed, information not usually given in the rentals of other estates in Ireland at this time. Estate correspondence includes the letters of the agent, landlord and tenants, observations made on the estate by the agent, and memoranda dealing with tenancies, where the agent advised the landlord on the level of improvements on the holding for which a tenant seeks a renewal of his lease.

The great wealth of detail contained in these records, and the fact that they have particularly well, suggests a highly organized estate administration which, as Smyth suggests, is probably untypical of Irish estates as a whole. The records also represent a particular point of view; they portray a view of the estate by those concerned with managing it. The economic and social conditions of subtenants, therefore, with whom the management had little dealings, are difficult to trace in the records. Theses may be supplemented, however, by other sources, in particular travellers’ accounts of the area.

These must be little doubt, however, that the completeness and details of the estate records imply a very accurate representation of conditions at that time.

Traveller’s accounts from this period, notably Fraser’s observations on the estate, published in 1801, invariably express surprise at the high level of improvements in the area, considering its poor fertility. The Ordnance Survey half-inch map shows a well-defined ridge running north-east, south-west through the middle of the area, dissected by the river Derry, north-west of Tinahely, and by its tributaries between Tinahely and Clonegall. This ridge, reaching its highest point north of Tinahely (Saint Mullins), (1419 feet) is composed of schist, and is located at the contact between the Wicklow granite and the Ordovician shale. .

The south-easterly flowing rivers, cutting through this ridge have formed deep valleys, which provide important sites for roads. As both the eighteenth and nineteenth century land valuations maps show, the light textured soils derive from granitic materials in the west of the region are considerably more fertile than those soils overlaying shale, which make up about 70% of the total area of this estate. Much of the land over 1,000 feet is peat land.

With so much mountainous terrain and river to contend with, it is not surprising that the roads within the area often take a meandering course through the physical barriers. Nevill’s county map of Wicklow provides a good picture of the communications network in the last decade of the eighteenth century. It shows a generally unplanned network, with few of the long stretches of straight road characteristic of mid-eighteenth century roads in other parts of Ireland laid out under the presentment system.

Two exceptions to this are noticeable however: at Coollattin (Malton), laid out in the mid-1770, where the unusually straight road deviates from its original course to pass close to the demesne houses. This feature is still preserved in the modern road at Ballybeg. The roads in general avoid the marshy river valleys, but important exceptions to this have already been mentioned: those roads following the valleys of the Derry river and its tributaries flowing south-eastwards. The links between Shillelagh and Tullow, and Tinahely and Hacketstown, were of great importance during the century not only because they provided access to markets in County Carlow, but also because supplies of lime necessary as fertilizer, drawn from Carlow, passed along these route-ways.

A comparison between Moland’s estate survey and Nevill’s map shows that the road network changed little through the century. The estate did not partake in road building mainly, it seems, because e it was satisfied with the existing network. On his arrival from Yorkshire in 1748, the agent Hugh Wentworth was impressed with the quality of the roads:

‘As to the bridges and roads we have certainly in the county of Wicklow far better than any other county in Ireland which are made by an assessment of so much in the pound equally levied by the several constables and paid into a cashier’s hand, and proper people to repair the roads, and this is instead of common-days works, and I think much a better method, and by which we are free from turnpike’.

By the end of the century, however, this view had changed, and the estate seemed anxious that several new roads should be built to encourage industry within the area, particularly in the northern half of the estate. The clauses written into the lease drawn up on Farnees in 1802 are typical of many others from this period: ‘Liberty of making a way from Whiterock to the road leading from the County of Carlow to Tinahely not exceeding eighteen feet in breathes’.

Proposal for a Canal

The Grand Canal with Lock Gates and Bridge

A stretch of canal similar to what was originally planned for Coollattin

Around this time also a canal was proposed by Fraser in 1801. ‘To accelerate the improvement of the county’, which would facilitate the movement of lime and coal into the area and also, it was believed, to open up the copper mines in the north-east corner of the estate. An actual survey of the proposed route of the canal was drawn up by John Killaly in 1808, which would branch off the Grand Canal north of Naas, and after crossing the River Slaney, and visiting Baltinglass, and Hacketstown by a winding course, will terminate at Killabeg, about two and a half miles from the town of Shillelagh.

This ambitious scheme, however, never even reached County Carlow. Later in the century, a new route way was opened up with the construction of the Woodenbridge and Shillelagh railway in 1865. The estate was largely instrumental in the completion of this branch, in granting land free of cost for twelve of the sixteen miles of the line, and donating £1,000 towards the cost of its construction.

Shillelagh Railway Station

The Railway to Shillelagh

A picture of the old railway between Shillelagh and Woodenbridge

Two pictures showing part of the old railway now converted in a walk way for sightseeing. This spot is located on the north side of Tinahealy

Steam Trains at work on the line

Picture of some of the old cottages in the village of Shillelagh

By the mid-nineteenth century, therefore, the estate had many more links with neighbouring towns. In 1728, however, the estate was relatively isolated, and had a high-level of self-sufficiency. This was emphasized by the situation of the estate which, although in County Wicklow, probably had more connections with Counties Wexford and Carlow than with the rest of Wicklow. These connections became more important throughout the eighteenth century, with the growing reliance on market towns such as Tullowllow

Picture of 18th Centuary Cornmill at Bellinglen and St Michaels Church Aghowle Built 1716

Picture of Tinahealy & Carnew

THE FINAL YEARS

The demesne was sold in 1978 for £3m. At them time, it consisted of 3,300 acres, 550 acres of gardens and parkland and 1,400 acres of woodland with the estate house and several residential and farm/industrial structures. The purchasers, Brendan Cadogan and Pat Taffan, proceeded to asset strip. Various structures were sold off including the steward’s house and outbuildings and the mason’s carpenter’s house.

Although there were tree preservation orders on the woodlands, the new owners commenced to extensive program of deforestation. In 1987 the Irish Times reported that Bridge Farms (The company owned by Cadogan and Tattan) was exploiting the wood with massive trunks being exported to Germany. In 1995 Wicklow County Council bought the Tomnafinnogue wood (approx 100 acres), which is now opened to the public.

In 1995, the Coollattin Golf Club purchased Coollattin House and 50 acres for €550,000. The house has been mothballed with a small maintenance budget. Restoration work is on going with new windows being installed in 2010.

ESTATE OWNERS

1578-1609 Henry Harrington.

1609-1632 Calcott Chambers.

1632-1641 Thomas Wentworth (Strafford), who was beheaded.

1641-1695 William Wentworth (son of Thomas) 2nd Earl No son, this was the end of the Stafford line. The estate went to his sister Anne’s son.

1692-1750 Thomas Watson (became 1st Marques of Rockingham). His seat went Wentworth Woodhouse. .

1750-1782 Charles 2nd Marques of Rockingham – no children (died while Prime Minister). End of the Rockingham line. His estate went to his sister Anne’s family, who developed the estate village of Coollattin. .

1782-1833 William 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, built Coollattin House in 1804.

1833-1857 Charles 5th Earl Fitzwilliam – carried out major improvements Including farm yard etc.

1857-1902 William the 6th Earl Fitzwilliam, had eight sons all called William, Promoted the railway.

1902-1943 William 7th Earl Fitzwilliam built the Hydro. 1943-1948 Peter Milton 8th Earl killed in a plane crash in France.

1948-1975 Eric 9th Earl, a cousin of Peter. .

1978-1983 Estate sold to Cadogan and Tatton.

1983 Bridge farm sold off ‘parcels’ of the demesne.

1995 Golf Club bought Coollattin House and 50 acres. .

1995 Wicklow County Council bought 100 acres of Tomnafinnoge Wood.

2003 Steward’s house and farm for sale. Tomnafinnoge Wood opened to the public.

STEWARDS AND AGENTS

NATIONALITY STEWARDS DATES AGENTS DATES

Irish A. Nicklson 1707 – 1735 A. Nicklson 1707 – 1735

Irish W. M. Hume 1735 – 1741 W. M. Hume

Irish Dr. D. W. Griffiths 1741 – 1747 Dr. D. W. Griffiths 1728 – 1748

Yorkshire H. Wentworth 1747 – 1777 H. Wentworth 1748 – 1777

Yorkshire Will Wainwright 1782 – 1812 Will Wainwright- 1800

Yorkshire W. M. Haigh 1812 – 1824

Yorkshire Rob. Challenor 1825 – 1853 Rob. Challenor 1842 – 1853

Ralph Lawernson 1854 – 1868 Frederick Ponsonby 1864 – 1876

Scotland John Robertson 1901 Captain McNeill 1876 – 1887

Scotland William Robertson 1911 Frank Brooke 1887 – 1920\

Niall Robinson 1950 1970

Sources: Sheffield Archives Census 1901 -1911 Local Residents

Moland’s Survey 1728

In 1905, a dynamo, driven by an oil engine, was installed in the building yard. this was used to generate electric light for Ardeen House and the village of shillelagh. In 1914, the estaet built a hydroelectric plant using an old millrace near the village as the power source. A second generating plant was constructed in Coady’s Wood between 1926 and 1927.

The Earl Fitzwilliam

Family Images

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Earl Fitzwilliam was a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Fitzwilliam family. This family claim descent from William the Conqueror. The Fitzwilliams acquired extensive holdings in South Yorkshire, largely through strategic alliances through marriage. In 1410, Sir John Fitzwilliam of Sprotborough, who died in 1421, married Margaret Clarell, daughter of Thomas Clarell of Aldwark, the descendant of a major Norman landholding family. Thus did the Fitzwilliams acquire the Clarell holdings.

His grandson William FitzWilliam was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Lord Fitzwilliam, Baron of Liffer, alias Lifford, in the County of Donegal, in 1620. His grandson, the third Baron (who succeeded his father in 1658), was in 1716 created Earl Fitzwilliam, of the County of Tyrone with the subsidiary title Viscount Miltown, in the County of Westmeath, also in the Peerage of Ireland.

He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. He sat as Member of Parliament for Peterborough. On his death the titles passed to his son, the third Earl. He also represented Peterborough in the House of Commons. In April 1742 he was created Lord Fitzwilliam, Baron of Milton in the County of Northampton, in the Peerage of Great Britain, and in 1746 he was further honoured when he was made Earl Fitzwilliam, of Norborough with the subsidiary title Viscount Milton, both in the County of Northampton, also in the Peerage of Great Britain.

Lord Fitzwilliam married Lady Anne Watson-Wentworth (d. 1769), daughter of Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, and sister of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham.

When he died the titles passed to his son, the fifth Earl. He represented several constituencies in the House of Commons and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1851.

In 1856 Lord Fitzwilliam assumed by Royal license the additional surname of Wentworth. He was succeeded by his second but eldest surviving son, the sixth Earl. He sat as Member of Parliament for Malton and County Wicklow and served as Lord-Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

His eldest son William FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton, was also a Member of Parliament but predeceased his father. Lord Fitzwilliam was therefore succeeded by his grandson, the seventh Earl. He was the eldest son of Viscount Milton. He represented Wakefield in Parliament as a Liberal Unionist. When he died the titles passed to his son, the eighth Earl. He was killed in an air crash in France in 1948.

When he died in 1952 this line of the family also failed and the titles were inherited by his second cousin, the tenth Earl. He was the son of George Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, son of the Hon. George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, MP, third son of the fifth Earl. On his death in 1979 all the titles became extinct.

The family seat of Wentworth Woodhouse was sold while the more than 80,000 acre (320 km²) estate including much of the town of Malton, North Yorkshire, was retained.

The other family seat, Milton Hall, and its considerable estate of over 50,000 acres (200 km²) together with valuable properties in Peterborough and the surrounding area continue by descent in the family. The Bourne Park Estate, near Canterbury, Kent, England, remains in the ownership of Lady Juliet Tadgell, née Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, only child of the 8th Earl by his wife the former Olive Dorothea Plunket.

The eldest son of the Earl Fitzwilliam bore the courtesy title Viscount Milton.

Lady Mabel Fitzwilliam, a socialist politician and “an ardent pioneer in education and social welfare”, was a granddaughter of the 6th Earl.

1 Barons Fitzwilliam (1620)

2 Earls Fitzwilliam (1716; 1746)

Barons Fitzwilliam (1620)

William Fitzwilliam, 1st Baron Fitzwilliam (d.1644)

William Fitzwilliam, 2nd Baron Fitzwilliam (c.1609–1658)

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (1643–1719) (created Earl Fitzwilliam in 1716)

Earls Fitzwilliam (1716; 1746)

10th Earl Fitzwilliam

William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl Fitzwilliam (1643–1719)

John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (1681–1728)

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (1719–1756) (created Earl Fitzwilliam in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1746)

William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (1748–1833)

Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam (1786–1857)

William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815–1902)

William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872–1943)

(William Henry Lawrence) Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam (1910–1948)

Eric Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 9th Earl Fitzwilliam (1883-1952)

William Thomas George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam (1904–1979)

Marquess of Rockingham

References:

1. Brydges, Egerton Collins’s Peerage of England; Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Vol. VIII (pp.374-400) London: F.C. and J. Rivington, 1812

2. Marriage of Fitzwilliam and Clarell, Earls of Fitzwilliam, rotherhamweb

3. By letters patent bearing the date at Westminster, 1 December 18 Jac. I

4. By letters patent bearing the date at Westminster, 21 July 2 Geo. I

5. By letters patent bearing the date at Westminster, 19 April 15 Geo. II

6. By letters patent bearing the date at Westminster, 6 September 20 Geo. II

7. The Annual Biography and Obituary Vol. XVIII (pp.93-106) London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman, 1834

8. Maltbyonline.co.uk

External links

Debrett’s Peerage and Baronetage (1968 edition) Leigh Rayment’s Peerage Pages www.thepeerage.com

The title of Earl Fitzwilliam was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1716, and in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1746. The Earls bore the subsidiary titles of Viscount Milton (1746) and Baron Fitzwilliam (1742) in the Peerage of Great Britain, and of Viscount Milton (1716) and Baron Fitzwilliam (1620) in the Peerage of Ireland. The title became extinct upon the death of the 10th Earl (the 8th Earl in the British peerage) in 1979. The courtesy title of the earl’s eldest son was Viscount Milton.

Barons Fitzwilliam (1620)

William Fitzwilliam, 1st Baron Fitzwilliam (d.1644) His wife was Katharine Hyde

William Fitzwilliam, 2nd Baron Fitzwilliam (c.1609-1658)

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (1643-1719), created Earl Fitzwilliam in 1716

Earls Fitzwilliam (1716, 1746)

William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl Fitzwilliam (1643-1719)

John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (1681-1728)

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (1719-1756), created Earl Fitzwilliam in the Peerage of Great Britain 1746

William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (1748-1833)

Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam (1786-1857)

William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815-1902)

William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872-1943) m. Lady Maud Frederica Elizabeth Dundas(1877-1967)

William Henry Lawrence Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam (1910-1948)

Eric Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 9th Earl Fitzwilliam (1883-1952)

William Thomas George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam (1904-1979)

William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam

The Fitzwilliams acquired extensive estates in South Yorkshire, from the Clarell family with the marriage of Sir John Fitzwilliam of Sprotborough, who died in 1421, married Margaret Clarell , daughter of Thomas Clarell of Aldwark about 1410.

Pre-nuptial settlement

For 10 years or until the marriage and then to the use of John the younger and Margaret, his wife, and their heirs, to hold from John, the father, at an annual rent of 20s. If John the younger dies within 4 years of the marriage then John Fitzwilliam’s second son, Nicholas, is to marry Margaret, and they are to hold the property on the same terms.

John Fitzwilliam died 1421 leaving son and heir William, Hugh and Eleanor.

Richard and Elizabeth Fitzwilliam had a daughter Isabel who married William Wentworth (1440-1477) and another daughter Margaret who married Ralph Reresby.

The daughter of Ralph and Margaret Reresby, Isabel married Robert Westby.

It is recorded that one of the members of the Clarel family of Aldwarke bequeathed to the Church of All Saints in Rotherham, a stained cloth depicting the celebrated joust between Anthony Woodville and the Bastard of Burgundy, which took place before Edward IV at Smithfield in 1467. Reference: CD/2

Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam of Aldwarke married Lucy Nevill, daughter of John Nevill, Marquess of Montacute. After her husband’s death Lucy Nevill married Sir Anthony Browne.

Thomas FitzWilliam, Viscount FitzWilliam 4th, was the father of Mary Fitzwilliam, who was married to the Hon. George Talbot.

William Fitzwilliam, Earl Fitzwilliam 3rd (1719-1756) was the son of John Fitzwilliam, Earl Fitzwilliam 2nd and Ann Stringer. He married in 1744, Anne Watson-Wentworth.

John Fitzwilliam, Earl Fitzwilliam 2nd, was son of 1st earl. He married Ann Stringer in 1718.

At the death of Charles Watson-Wentworth, the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham in 1782, his nephew, Earl Fitzwilliam, succeeded to the Wentworth estates in England and Ireland.

Genealogy Index

Origins of the Wentworth-Fitzwilliam family

Much later the family acquired other distinct estates, most notably in Ireland (based on Coollattin Park, Co. Wicklow) and Yorkshire, where they inherited in the late eighteenth the Marquess of Rockingham’s estates centred on the great house at Wentworth Woodhouse, situated between Sheffield and Barnsley.

History of Milton Hall.

So it was not until the mid-18th at the third Earl was able to enlarge the Hall by commissioning the architect Henry Flitcroft to design the imposing south front in the Palladian style. Milton remained the principal house of the Earls Fitzwilliam until after the death of the fifth Earl in 1857, when it was agreed to divide the estate, so that the sixth Earl retained the Yorkshire and Irish estates and went to reside at Wentworth, whilst his eldest surviving brother, George, acquired the Milton Estates.

In the 1880′s the Earl’s estates totalled 22,200 acres in Yorks with 91, 800 in Ireland, whilst the Milton Estate consisted of 23,300 acres extending along the Nene Valley roughly between Peterborough and Irthlingborough. What remained of all these estates was combined under the tenth Earl Fitzwilliam in 1952, with Milton Hall again the principal residence.

Sir William V was elevated to the Irish Peerage in 1620 with the title of Baron Fitzwilliam of Lifford, and the third Baron was advanced to the Earldom in 1716. The third Earl (in the Irish Peerage) became the first Baron in the British Peerage in 1742 and four years later was raised to the Earldom; the consequent dual numbering in the two peerages frequently causes confusion (we use the numbering in the Irish Peerage in this text). In 1807, as a result of their Yorkshire inheritance, the fourth Earl altered the family name (by Royal Licence) to Wentworth Fitzwilliam [sometimes hyphenated]. One of their lesser titles was Viscount Milton, which was used by the heir apparent from the early 18th century as a courtesy title.

As the ninth Earl also had no children it was necessary to determine who would succeed to the title, so in the early months of 1951 a case was brought before the High Court in London between Capt Tom Fitzwilliam, who lived at Milton Hall, and his much older brother George James, known as Toby. The case hinged on the validity of their parents’ alleged marriage in Scotland in 1886, and was ultimately resolved in favour of Capt Tom. It was only 13 months later that the ninth Earl died, and so in 1952 the title came back again to the branch of the family at Milton.

Four years after he inherited as the tenth (and last) Earl, Tom Fitzwilliam married Lady FitzAlan-Howard, but there was no issue from that marriage, and following the Earl’s death in 1979, Milton Estates have therefore descended through the Countess’s family from her first marriage, initially to her daughter Lady Elizabeth Anne Hastings, and then to her grandson, Sir Phillip Naylor-Leyland.

William Thomas George, tenth Earl Fitzwilliam (b. 28 May 1904 d.21 Sept 1979) who married, in April 1956, Joyce Elizabeth, Lady FitzAlan-Howard (b.1898-d.June 1995) by her previous marriage in 1922 to Viscount FitxAlan of Derwent (dissolved 1955), there were two daughters, of whom the younger was:

Elizabeth Anne Marie Gabrielle (b.26 Jan 1934 d.20 March 1997) who married firstly in 1952, Sir Vivyan Edward Naylor-Leyland (b.1924-d.2 Sept 1987) and had, with other issue, a son and heir:

Philip Vivyan Naylor-Leyland (b. 9 Aug 1953) [succeeded his father as baronet in 1987] who married, in 1980, Lady Isabella Lambton, and has issue, 3 sons and a daughter.

Lady Elizabeth’s first marriage was dissolved in 1960 and she married, secondly, in 1975, Sir Stephen Hastings (b. 4 May 1921 d. January 2005).

Records held at the Northamptonshire Record Office

In relation to the family Northamptonshire Record Office holds the following material:

Fitzwilliam Charters twelth Century-1850 and Fitzwilliam Rolls 1532-1750s including Peterborough Quarter Sessions Rolls 1700-1710.

Papers of Sir William Fitzwilliam as Lord Deputy in Ireland, late 16th century.

Political papers and speeches of Sir Walter Mildmay, late 16th century.

Architectural plans of Milton, mainly 18th and 19thcentury. Includes 1643 plan of mansion and garden, 1675 gateway, 1690 mason’s agreement, 1693 account for carpentry, 1720 elevation of stables, 1725 new wing by Robert Wright, 1726 designs for new mansion (never built), 1749-1754 designs for new mansion (never built) and extension of existing house, some by Henry Flitcroft. Accounts for extension 1750-1751.

18th century plans for a London house.

Large collection of 18th and 19th century vouchers.

Extensive private family correspondence from 1528 including Sir William Paget’s letter book 1547-1549, a minister under Henry VIII.

Peterborough Abbey bailiffs’ accounts and court records, late 13th century, 14th century and 15th century.

‘Miscellaneous volumes’ collection includes rentals, surveys, estate accounts, court books and printed works. With late 16th, early 17th century household accounts, also 1690s and 1775-1826, kitchen accounts 1584-1591, servants wages 1628-1638 and 1772-1826. Estate and household accounts for Setchey (Norfolk), 17th, early 18th century. Building accounts for Dogsthorpe 1579-1601 and Milton 1750-/SI. The 1st Earl’s notebooks or almanacs.

Travel journals, Low Countries and France 1663, voyage to East Indies 1672-1674, France, Italy, Bavaria, early/mid 19thC.. Personal account books and bank books of the 4th and 5th Earls 1772-1855. Nassaburgh Hundred Subsidy assessments, 1580s, 1590s, Parliamentary journals 1640/41, Peterborough charity accounts 1740s, 1790s, election accounts for Lord Burford at Hull 1790, Higham Ferrers 1812-1831. Lucy Hutchinson’s book of advice to her daughter 1731.

Papers of Edmund Burke, secretary to the Marquess of Rockingham as Prime Minister, and political theorist, (d. 1797).

Papers of Anne, Lady Godolphin and her husband Francis the 2nd Lord Godolphin. The family had estates at Baylies and Quainton (Bucks.) and around Helston (Cornwall).

Personal and estate correspondence 1740-1802, including letters from Charles Lyttelton Bishop of Carlisle and references for servants. Late 18thC. household accounts and bills, including work on London house. Plans of the house in St. James’ Place 1766. Papers on dispute with Helston borough 1768-1783. Lord Godolphin’s account book 1743-1785 and testamentary papers. Nominations for Eton and Kings College Cambridge 1765-1784.

This information has been copied from Northamptonshire Record Office’s website:

The catalogues for the charters and rolls, the Burke papers and the Godolphin papers are all available on the Access to Archives website.

‘The Correspondence of Lord Fitzwilliam of Milton and Francis Guybon his Steward 1697-1709′ edited by D.R. Hainsworth and Cherry Walker is volume 36 of the Northants. Record Society series, 1990.

Other material relating to this family is held at other archive repositories. See The National Register of Archives for details. Printed sources

The Wealth of Five Northamptonshire Families 1540-1640 by Mary E. Finch (1956) Burke’s Peerage (various editions).

The Fitzwilliam family of Milton Hall [The text of a talk by W.T.G., Tenth Earl Fitzwilliam] edited by M.B. Osborne and D. Allanach, Bretton Local Studies Group, 1983.

FITZWILLIAM (Milton) CHARTERS F(M) Charter (12th – 1850

These documents are held at Northamptonshire Record Office

This collection comprises of 57 Charte boxes and 5 standard boxes c 20½ cubic feet

Conditions of access: Finally, readers should be aware that there are restrictions on access to a few documents within this collection. Such restrictions are noted within the list and enquiries regarding these should be addressed to the County Archivist.

Source of acquisition: Accession 1956/23

Creator(s): Fitzwilliam family of Milton, Northamptonshire

Contents:

The family of Fitzwilliam dates back to pre-conquest times, as is set forth in many genealogical tables bearing the authority of Herald’s College; and was in the 13th century settled at Elmley and Sprotbrough in the West Riding.

The particular member of the family who, early in the 16th century settled at Milton was William Fitzwilliam, stated in the above mentioned pedigrees to be a son of John, (sixth son of Sir John Fitzwilliam who died in 1417) by Ellen Villiers of Brokesby.

It is, however, worthy of mention that in not one of the numerous deeds which concern this William Fitzwilliam is the name of his father given. He was, as we know, before coming into Northamptonshire, a citizen and Merchant Taylor of London, and an Alderman of Bread Street Ward. He was Sheriff in 1506 and knighted. We know also that he had a country house at Gaynes Park in Theydon Gernon, Essex.

But though Sir William from 1520 made Milton his principal residence, Gaynes Park was not given up for a hundred years at least, and F(M) Charter 1709-1745 show various transactions of the family there between 1508 and 1602, the last document (F(M) Charter 1745) being a Writ to the Sheriff, etc. of Essex to enquire into an alleged forcible entry by “John Fitzwilliam, esq. of London” with “certain evildoers armed and “arrayed for war” into the park of “William Fitzwilliam esq” at Theydon Gernon and seizure of his goods, etc.

In this year 1602, Anne, Lady Fitzwilliam (who founded the Fitzwilliam Almshouses at Theydon) died, and the two events may have some connection.

William Fitzwilliam the merchant purchased the Milton and Marholm estates from Robert Wyttilbury, esquire, (whose family had held them since 1381) for 1200 marks [£800] by deed dated 1 Aug. 1502 (F(M) Charter 1424), but he let them on lease at a nominal rent to the said Robert and Ann his wife for term of their lives.

Robert died in 1506, his wife surviving him. In these deeds William Fitzwilliam is described as “of Milton” first in 1522. The details of the acquisition of Milton and Marholm will be found below in the Introduction under “Milton”, as well as in the deed itself (F(M) Charter 1424).

From this time Sir William began to acquire various properties in the neighbourhood of Milton, and the dates of these acquisitions have been noted below, where ascertainable, under each place.

Owing to the nature and variety of the collection here catalogued, and to the later discovery of early and important documents, the arrangement of the catalogue may, at first sight, appear complicated. It may be well, therefore, to clarify here what the order is (see also compiler’s note and overview) and also to explain that though the Catalogue professes to contain descriptions of deeds down to the end of the Tudors (1603), some later ones have been included for their obvious importance.

Therefore this sub-fonds of the Fitzwilliam of Milton collection consists of:

(1) Charters arranged (a) under counties alphabetically (except that Northamptonshire, the principal county, is placed first) –

(b) separate places in alphabetical order under each county –

(d) by about 200 documents headed “Mixed Estates” and “Personal and Miscellaneous”, which could not very well be placed locally;

F(M) Charter 1-2204.

(2) Appendix I: Charters, Rolls, Swans, Swanmarks, etc; F(M) Charter 2205-2565.

(3) Appendix II: Court rolls, surveys, etc (see not prior to catalogue entries); F(M) Charter 2566-2630

The bulk of the post-Tudor deeds, which are for the most part expired leases, mortgages, and such like documents containing matter of comparatively little interest, have been more summarily treated. A catalogue of these deeds is available at the N.R.O. Additionally, the sub-fonds Fitzwilliam of Milton: Rolls, Estate and Family (F(M) roll) is listed separately but available on-line.

There are points of interest in the first two:- F(M) Charter 1 is a deed of sale by three sisters, Adelicia, Botilda, and Eva, of a messuage of their father’s whose name is not mentioned; and is fortified by the names of 22 witnesses, the first being Torold de Castria, [lord of the manor].

F(M) Charter 2 is a deed of sale by three other sisters, Dianisia, Sevia, and Agnes, of a messuage of their father’s, name not mentioned – to which are appended the names of over a dozen witnesses, the first six of whom are women. This is quite unusual.

As regards F(M) Charter 2. the Eva de Glintona and Botilda “uxor fabri” [wife of the smith] may be identical with the Botilda and Eva of F(M) Charter 1. In both deeds the sale is made “concessu domini fundi” [by grant or permission of the lord of the soil] a somewhat unusual expression.

In Castor and Ailsworth there are nearly 200 names of pieces of land, woods, etc., many with the suffixes of “furlong”, “sike”, “mor”, “grene”, “gate”, etc. the names of which may be found in the printed index.

Among them is a mention of “Miltunkirke Gate” F(M) Charter 11, 55, 56, 194.). One might infer from this that in early days there was a church at Milton, but as there is no evidence of this it is presumed that the expression must mean “The gate or entrance from Castor church leading to Milton”.

There is no reference in these deeds to a nunnery said to have been founded in Castor by Kyneburga, daughter of Peada, King of Mercia, in the 7th century. She and her sister were buried in Castor Church which is dedicated to St.Kyneburga, but their relics were transferred to Peterborough Abbey and placed in a shrine there in the 11th century.

The first mention of Fitzwilliam, under Castor, is in a deed of purchase by William Fitzwilliam, esq., of Theydon Gernon, Essex, of lands late R.Priour’s in the year 1515 for £27, (F(M) Charter 603). In the same year he also purchased from Thomas Emson the manors called Butler’s and Torald’s in Castor for £320, the yearly value being estimated at £16 (F(M) Charter 2209).

In 1561 there was a lawsuit between Robert Wingfield and Lady Anne Fitzwilliam concerning rights of common in Upton and Ailsworth

(F(M) Charter 2216 & 2217) renewed in 1575 by William Fitzwilliam

(F(M) Charter 2222-2226)

Etton , Glinton, Peakirk , Woodcraft. Etton . – [Eton, Etton, Etun] Glinton. – [Clynton, Glintona, Glynton] PEAKIRK. – [Pekirk, Pekyrke, Peychirche, Peykirk, Peykyrk]

Woodcroft. – [Wdecroft, Wodecroft, Woodecroft] Irrespective of the unspecified land in Etton included in the purchase deed of the manors of Marholm and Milton (F(M) Charter 1424) in 1502, it appears from this set of deeds that William Fitzwilliam, described as Merchant of the Staple of Calais, purchased in 1514 from Richard Pulter, of Northborough, the manor of Etton with the advowson (still in the hands of the present owner of Milton) for about £470 (F(M) Charter 699).

In addition, the same Sir William in 1532 purchased from N. Fermour, citizen and grocer of London, a moiety of the manor of Woodcroft (F(M) Charter 725) who had acquired it from the Brudenells a few years before (F(M) Charter 713, etc.).

In the last year of his life (1534) Sir William apparently bought the other moiety from Francis Pulter for £230 (F(M) Charter 728). It is possible that this last transaction was not completed before Sir William died, as the following deed (F(M) Charter 729) records the sale of “a moiety” of the manor by the same Francis to William, son and heir of the late Sir William Fitzwilliam for £280. This was in May 1535.

There is also an additional covenant for the sale by R.Trappes, citizen and goldsmith of London to William Fitzwilliam, of a moiety of the same manor for £240 (F(M) Charter 2244 of 2245).

In a lease dated 6 Oct.1570, the mansion house of Woodcroft is referred to as having been purchased of the late King Edw.VI (F(M) Charter 748).

Fotheringhay. – [Fodringhay, Fodringhey, Fodrynghay]

In the deeds relating to Fotheringhay there is nothing earlier than 1519, and the first five of them record the surrender and admission of copyhold tenants, the Courts being described as those of Queen Katharine [of Aragon] on whom the manor was settled; Queen Anne Boleyn; and (one) of the King, Henry VIII (F(M) Charter 767-771). Seven others are leases, in 1578 and 1588, by William Fitzwilliam of Dostrop, esq. who at this time was Governor of the Castle (F(M) Charter 772-778).

By the last deed (F(M) Charter 779) it appears that William Fitzwilliam as executor of T. Hurland, a late tenant, had paid over the moiety of a sum due to the Crown for the price of 14fother.(or tons) 12cwt. 3qrs. 251bs. of lead at £7 a fother, which had been part of the College church, but had been “wrongfullie concealed and detained from her Majestie” by the tenant for about 14 years. The college, founded in 1411 on the ruins of the old Cluniac nunnery, was surrendered to the Crown in 1539 and was demolished in about 1548 by Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, to whom the King, Edward VI. had granted it.

Helpston – [Elpiston, Helpeston, Helpestun, Helpiston, Helpuston, Helpyston]

The Helpston deeds are 246 in number, with 21 more in Appendix I, and date from the time of Henry II. The first (F(M) Charter 780) may be ascribed as between. 1177 and 1193, as there is reference to Benedict, Abbot of Peterborough, who ruled during those years. The next two are evidently of the late 12th century. From the end of the 13th century to about 1400 members of the families of Sulgrave and Mortymer are prominent, and later (F(M) Charter 933) the Tyndalls or Tendalls were lords of the manor. The Fitzwilliams did not apparently hold lands here till 1537, and these were probably pieces pertaining to Woodcroft Manor. It is not till 1576 that Sir William Fitzwilliam acquired by purchase for £500 the manor of Woodhall in Helpston (F(M) Charter 1000).

Marholm. – [Marham, Marram, Marreham, Marrham, Martham.]

The earliest of the 300 Marholm deeds is a grant by King Henry III to Richard de Watervill of free warren in the demesne lands of Marham and Thorp (F(M) Charter 1032). It is dated at Nottingham, 2 Sept. 1235 and bears the royal seal.

John de Wyttelbury held Marham and Milton in 1394 though his title was questioned, according to a Writ “Quo warranto” issued to the Sheriff of Northampton in that year, by the heirs of Edward Charles (F(M) Charter 1190).

Among the deeds are many references to St.Guthlac’s chantry in Marholm church, which seems to have been founded by Sir William de Thorp who lived and died in the time of Edw.III, after whose death there was a dispute as to the patronage of the chantry (F(M) Charter 1199 etc.). The chantry is sometime described as being “in the hermitage of St.Guthlac”.

Robert de Wyttylbery, described as “of Milton”, had the patronage of the chantry in 1452 (F(M) Charter 1236) jointly, as it seems with Robert Willoughby, lord of Eresby, and others (F(M) Charter 1237 of 1238).

The manor and advowson of the church of Marholm were conveyed to Robert and Ann Wyttelburi by Sir William Catesby, John Catesby, Serjeant-at-law, and others in 1470 (F(M) Charter 1250).

Sir William Fitzwilliam, described as citizen of London, first appears in 1505 (F(M) Charter 1281 & 1282) and in 1510 there is a covenant whereby Sir William, now Alderman of London, secures to the above Ann Wyttelburi then wife of Richard Clement, an annuity of £22 from Marholm manor.

F(M) Charter 2104 is a decree in the Court of Chancery settling a suit brought by William, Lord Fitzwilliam in 1694 against the Master and Wardens of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, who had neglected to pay the annuity of £12,13sh.4d. for the support of the Marholm Almshouses. It appears that the property in London from which this annuity issued had been burnt down in the Great Fire of London, and the Company had made this a reason to withold payment. The case went against the Company which is ordered to pay £76 arrears, and henceforth the annuity as above.

Maxey. – [Makesey, Makyssey, Maxhey, Maxsey]

The earliest deed here is dated in 1349 (F(M) Charter 1315). Among the owners or tenants of lands, etc. in Maxey in the 14th and 15th centuries are Roger de Northburgh, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, Hugh de Sulgrave, Sir Geoffrey de la Mare, Sir William de Thorp, Oliver Seynt John, Walter Rodley, gent. etc. In 1529 Francis Pulter was lord of the manor, and in 1531 Henry, Duke of Richmond and Somerset. It appears from F(M) Charter 1339 that William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burghley, and Laurence Eresby, in 1551, held lands in Maxey from the Crown belonging to a perpetual chantry in Maxey. In a Northborough charter (F(M) Charter 1472) Lord Burghley is described as lord of Maxey.

In appendix I are three documents of more than passing interest. The first (F(M) Charter 2285) is a Patent of Henry VIII to Richard Cecil, “the King’s servant”, of the reversion of the offices of Constable or Warden of Maxey Castle, Bailiff of Maxey, etc. which had fallen to the Crown on the death of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, the King’s grandmother. The second (F(M) Charter 2286) is a lease to Sir William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burghley, son of the above Richard, from Princess Elizabeth of a close in Maxey called Ladiebridge close and the great garden of La Marre, a pasture called the Old Park, and other lands there. But the interest of the charter lies in the fact that it is sealed with a royal seal of Princess Elizabeth. It is unfortunately broken (but has been mended) and traces of letters seem to say that the legend was S.ELIZABETHE SOROR’ EDWARDI REGIS. The existence of another seal of Elizabeth’s before her accession in 1558 is not known. The date of the deed is 20 March 1557. The third (F(M)Charter 2287) is a Particular of Maxey lands which has (on p.5) the following note: “Memorandum, that the ferme of Waldranhall is an Inne sometime greatly frequented by pilgrymes passing to Walsingham and then let for vii li. and now lett for xl s.”

Milton. – [Meleton, Melleton, Milleton, Millton, Myllton, Mylton]

The earliest Milton charter (F(M)Charter 1359) though not dated, is evidently of the time of Hen. III [1216-1272] and it has as first witness a seneschal or steward of Peterborough, one Thomas de Ufford; and the next is a grant by Geoffrey fil. Roberti militis, “sometime lord of Melleton”, who was probably an ancestor of the family of Charles, members of which were in the 14th cent. lords of Milton. F(M)Charter 1362 is a covenant for an exchange of lands between the Abbot and Convent of Peterborough and Andrew Russell, in Castor and Milton. The Russells were an important family holding lands in Etton, Paston, etc. This deed has the Abbey Seal of that period (early 14th century) having on the obverse a boat on the waves, with figures of St.Peter and two other apostles, and the legend, a hexameter line – “Signum Burgense, cruce, clave, refulgit et ense”; [The seal of Burgh shines with cross, key and sword] and on the reverse St.Peter, enthroned, and legend “Tu pro me navem liquistisuscipe clavem” – [Thou for Me didst leave the ship, take thou the key”.

In the year 1330 a London citizen, Richard de la Pole, had Milton manor from William Charles, probably lord of the manor, by a charter (F(M)Charter 1369) which has for its first witness the Mayor of London.

Four years after, Edward III grants to this Richard de la Pole “his beloved servant” free warren in Milton as well as in two places in Norfolk (F(M) Charter 1373): and for the next 30 or 40 years the noble families of De la Pole, Thorp and Chauworth were the chief owners or tenants of Milton, until, in 1381, Sir William Thorp granted the manor to John Wittelbury, described as “of Wyssynden [Whissendine] Co.Rutland”, and Albred his son and the heirs of his body, (F(M)Charter 1394). From his descendant Robert, 120 years later, the first William Fitzwilliam, of Milton, acquired the manors of Milton and Marholm, etc. All these tenants, etc. held under the Abbey, and we find in two cases at least (F(M)Charter 1408 & 1413) the Abbey had the grant of the wardship and marriage of minors who succeeded to the manors.

F(M)Charter 1424 is the deed of sale, dated 1 Aug. 1502, by Robert Wyttilbury, “of Milton, esquire”, and Anne his wife to William Fitzwilliam, “of London, merchant”, for 1200 marks, that is, £800, of the manor of Milton and Marham, with appurtenances in the neighbouring villages, the advowsons of Marham church and of the chantry of St.Guthlac there, with the wharf and profits of Gunwade water. That this deed even at that time [1502] was considered of great importance is clear from the fact that it contains a clause that Robert and Anne Wyttilbury undertook to deliver by a certain date to the custody of the Master of the college of Fotheringhay all evidences, charters, muniments, etc. relating to the manors, which were to be put in a chest and locked with two keys, one to be kept by Robert and Anne and the other by William Fitzwilliam to whom on the death of Robert and Anne the muniments were to be handed. Half the purchase money was paid down and acknowledged by a custom not unusual at that time – “yn the Cathedralle Chirche of Saint Poule of the Cite of London at the Fonte in the body of the same Chirche”. There are notes on the dorse of this document of four subsequent payments of £100 each, which with the £200 paid when the final concord was made (F(M)charter (1425 & 1426) would make up the full sum of £800.

William Fitzwilliam did not immediately take up residence at Milton, as F(M)Charter 1431 describes a lease of the manors to Robert and Anne Wyttylbury in the following year, to hold for their lives at the nominal rent of a red rose on Midsummer Day “yf yt be duly asked”, with reversion to William Fitzwilliam on their death. This is a very elaborate document, for it gives details of the property itself, and tells how the tenants are to deal with the timber, fuel, hedging, wood for the house, ploughs and carts, etc.; and has a proviso that the household implements belonging to the Hall, Parlour, Chambers, Chapel, Kitchen, etc. are not to be removed. Excepted from the lease are the advowsons of Marham Church and of St.Guthlac’s chantry, and the tenants undertake not to alienate “the Markes and games of Swannes” breeding in the said manors “on the water of Gunwade and Burgh water betwene Walmesford and Thorney Crosse” without the owners’ permission.

In the deeds immediately following William Fitzwilliam is indifferently described as citizen and merchant, citizen and merchant Taylor, Merchant, and in one (F(M)Charter (1440) as Citizen and Alderman of London. He is first described as a Knight in 1519 (F(M) Charter (1441 & 1442), In 1522 he appears as “of Theydon Gernon” and in 1524 as “of Milton”. In some of the deeds subsidiary to the purchase deed a Richard Fitzwilliam is associated with William, but the relationship is not given. F(M)Charter 1437 is the Inquisitio-post-mortem of Robert Wyttilbury which states that he died on 3 Aug. 1506. His wife survived him. In 1519 a controversy between Sir William and the Abbot of Peterborough was settled by an award of arbitrators (F(M)Charter 1441 & 1442) one being the Lord Chief Justice and the other the Comptroller of Cardinal Wolsey’s Household – Sir William having alleged that the Abbot had imprisoned his farmers and tenants and seized their farms and goods; cut down his woods in Marham Park, put up posts marked with “the Peter Keys” etc.: and the Abbot complained that Sir William, though holding the manor of the Abbot by homage, fealty, rent and suit of court, refused to pay the rent and other services, and had, moreover, enclosed certain land of the Abbot at Werrington.

(For a breviat of the office after the death of Sir William Fitzwilliam, see F(M)Charter 2058)

F(M)Charter 2327 is “An Estimate or Proposals for Building a House for ye Rt.Hon.ye Earl Fitzwilliam” by J.Sharman. Unfortunately the paper is undated, but is perhaps of middle 18th cent. To build the “front” 300 ton of Ketton stone would be required at the cost of £300, and the carriage of the same to Milton at £150. Sutton stone was to be used for the foundations and Ragstone for the walls of the two courts. Sashings of 63 windows would cost £200, and “the Brick work will take 250 thousand”. Norway oak was to be used for the “best staircase” and for the “wainscot in ye Salon”. Altogether the estimate was for £6541,15sh.Od. This is followed by a set of questions made by someone on behalf of the Earl with Sharman’s replies as to thickness of walls, depths of foundations, etc.

For references to “Milton Church”, (See Castor section above). NORTHBOROUGH. – [Northburgh, Norburgh, Norbrowe, Norburugh, Northbrugh, Norborow, Northborowe, Northburrowe, Norbrugh, Northburh.]

The earliest connection of the family of Fitzwilliam with Northborough is the purchase in 1523 by the 1st Sir William, of Milton, of 12 acres of land, etc. in Northborough, Etton, Peykirk, Maxsey, and Glynton for £4.6sh.8d. (F(M) Charter 1461-1463); and in 1532 Sir William purchased the manor from Francis Pulter, of London, for £160 (F(M) Charter 1464 of 1465). In later years the family of Claypole held land there which had sometime belonged to Crowland Abbey (F(M) Charter 1473). In 1598 James Claypole “of Northburgh, esquire” was tenant, under the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough, of a close called Paradyse (F(M) Charter 1492). Subsequently the family became famous by its connection with the Cromwell family by the marriage of John Claypole with Elizabeth, 2nd daughter of Oliver Cromwell. (For the Marriage settlement see F(M) Charter 2147).

In appendix I is the Will of Cromwell Claypole, the only son of the above John and Elizabeth, containing some interesting legacies of jewels, horses, etc. He was buried at Northborough (F(M) Charter 2343).

At his death in 1534 Sir William Fitzwilliam settled the manor on his son Thomas, who soon afterwards sold it, and it passed through several hands till James Claypole acquired it in 1563. The family of Claypole kept it till 1682 when John Claypole sold it to Lord Fitzwilliam for £5600. The purchase deed is in Appendix I (F(M) Charter 2344).

Paston and Gunthorpe

In the twelve charters relating to these two small parishes, a little set of five (F(M) Charter 1500-1504) record the sale, in 1530, by John Phylyp, of Stamford, gent. to Sir William Fitzwilliam, of two meses and 29 acres of land for 25 marks, that is, £16.13sh.4d. Up to 1600, therefore, Sir William only possessed this small property there.

Peterborough. – [Medehamstede or Medeshamsted; Brough St.Peters; Burgh, Burgum S.Petri.]

According to the charter of Wlfhere, King of the Mercians (F(M) Charter 1507) Saxolf was the first Abbot of Peterborough, or Medehamstede, as it was first called; and three successive Kings of Mercia had a hand in its foundation, viz: Peada, murdered in 656; Wlfhere, 656-694; and Ethelred, 675-704. They were all sons of Kind Penda, and there were two sisters, Cyneburga and Cyneswitha, virgins and martyrs (see Castor section).

This foundation charter gives in great detail the boundaries of the lands and waters with which Wlfhere, with the consent of his sister abovesaid and yet another brother Merwala, endowed the monastery. Three witnesses subscribe, viz: Wlfhere himself, who adds that Deusdedit his “apostolic father” was present. Deusdedit or Adeodatus became Pope in 672. The second witness is Oswy, King of Northumbria, “friend of Saxulf the Abbot”; and the third, Sighere, King [of the East Saxons] who calls himself “subjectus regi Wlfero”. That there are no more witnesses but that there is room at the foot for other names combined with the name of the document, confirms the statement in the Victoria County History (Northamptonshire II. 421 footnote) that the charter is “unquestionalby a forgery”

F(M) Charter 1511 is a charter of interest, being a covenant between the two abbeys of Peterborough and Croyland. It recites that since the time of King John, the Abbot and Convent of Peterborough had been accustomed to receive from the Abbot etc. of Croyland on St.Peter’s day 4 stone of wax, and that now in 1476, that payment of wax has been commuted to a yearly payment of 20 shillings, which was to be paid “within the monastery of Croyland” on St.Peter’s day or within the octave to the Abbot of Peterborough or his attorney. There is, however, an endorsement annulling the covenant as a composition had been made by a later Abbot of Peterborough, Robert Kyrkton [1496-1528].

In 1567 Thomas Norris, of Peterborough, chapman, sold to Thomas Lovett, of Astwell, esquire, the remainder of a lease by the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough to William Godfrey, of Stanground, of “the waters and fishings from Wansford Bridge to Peterborough and further”, and T.Lovett leases back to T.Norris the waters and fishing grounds from Wansford Bridge to Alwalton Mill – the water “from ye ende of the whole water beneth Peterborough bridge unto Moscott – and the half the water, etc. from the same bridge downwards against the boundes of Stangrounde” for the money rents specified, and “two stickes of Eillis [eels] callyd knabbers” (F(M) Charter 1517).

In the following year 1568 there is a record of an Inquisition taken at Oundle by the Queen’s Commissioners as to lands in the Hundred of Nassaburgh given to superstitious uses. This was in accordance with a statute of 1 Edw.VI. whereby such lands were forfeited to the Crown. The places in which the lands were, are Longthorpe, Peakirk, Maxey, Bernack, Baynton, Castor, Sutton, Paston, Werrington, Helpston, Northborough, and Glinton. The deed is endorsed “Toune Laund in Peterburgh Socone and nothing elles” (F(M) Charter 1518).

For other information concerning Peterborough, the Rolls of Courts of the town, – of Burghbury, and of the Abbey, dating from the 13th century, should be examined: see F(M) Charter 2384-2406 and F(M) roll 131 – 152.

Thorpe al.Longthorpe .

The Manor of Thorpe or Longthorpe came into the hands of the Wyttelbury family, apparently, in 1381, with Milton Manor (see under Milton F(M) Charter 1394), and, doubtless, to the Fitzwilliams later, though there is no deed to substantiate this, nor is Thorpe manor included in the purchase deed of the Milton Manors from Robert Wyttilbury in 1502.

Among the later deeds (list available at N.R.O.), however, the brief abstracts of Parcels 69-75 in Tin Box No.8 may be examined with interest, especially Parcel 75 (Documents 10 and 11) the former of which is release to Earl Fitzwilliam in 1790 of properties in Longthorpe New Manor for £15000, with a schedule of the estate; and the latter is an agreement between the various proprietors, to which is attached a large coloured plan.

Ufford. Sub-manors: Dounehall, or Dounhall, Ashton, Baynton, Walcote.

Two of these five Ufford deeds relate to Dounhall, a sub-manor of Ufford, which belonged to the Mortymer family in the 14th century; and the others to lands in Ashton, Baynton, and Walcote, also, apparently, sub-manors of Ufford. Uppon and Sutton.

Uppon . – [Huppetune, Hupton, Opthon, Opton, Upeton, Uppeton.]

Sutton. – [Sutthon, Suttun]

Upton and Sutton were, like Milton, hamlets of Castor. The first of these 124 Upton deeds is one of the earliest in the whole collection, and is of the time of Henry II, probably ante 1174; when the grantor of the two virgates of land there recorded, Ralph de Waterville, lost his possessions in Upton for taking up arms against the King (F(M) Charter 1536). The next 50 or so deeds are records of transactions between c1200 and c1300, and among the holders of lands are Peterborough Abbey and St. Michael’s Nunnery at Stamford, both Benedictine houses.

The first acquisition of property in Upton by the Fitzwilliam family was the purchase by the first Sir William, of Milton, in 1524, of a messuage and cottage from Nicholas Glynton of Rushden for 40 marks (£26.13sh.4d.) (F(M) Charter 1650-1654) and six years after, the same William acquired from John Turnour, of Bernak, 66 acres of land in Upton for £30 (F(M) Charter 1655 & 1656). Later, in 1543 and 1577, there seem to have been disputes between other Fitzwilliams and Robert Wyngfield as to their respective properties in Upton, Sutton, and Castor. (F(M) Charter 1657 & 1658).

Thus far Northamptonshire only has been considered. We now come to deeds relating to places in other counties. Of these there are 520 (including those in appendix I), and the places are scattered over 21 counties. Some are isolated documents, but the majority refer to Essex, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire Norfolk, and Nottinghamshire, and the reason is not far to seek. Huntingdonshire and Lincolnshire are counties contiguous to Northamptonshire, while in Essex was Gaynes Park, the country house of that William Fitzwilliam, merchant and alderman of London, who purchased and settled down in Milton in the latter years of Henry VII. The properties in Norfolk and Nottinghamshire came into the family by marriages with two heiresses.

The one was Anne, daughter and sole heir of Edmund Cremer, of West Winch, Norfolk, whom William Fitzwilliam, of Milton (afterwards 1st Earl Fitzwilliam) took in marriage, and the other was Anne, daughter and sole heir of John Stringer, esq. of Sutton on Lound, Nottinghamshire, who became the wife of John, the 3rd but eldest surviving son of the above William, the first Earl. Hence the existence in the Milton Muniments of deeds relating to property in Winch, Tilney, Middleton, Setchey, and the Lynns Norfolk, and in Sutton on Lound, Clareborough, Eaton, and neighbouring places in Nottinghamshire.

A word must be said concerning the Yorkshire deeds which are only eleven in number, for it is here that we should expect to find records of the Sprotbrough and Elmley property, on which the Fitzwilliam family originally settled and prospered. We find, however, only two deeds relating to Sprotbrough (F(M) Charter 2027 & 2028). The latter of which is a grant by William fil. Willelmi, lord of Sprotburgh of a piece of land for building houses on, dated 1320. There is also under Warmsworth (F(M) Charter 2030) a grant of land there to the same William fil.Willelmi which is dated at Sprotborough in 1331.

Other references to early members of the family are found in F(M) Charter 2008-2011 (Nottinghamshire deeds) and in F(M) Charter 1798 & 2043.

At the end (F(M) Charter 2550-2558) is a little set of documents relating to transactions in Ireland when Sir William Fitzwilliam, the third of the name, held the various offices of Vice-Treasurer and Receiver General of the Crown Revenues and Treasurer of the Wars in Ireland; and also between the years 1560 and 1588 held the office of Lord Deputy six times. Attention must also be called to a collection of vellum deeds and papers relating to the government and care of Swans, including a vellum roll containing 128 swanmarks, and a vellum book containing about 600 swanmarks, with name of owners, etc. of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Also among the papers (F(M) Charter 2565 iii,iv, and vii) are copies or extracts of the ancient laws and ordinances affecting the “Royal Game of Swans” throughout the realm. To these documents has been added correspondence with Sir A.Scott-Gatty, Garter King of Arms, to whom these swan documents were submitted in 1918.

Appendix II (F(M) Charter 2566-2630) contains court rolls, rentals, deeds, personal documents, etc, which were partially numbered as a continuation of this catalogue but never actually listed by Jeayes. They were added to this sub-fonds not long after deposit but many of the documents are more similar to those within the Rolls, Estate, and Family sub-fonds (F(M) roll).

COMPILER’S NOTE

The arrangement of this Catalogue is, roughly as follows:-

Places… alphabetically under counties. Northamptonshire is treated first, as being the principal county.

Other Counties follow in alphabetical order. Under each place the arrangement is chronological.

After the counties, come “Mixed Estates,” that is, where places in several counties are concerned.

Then comes a group of documents called “Personal & Miscellaneous,” in which are included “Appointments”, “Marriage Settlements”, “Wills”, etc.

Appendix I: containing Deeds etc found later

Appendix II: adderda to F(M) rolls catalogue but added here (see note) containing additional court rolls, rentals, sureys, etc

OVERVIEW

Northamptonshire Deeds F(M) Charter 1-1659

Deeds of other counties F(M) Charter 1660-2031

Mixed Estates F(M) Charter 2032-2040

Personal and Miscellaneous F(M) Charter 2041-2204

Appendix I: F(M) Charter 2205-2565

Northamptonshire Deeds F(M) Charter 2205-2361

Personal and Miscellaneous F(M) Charter 2362-2374

Northamptonshire court rolls, account rolls, etc F(M) Charter 2375-2410

Deeds of other counties F(M) Charter 2411-2549(b)

Ireland F(M) Charter 2550-2558

Swans and Swanmarks F(M) Charter 2559-2565

Appendix II: court rolls, rentals, surveys, etc (see note prior to entries) F(M) Charter 2566-2630

Fitzwilliam Coollattin Estate

One absentee landlord, considered liberal in his outlook, was William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, whose 90,000-acre estate covered much of southwest Wicklow. Between 1847 and 1856, 5,780 people were cleared from his lands. These men, women, and children walked to New Ross, a distance of about twenty or thirty miles, where they boarded ships, bound mostly for Quebec. Some thirteen hundred were sent to Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, to work on a railroad in which Fitzwilliam had an interest. “Missing Friends” ads in the Boston Pilot newspaper show that many of these Wicklow emigrants eventually settled in upstate New York, especially Utica, Albany, and Syracuse. By 1861, only 25% of the New Brunswick immigrants were still in the Saint Andrews area; most had crossed into Maine.7 The Fitzwilliam estate records are available as a manuscript and on microfilm in the National Library of Ireland in Dublin.8 For an excellent description of the emigration, see Jim Rees, Surplus People: The Fitzwilliam Clearances 1847–1856.9

An example of the liberal views held was in the building of a house for the local catholic clergy as show below.

This house is up for sale by Kieersey Walker & Associates of Tinahealy Co. Wexford July 2014.

Family Tree Introduction

The Wentworth/Fitzwilliam Family Tree provides detailed information about the Wentworth, Watson and Fitzwilliam families who dominated Wentworth Village for generations from the stately home of Wentworth Woodhouse. It brings together hundreds of individuals dating back to the reign of Henry II. How To Use the Family Tree

There is too much information to display everything at once, so we’ve made the Family Tree interactive. To use it, first choose a Starting Point from the list below. This will show you details for the person you have selected with up to two or three generations above and below (you may need to use the scrollbars to bring the tree into view).

If you’re looking for someone in particular you can select them from the comprehensive Wentworth Family Tree Index. If you’re just browsing then the following are good people to start with:-

William de Wentworth – one of the earliest ancestors on the Wentworth side of the family

William Fitzwilliam – one of the earliest Fitzwilliams

Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford – the most famous of the Wentworths

William Thomas George Fitzwilliam – the 10th (and last) Earl Fitzwilliam

Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford

Charles 2nd Marquis of Rockingham

UK Genealogy Interests Directory – a Family History site which allows people to contact other people who are researching the same surnames in the UK or Ireland. Acknowledgements

Data for the family tree is taken from various sources including research on various genealogy news groups, including soc.genealogy.medieval and soc.genealogy.britain.

The family tree display software is adapted from an original set of Perl scripts by Simon Ward – downloads available at www.simonward.com

An alternative family tree of the Earls Fitzwilliam can be found at http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index422.htmFITZWILLIAM_1716_7

Lady Juliet Tadgell

Lady Juliet and the Marquess of Bristol on their wedding day (1960), From Wikipedia

Lady Juliet and the Marquess of Bristol on their wedding day (1960).

Born 24 January 1935 (1935-01-24) (age 75) Spouse(s).

Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol (m.1960 div.1972) Somerset de Chair (m.1974 dec.1995)

Christoper Tadgell (m.1997)

Children Lord Nicholas Hervey, Lady Ann Hervey, Helena Rees-Mogg

Parents Peter Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam, Olive Dorothea Plunket

Lady Juliet Tadgell (born 24 January 1935), previously the Marchioness of Bristol, is a British heiress, race horse breeder and landowner. She is consistently on the Times Rich List, with an estimated net worth inherited in 1945 of 45 million British Pounds.

Early life

At age thirteen, her father inherited the title Earl Fitzwilliam; and she became Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam. By this time, her parents’ marriage was strained and there was talk of divorce. Lord Fitzwilliam died in a plane crash in France in 1948 with his lover, Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, the widow of the heir to the Dukedom of Devonshire and a sister of future U. S. President John F. Kennedy. As her parents’ only child, Lady Juliet, at 13 years of age, inherited her father’s estate and vast art collection. The following year, she and her mother left the house and sold much of its contents.

Marriages and family life

Lord Nicholas Hervey (26 November 1961–26 January 1998)

Lady Ann Hervey (26 February 1966), stillborn

The couple divorced in 1972 as a result of her adulterous affair with her husband’s friend, also in his sixties, Somerset de Chair, whom she married in 1974. De Chair was former Conservative MP for South West Norfolk and Paddington South. De Chair had been married three times before and had five children as a result; his political career was ended due to his public admissions of adultery and using prostitutes. The couple had one child:

Helena de Chair (b. 1977), a writer on a trade magazine for the oil industry. She married the Hon. Jacob Rees-Mogg, son of former Times editor William Rees-Mogg, on 13 January 2007 at Canterbury Cathedral. They have one son, Peter Theodore Alphoge (b. 14 October 2007) and one daughter, with a third child expected May 2010.

After de Chair’s death Lady Juliet married for a third time in 1997 to architectural historian Christopher Tadgell. The couple live at Lady Juliet’s estate of Bourne Park, near Canterbury.

On 26 January 1998, two days after her 63rd birthday, her son Nicholas committed suicide. In 1992 he had been forced to declare bankruptcy as Lady Juliet refused to fund through his trust or otherwise the court judgment of legal fees he owed his father’s third wife and prior personal secretary, Yvonne Sutton, for his suit seeking a share of his late father’s estate; Lady Juliet had her son subsequently committed to an asylum for treatment of schizophrenia from 1992 to 1994. Her second husband also had a son who committed suicide.

Lady Juliet attended Oxford University for a Master of Fine Arts, her daughter Helena attended the University of Bristol and her son Nicholas attended Eton College and Yale University.

Lady Juliet and her first husband were distantly related, causing their son Nicholas to have a consanguinity index of .01 percent.

Wealth and Inheritance

As the only child of the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam, Lady Juliet inherited his estates, which have since passed into a trust for her benefit, and include his vast art collection, including seven paintings by George Stubbs and six by Anthony van Dyck and properties in England, Ireland and the United States. She consistently makes the Sunday Times Rich List, rising in 2009 to 1550th in the ranking with £35 million, although she suffered a £10 million drop that year because of the recession. She ran a stud farm and continues to own some racehorses.

Styles from birth

24 January 1935 – 15 February 1943: the Hon. Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam

15 February 1943 – 23 April 1960: The Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam

23 April 1960 – 1972: the Most Hon. The Marchioness of Bristol

1972 – 1974: Juliet, Marchioness of Bristol

1974 – 1997: The Lady Juliet de Chair

1997 – present: The Lady Juliet Tadgell

References

1. The Peerage

2. A Lady Juliet also owned a large estate in Ireland, Coollattin Park, situated outside the village of Shillelagh in Co.Wicklow, Coollattin Park was the seat of the Fitzwilliam family in Ireland since the 17th century. It was sold in 1977 and the famous “tomnafinogue wood” one of the largest ancient oak woodlands in the British Isles, now under state ownership is part of the former Coollattin Estate. The DiCamillo Companion

3. “Jacob gets hitched, old-Tory style”, the Daily Mail, 14 January 2007.

4. “Tory couple will live at West Harptree”, Chew Valley Gazette, February 2007.

5.”A sprog for Rees-Mogg”, the Daily Mail, 17 October 2007.

6. “Jacob Rees-Mogg: Maybe he’s canvassing in the King of Spain’s private loo”, the Times, 11 April 2010.

7. Lady Juliet Tadgell, the Sunday Times Rich List 2009, 26 April 2009.

8. racingpost.com

COOLLATTIN ESTATE

The Coollattin Estate area covered some 80,000 in Co. Wicklow. This area of south Wicklow was traditionally the territory of the native Irish family, the O’Byrne’s. The first reference to significant English colonization of the area dates from Elizabethan times, when lands were granted to Sir Henry Harrington, an English adventurer. .
This lease was drawn up in 1578:‘Lease… to Sir Henry Farrington, knt.: of the country of Shilelaughe alias Shilealie in county Dublin, lying nigh the Birnes country, in the queen’s disposition as by good matter of record doth appear. To hold for twenty-one years, rent, u13.6s.8d. Maintaining (?) English horsemen’ Sir Henry died in 1612, and the castle passed into the possession of Calcott Chambers, a Welshman who, by the time the English traveler, William Brereton, journeyed through South Wicklow in 1635, had built a deer park some seven miles in compass around the castle.

Much attention has recently been focused by historians on the transactions in Ireland of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford arid Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1632 and 1640. In May 1638, a rent charge of €500 a year was bought by Strafford for £4,000 on Calcott Chambers’ lands in Shillelagh (presumably that part of Shillelagh which was created a half Barony around 1600). . The way in which Strafford came into his other lands in Wicklow around this is more complicated, however. The lands of the junior branch of the O’Byrne’s, led by Phelim McPheagh, in the territories of Ranelagh and Cashaw, were forfeited to the crown following the junior O’Byrne’s’ support for

Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, the new settlers on these lands were dispossessed by Stafford, and the crown obtained land worth £2000. Stafford was rewarded by Charles I by the granting of the manors of Wicklow and Newcastle, and lands in Towerboy and Cashaw. Strafford was later seized in fee of his lands, but his son William was repossessed during the reign of Charles II. The lands then passed into the hands of the family of Lord Malton, the Marquis of Rockingham (and after 1783 to Earl Fitzwilliam, son-in-law of the second Marquis), who remained landlords of the estate until it was sold in 1977.

One absentee landlord, considered liberal in his outlook, was William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, whose 90,000-acre estate covered much of southwest Wicklow. Between 1847 and 1856, 5,780 people were cleared from his lands. These men, women, and children walked to New Ross, a distance of about twenty or thirty miles, where they boarded ships, bound mostly for Quebec. Some thirteen hundred were sent to Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, to work on a railroad in which Fitzwilliam had an interest. “Missing Friends” ads in the Boston Pilot newspaper show that many of these Wicklow emigrants eventually settled in upstate New York, especially Utica, Albany, and Syracuse. By 1861, only 25% of the New Brunswick immigrants were still in the Saint Andrews area; most had crossed into Maine.7 The Fitzwilliam estate records are available as a manuscript and on microfilm in the National Library of Ireland in Dublin an because of the English Wentworth of Northumberland connection the balance of the surviving estate papers are in the Sheffield Archives in England. For an excellent description of the emigration, see Jim Rees, Surplus People: The Fitzwilliam Clearances 1847–1856.9

ESTATE OWNERS

1506: Sir William Fitzwilliam was an Alderman and Sheriff of London and acquired the Milton Hall estate in Peterborough

1571-1575 1588-1594: His grandson Sir William Fitzwilliam served as Lord Deputy of Ireland

1578-1609: Sir Henry Harrington.

1609-1632: Calcott Chambers

1609–1658: William Fitzwilliam, 1st Baron Fitzwilliam

1620 -1644: 2nd Barons William Fitzwilliam

1632-1641: Thomas Wentworth (1st Earl of Strafford), who was beheaded.

1641-1695: William Wentworth (son of Thomas) 2nd Earl No son, this was the end of the Stafford line. The estate went to his sister Anne’s son.

1643–1719: William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (created Earl Fitzwilliam in 1716)

1643–1719: William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl Fitzwilliam

1665-1725: Thomas Watson Wentworth , whose son Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Malton and 1st Marquis of Rockingham was the father of Lady Ann Wentworth was to go on to unite the Wentworth/Fitzwilliam lines by marrying 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam

1692-1750: Thomas Watson Wentworth (Lord Malton became 1st Marques of Rockingham). His seat went to Wentworth Woodhouse

1681–1728: John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam

1794: William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam

1716-1746: 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam

1719–1756: William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (created Earl Fitzwilliam in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1746)

1748–1833: William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam

1750-1782: Charles 2nd Marques of Rockingham – no children (died while Prime Minister). who developed the estate village of Coollattin.

End of the Rockingham line. His estate went to his sister Anne’s family,

1782-1833: William Thomas Spencer Wentworth 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, built Coollattin House in 1804.

1783-1858: Viscount Milton, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam

1786–1857: Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam

1833-1857: Charles 5th Earl Fitzwilliam – carried out major improvements including farm yard etc

1815–1902: William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam

1857-1902: William the 6th Earl Fitzwilliam, had eight sons all called William, Promoted the railway.

1872–1943: William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam

1902-1943: William 7th Earl Fitzwilliam built the Hydro

1910–1948: (William Henry Lawrence) Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam

1948: Peter Milton 8th Earl killed in a plane crash in France

1883-1952: Eric Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 9th Earl Fitzwilliam

1948-1975: Eric 9th Earl, a cousin of Peter.

1904–1979: William Thomas George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam

1978-1983: Estate sold to Cadogan and Tatton.

1995: Golf Club bought Coollattin House and 50 acres

1995: Wicklow County Council bought 100 acres of Tomnafinnoge Wood

WILLS AND DEEDS

Given that most land and property was owned by absentee English landlords, most Irish families up until the early 1900’s would have been tenant farmers or labours. This resulted in very few Irish families having wills or deeds.

Though the landed gentry represented only a small percentage of the Irish people, records are plentiful for them. Pedigrees of many of the landed gentry are deposited in the Genealogical Office in Dublin. The Family History Library (FHL) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has microfilm copies of most of those pedigrees. Both deed and probate records, which are also microfilm resources at the FHL, are replete with entries for the privileged upper class. Few people realize, however, that many of the landed estate owners kept detailed records of their estates, including records of their tenants. These estate records are invaluable for the genealogist.

The diversity of sources found in estate records is amazing. Whilst much of the Coollattin Estate papers were destroyed, what is left is split between the National Library in Dublin and because of the Wentworth’s of Northumberland England connection the rest are kept in the Sheffield Archives in England.

These estate papers, included a brief history of the family, a list of the town lands encompassed by the estate, account books, correspondence, ejectment records, freeholders registers, household inventories and accounts, lease books and leases, plans and maps, rentals, school, wage books, , and miscellaneous records.

Whilst the absentee landlords would have signed agreements with their tenants and also memorials and other contracts such as a marriage settlement many of these contracts were never registered.

In visiting the Register of Deeds in Dublin, I copied out an abstract from a ‘Memorial’ from the Coollattin Estates of Co. Wicklow which shows an agreement between The Earl Fitzwilliam and a Mr Corrigan of Carlow to rent the Maldon House and Demesne (now known as Coollattin House and Park. Copies of the Fitzwilliam Memorial.

a photograph of Robert Chalonder grave in Shillelagh graveyard

Robert Chaloner, Fitzwilliam brother-in- law was the agent for the Fitzwilliam family and was instrumental in the selection of families to be sent to Canada before and during the Great Famine. The Rev. Moore is son of the Rev. Henry Moore who was in continuous dispute with The Earl over the issue of the teaching of religion in the local schools to which The Earl was totally opposed. Two memorials can be viewed in the Shillelagh Church of Ireland which show a Memorial Window dedicated to the memory of the Hon W. John Wentworth Fitzwilliam and to Francis Harriet Countess Wentworth,

A Lectern dedicated to the dear memory of Francis Harriet Countess Wentworth.

Why have a Will!!!

A Will is a legal document written by a person who wished to divide up his or her estate (land or property) to either one or more members of his family of may wish to leave monies or other goods to others of to religious or charitable foundations.

Often with landed estates, Wills were a means of protecting the family estate to ensure that it remained in the hands of the male’s family and in many cases a ‘Marriage Settlement’ was used for the same purpose. Often trustees were appointed to ensure that the estate could not be sold off by the person who married into the family, and the trustees oversaw items of expenditure and any plans or new developments to ensure that the estate was not put at any risk of being lost to the family.

In Ireland up until 1858 the responsibility of Probate for wills lay with the Church of Ireland which was the Established Church (by the English). This meant that any person whose property was to be probated whether they be Protestant, Roman Catholic or Others, had to get Probate from the Church of Ireland Courts whether they died intestate or without leaving a will.

Consistorial courts were set up in Diocese to process wills and administration, however, if the deceased person held property worth more than £5 in a second diocese, then the will or administration had to be issued from the Prerogative Court in Armagh. In the event of a dispute occurring, this will was then referred to the court at Canterbury in London, who had the final say.

In the event of a person of substance who died intestate, the Probate Court appointed Administrators. Letters of Administration were usually granted to the widow or next of kin or to the principle creditor.

In a new Act of Parliament in 1857 a Probate Act was created which resulted in the transfer of all probate to a new civil Court called the Court of Probate. This followed the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland. This removed the Church of Ireland from any involvement in the probate of Wills or administrations.

A Principle Registry was established in Dublin with the rest of the country been divided into eleven District Registries. In 1867 Public Records (Ireland) Act required that all public documents over twenty years old should be deposited in the Public Records Office in the four Courts in Dublin. Due to the Civil war in 1922 most of the records stored in the four Courts were burnt but hand written copies of Deeds and Memorials were kept in the current Registry of Deeds offices in Henrietta Street Dublin.This is an “Abstract” of a Memorial between The Earl Fitzwilliam and Corrigan of Co. Carlow. Reference no: 564 File no: 132, Dated 1828. Registered 1stDecember 1828. To the Registrar appointed by Act of Parliament for the Registration of Deeds and a Memorial of an Induiteu deed of arms bearing date the 25th day of March 1828 and made between the Right Hon. William Wentworth Earl Fitzwilliam, and the Right Hon. Charles Wentworth, Earl Fitzwilliam, and the Right Hon. Charles William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, con??? called Viscount Milltown of the other part and James Corrigan of Millpark in the County of Carlow of the other part, witnessed that in consider of, at or before the Sealing and Delivery of deed and for other goods, causes and cense that there in its moving the farce, Earl Fitzwilliam and Viscount Milltown and did give grant bargaining till confirm unto James Corrigan, his heirs and assigns, one annuity clear yearly rent charge or an annual sum of £27. 13s. 10p Sterling, to be issuing and payable out of and charged and charges upon all that the capitol messuage on Mansion House, called Maldon House with the Park and Demesne lands thereunto adjoining and appertaining called and known by the name of Coollattin Park, situated and lying in the Half Barony of Shillelagh Parish of Carnew Co. Wicklow as the same where there is occupancy of Robert Challoner Esq.,. To have, hold and enjoy the arms and yearly rent change of £27. 13s. 10pence Sterling unto the said James Corrigan, his heir and assignee for and during the natural life of James Furlong, son of Saunders Furlong being the life nominated in a certain inda2 of lease dated 31st August 1793, from the Earl Fitzwilliam to said Saunders Furlong arms to be paid to him b 2 even and equal half yearly without any deductions, the first payment to commence on 29th September next, and in which deed is contained the Power of entry this irefs in case of non-payment of sums and also acer of further assurances. The execors of .deeds of which this is a meiue as also this meint of the Earl Fitzwilliam and Viscount Milltown is witnessed by the Hon. Frank Munde and William Newton Esq., and the execution of the deed and mein respectfully by the James Corrigan is witnessed by John Thorpe of the city of Dublin and Finn Sexton of the City a clerk in the employment of Mess Irwin’s Farange and Hindus at law.

Wentworth Fitzwilliam Seal

Miltown Seal

James Corrigan Seal

Signed and sealed by Lords Fitzwilliam and Milltown in the presence of Francis Munde and William Newman

Signed and sealed by the said James Corrigan in presence of John Thorpe and Finn Sexton.

The above named Finn Sexton maketh oath and said he is a subscribing witness to the deed of which the above writing is a meni and also this meni and saith, he saw deed, and meni duly executed by this James Corrigan one of the perfecting partners thereto and this deft saith that the name Tim Sexton sub as a witness to the executor of the deed and meni tespeid is by the James Corrigan in depts. Proper name and hand writing and said he delivered deed and meni to Olive Moore Esq., Dept Register and the Register Office Inns Quay Dublin on Monday the 1st day of December 1828, at or near the hour of 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Tim Sexton before me this first day of December 1828 Olive Moore Dept Registrar

THE WENTWORTH/FITZWILLIAM FAMILY

Wentworth Woodhouse:

The Wentworth/Fitzwilliam Family provides detailed information about the Wentworth, Watson and Fitzwilliam families who dominated Wentworth Village for generations from the stately home of Wentworth Woodhouse. It brings together hundreds of individuals dating back to the reign of Henry II.

List of Lords Lieutenant of Ireland

Note: Because many of the people appointed as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (sometimes also called Viceroy) did not always continually remain in office but left the office empty for a period (sometimes to return to the Court of St. James, sometimes to return to their British estates) before either being replaced or returning, it is difficult to state terms of office with any accuracy. As a result, the date of appointment of each, rather than a specified term of office, is stated in brackets. Though the office existed earlier, because of difficulty in getting clear information this list begins in 1529. In the earlier years, there were frequently long vacancies, during which a Lord Deputy or Lord Justice would act as chief governor.

Kingdom of Ireland

William Fitzwilliams (Lord Deputy): 11 December 1571
William Fitzwilliams (Lord Deputy): 17 February 1588
Lords Justices: 8 August 1629
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Viscount Wentworth (Lord Deputy): 3 July 1633
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford: 13 January 1640

William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam: 13 December 1794

The Irish Act of Union merges the Kingdom of Ireland with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The new United Kingdom comes into being on January 1, 1801. One result is the disappearance of the separate Irish Parliament. Though many expect the office of Lord Lieutenant to be abolished, it survives, though periodic debates throughout the nineteenth century erupt over whether it should be replaced by a ‘Secretary of State for Ireland’. The office of Chief Secretary for Ireland (in effect number two in Irish government ranking) grows in importance, with the Lord Lieutenant gradually reduced to a largely though not completely ceremonial role.

Office abolished with the creation of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922. It was replaced by the Governor-General of the Irish Free State.

Wentworth Woodhouse (1/2)

Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house near the village of Wentworth, in the vicinity of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. “One of the great Whig political palaces”, [1] its East Front, 606 ft (185 m) long, is the longest country house façade in Europe. [2] The house includes 365 rooms and covers an area of over 2.5 acres (10,000 m²). It is surrounded by a 150 acre (0.6 km²) park and a nearly 90,000-acre (360 km2) estate (now separately owned). Built by Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham (1693-1750), and added to by his heir, in the nineteenth century it became the inherited family seat of the Earls Fitzwilliam. [3]

CHARLES 2nd MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM

UK Genealogy Interests Directory – a Family History site which allows people to contact other people who are researching the same surnames in the UK or Ireland. Acknowledgements
Data for the family tree is taken from various sources including research on various genealogy news groups, including soc.genealogy.medieval and soc.genealogy.britain.
The family tree display software is adapted from an original set of Perl scripts by Simon Ward – downloads available atwww.simonward.com
An alternative family tree of the Earls Fitzwilliam can be found athttp://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index422.htmFITZWILLIAM_1716_7

Lady Juliet and the Marquess of Bristol on their wedding day (1960).
Born 24 January 1935 (1935-01-24) (age 75) Spouse(s).
Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol (m.1960 div.1972) Somerset de Chair (m.1974 dec.1995)
Christoper Tadgell (m.1997)
Children Lord Nicholas Hervey,Lady Ann Hervey, Helena Rees-Mogg
Parents Peter Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam, Olive Dorothea Plunket
Lady Juliet Tadgell (born 24 January 1935), previously the Marchioness of Bristol, is a British heiress, race horse breeder and landowner. She is consistently on the Times Rich List, with an estimated net worth inherited in 1945 of 45 million British Pounds.

EARLY LIFE

Lady Juliet was born Ann Juliet Dorothea Maud Wentworth-Fitzwilliam to Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton, the only son of the 7th Earl Fitzwilliam, and his wife Olive “Obby” Plunket. Through her mother, Juliet is a granddaughter of Benjamin Plunket, Bishop of Osborne, and a great-granddaughter of the 4th Baron Plunket, Archbishop of Dublin.
At age thirteen, her father inherited the title Earl Fitzwilliam; and she became Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam. By this time, her parents’ marriage was strained and there was talk of divorce. Lord Fitzwilliam died in a plane crash in France in 1948 with his lover, Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, the widow of the heir to the Dukedom of Devonshire and a sister of future U. S. President John F. Kennedy. As her parents’ only child, Lady Juliet, at 13 years of age, inherited her father’s estate and vast art collection. The following year, she and her mother left the house and sold much of its contents.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE

In 1960 Lady Juliet married Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol, 20 years her senior, 18 days after he inherited his title upon his father’s death. He had been divorced the previous year and in his 20′s was adjudicated a bankrupt, declared the “No.1 Playboy of Mayfair,” and jailed for jewel robbery. The couple had two children:
Lord Nicholas Hervey (26 November 1961–26 January 1998)
Lady Ann Hervey (26 February 1966), stillborn
The couple divorced in 1972 as a result of her adulterous affair with her husband’s friend, also in his sixties, Somerset de Chair, whom she married in 1974. De Chair was former Conservative MP for South West Norfolk and Paddington South. De Chair had been married three times before and had five children as a result; his political career was ended due to his public admissions of adultery and using prostitutes. The couple had one child:
Helena de Chair (b. 1977), a writer on a trade magazine for the oil industry. She married the Hon. Jacob Rees-Mogg, son of former Times editor William Rees-Mogg, on 13 January 2007 at Canterbury Cathedral. They have one son, Peter Theodore Alphoge (b. 14 October 2007) and one daughter, with a third child expected May 2010.
After de Chair’s death Lady Juliet married for a third time in 1997 to architectural historian Christopher Tadgell. The couple lived at Lady Juliet’s estate of Bourne Park, near Canterbury.
On 26 January 1998, two days after her 63rd birthday, her son Nicholas committed suicide. In 1992 he had been forced to declare bankruptcy as Lady Juliet refused to fund through his trust or otherwise the court judgment of legal fees he owed his father’s third wife and prior personal secretary, Yvonne Sutton, for his suit seeking a share of his late father’s estate; Lady Juliet had her son subsequently committed to an asylum for treatment of schizophrenia from 1992 to 1994. Her second husband also had a son who committed suicide.
Lady Juliet attended Oxford University for a Master of Fine Arts, her daughter Helena attended the University of Bristol and her son Nicholas attended Eton College and Yale University.
Lady Juliet and her first husband were distantly related, causing their son Nicholas to have a consanguinity index of .01 percent.

WEALTH AND INHERITANCE

STYLES FROM BIRTH
24 January 1935 – 15 February 1943: the Hon. Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam
15 February 1943 – 23 April 1960: The Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam
23 April 1960 – 1972: the Most Hon. The Marchioness of Bristol
1972 – 1974: Juliet, Marchioness of Bristol
1974 – 1997: The Lady Juliet de Chair
1997 – present: The Lady Juliet Tadgell

A Lady Juliet also owned a large estate in Ireland, Coolattin Park, situated outside the village of Shillelagh in Co.Wicklow, Coolattin Park was the seat of the Fitzwilliam family in Ireland since the 17th century. It was sold in 1977 and the famous “tomnafinogue wood” one of the largest ancient oak woodlands in the British Isles, now under state ownership is part of the former Coolattin Estate. The DiCamillo Companion
3. “Jacob gets hitched, old-Tory style”, the Daily Mail, 14 January 2007.
4. “Tory couple will live at West Harptree”, Chew Valley Gazette, February 2007.
5.”A sprog for Rees-Mogg”, the Daily Mail, 17 October 2007.
6. “Jacob Rees-Mogg: Maybe he’s canvassing in the King of Spain’s private loo”, the Times, 11 April 2010.
7. Lady Juliet Tadgell, the Sunday Times Rich List 2009, 26 April 2009.
8. racingpost.com

THE EARL FITZWILLIAM

Earl Fitzwilliam was a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Fitzwilliam family.This family claim descent from William the Conqueror. The Fitzwilliams acquired extensive holdings in South Yorkshire, largely through strategic alliances through marriage. In 1410, Sir John Fitzwilliam of Sprotborough, who died in 1421, married Margaret Clarell, daughter of Thomas Clarell of Aldwark, the descendant of a major Norman landholding family. Thus did the Fitzwilliams acquire the Clarell holdings.

Sir William Fitzwilliam (d. 1534) was an Alderman and Sheriff of London and acquired the Milton Hall estate in Peterborough in 1506. His grandson Sir William FitzWilliam served as Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1571 to 1575 and from 1588 to 1594.
His grandson William FitzWilliam was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Lord Fitzwilliam, Baron of Liffer, alias Lifford, in the County of Donegal, in 1620. His grandson, the third Baron (who succeeded his father in 1658), was in 1716 created Earl Fitzwilliam, of the County of Tyrone with the subsidiary title Viscount Miltown, in the County of Westmeath, also in the Peerage of Ireland.
He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. He sat as Member of Parliament for Peterborough. On his death the titles passed to his son, the third Earl. He also represented Peterborough in the House of Commons. In April 1742 he was created Lord Fitzwilliam, Baron of Milton in the County of Northampton, in the Peerage of Great Britain, and in 1746 he was further honoured when he was made Earl Fitzwilliam, of Norborough with the subsidiary title Viscount Milton, both in the County of Northampton, also in the Peerage of Great Britain.
Lord Fitzwilliam married Lady Anne Watson-Wentworth (d. 1769), daughter of Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, and sister of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham.

He was succeeded by his son, the fourth Earl. He was a prominent Whig politician and served as Lord President of the Council and as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1782 he inherited the Watson-Wentworth estates (including Wentworth Woodhouse) on the death of his uncle Lord Rockingham, which made him one of the greatest landowners in the country.
When he died the titles passed to his son, the fifth Earl. He represented several constituencies in the House of Commons and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1851.
In 1856 Lord Fitzwilliam assumed by Royal license the additional surname of Wentworth. He was succeeded by his second but eldest surviving son, the sixth Earl. He sat as Member of Parliament for Malton and County Wicklow and served as Lord-Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.
His eldest son William FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton, was also a Member of Parliament but predeceased his father. Lord Fitzwilliam was therefore succeeded by his grandson, the seventh Earl. He was the eldest son of Viscount Milton. He represented Wakefield in Parliament as a Liberal Unionist. When he died the titles passed to his son, the eighth Earl. He was killed in an aircrash in France in 1948.

On his early death the line of the eldest son of the sixth Earl failed and titles passed to the late Earl’s first cousin once removed, the ninth Earl. He was the son of Captain the Hon. Sir William Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, fourth son of the sixth Earl.
When he died in 1952 this line of the family also failed and the titles were inherited by his second cousin, the tenth Earl. He was the son of George Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, son of the Hon. George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, MP, third son of the fifth Earl. On his death in 1979 all the titles became extinct.
The family seat of Wentworth Woodhouse was sold while the more than 80,000 acre (320 km²) estate including much of the town of Malton, North Yorkshire, was retained.
The other family seat, Milton Hall, and its considerable estate of over 50,000 acres (200 km²) together with valuable properties in Peterborough and the surrounding area continue by descent in the family. The Bourne Park Estate, near Canterbury, Kent, England, remains in the ownership of Lady Juliet Tadgell, née Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, only child of the 8th Earl by his wife the former Olive Dorothea Plunket.

The eldest son of the Earl Fitzwilliam bore the courtesy title Viscount Milton.

Lady Mabel Fitzwilliam, a socialist politician and “an ardent pioneer in education and social welfare”, was a granddaughter of the 6th Earl.
1 Barons Fitzwilliam (1620)
2 Earls Fitzwilliam (1716; 1746)
Barons Fitzwilliam (1620)
William Fitzwilliam, 1st Baron Fitzwilliam (d.1644)
William Fitzwilliam, 2nd Baron Fitzwilliam (c.1609–1658)
William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (1643–1719) (created Earl Fitzwilliam in 1716)
Earls Fitzwilliam (1716; 1746)
10th Earl Fitzwilliam
William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl Fitzwilliam (1643–1719)
John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (1681–1728)
William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (1719–1756) (created Earl Fitzwilliam in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1746)
William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (1748–1833)

Viscount Milton, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam, (1783-1858). source: R Young.

Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam (1786–1857)
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815–1902)
William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872–1943)
(William Henry Lawrence) Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam (1910–1948)
Eric Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 9th Earl Fitzwilliam (1883-1952)
William Thomas George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam (1904–1979)

THE MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM

References:
1. Brydges, Egerton Collins’s Peerage of England; Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Vol. VIII (pp.374-400) London: F.C. and J. Rivington, 1812
2. Marriage of Fitzwilliam and Clarell, Earls of Fitzwilliam, rotherhamweb
3. By letters patent bearing the date at Westminster, 1 December 18 Jac. I
4. By letters patent bearing the date at Westminster, 21 July 2 Geo. I
5. By letters patent bearing the date at Westminster, 19 April 15 Geo. II
6. By letters patent bearing the date at Westminster, 6 September 20 Geo. II
7. The Annual Biography and Obituary Vol. XVIII (pp.93-106) London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman, 1834
8. Maltbyonline.co.uk

EXTERNAL LINKS

Debrett’s Peerage and Baronetage (1968 edition) Leigh Rayment’s Peerage Pages www.thepeerage.com

Barons Fitzwilliam (1620)
William Fitzwilliam, 1st Baron Fitzwilliam (d.1644) His wife was Katharine Hyde
William Fitzwilliam, 2nd Baron Fitzwilliam (c.1609-1658)
William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (1643-1719), created Earl Fitzwilliam in 1716
Earls Fitzwilliam (1716, 1746)
William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl Fitzwilliam (1643-1719)
John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (1681-1728)
William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (1719-1756), created Earl Fitzwilliam in the Peerage of Great Britain 1746
William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (1748-1833)
Charles William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam (1786-1857)
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815-1902)
William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872-1943) m. Lady Maud Frederica Elizabeth Dundas(1877-1967)
William Henry Lawrence Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam (1910-1948)
Eric Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 9th Earl Fitzwilliam (1883-1952)
William Thomas George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 10th Earl Fitzwilliam (1904-1979)
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam

PRE-NUPTIAL SETTLEMENT

19 Jan 1410 – John Fitzwilliam to Thomas Clarell. In consideration of a marriage to be had between John, son and heir of John Fitzwilliam, and Margaret, daughter of Thomas Clarell, it is agreed that Thomas shall pay 450 marks to John, the father, in stated instalments and that John, the father, will convey to Thomas the manor of Derthyngton (Darrington?) with all its appurtenances in Derthyngton and Wentebrigg.
For 10 years or until the marriage and then to the use of John the younger and Margaret, his wife, and their heirs, to hold from John, the father, at an annual rent of 20s. If John the younger dies within 4 years of the marriage then John Fitzwilliam’s second son, Nicholas, is to marry Margaret, and they are to hold the property on the same terms.
John Fitzwilliam died 1421 leaving son and heir William, Hugh and Eleanor.
Richard and Elizabeth Fitzwilliam had a daughter Isabel who married William Wentworth (1440-1477) and another daughter Margaret who married Ralph Reresby.
The daughter of Ralph and Margaret Reresby, Isabel married Robert Westby.
It is recorded that one of the members of the Clarel family of Aldwarke bequeathed to the Church of All Saints in Rotherham, a stained cloth depicting the celebrated joust between Anthony Woodville and the Bastard of Burgundy, which took place before Edward IV at Smithfield in 1467. Reference: CD/2

Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam of Aldwarke married Lucy Nevill, daughter of John Nevill, Marquess of Montacute. After her husband’s death Lucy Nevill married Sir Anthony Browne.
Thomas FitzWilliam, Viscount FitzWilliam 4th, was the father of Mary Fitzwilliam, who was married to the Hon. George Talbot.
William Fitzwilliam, Earl Fitzwilliam 3rd (1719-1756) was the son of John Fitzwilliam, Earl Fitzwilliam 2nd and Ann Stringer. He married in 1744, Anne Watson-Wentworth.
John Fitzwilliam, Earl Fitzwilliam 2nd, was son of 1st earl. He married Ann Stringer in 1718.
At the death of Charles Watson-Wentworth, the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham in 1782, his nephew, Earl Fitzwilliam, succeeded to the Wentworth estates in England and Ireland.

ORIGINS OF THE WENTWORTH-FITZWILLIAM FAMILY

Estates in Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire were acquired from the 16th century onwards by the Fitzwilliam family. The founder of the local dynasty was Sir William Fitzwilliam, a Merchant Taylor, a Merchant of the Staple of Calais and an Alderman of the City of London; he was probably knighted in 1515. He first began building up a landed estate in Essex (Gaynes Park, sold in 1636) and then in 1502 began buying land in the Soke of Peterborough.
Much later the family acquired other distinct estates, most notably in Ireland (based on Coollattin Park, Co. Wicklow) and Yorkshire, where they inherited in the late eighteenth the Marquess of Rockingham’s estates centered on the great house at Wentworth Woodhouse, situated between Sheffield and Barnsley.

THE EARLY WENTWORTHS

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (b. 1593, beheaded 1641), is famous for the part he played in the events leading up to the English Civil War, but prior to this he also played a significant role in Irish history.
A close adviser to King Charles, Strafford was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1633. He set about the job with the aim of creating greater prosperity in Ireland and thus (he hoped) greater loyalty to the English Crown. His methods, however, left much to be desired and there was considerable local resentment about the way in which he manipulated the Irish parliament and appropriated lands in the name of the Crown, ostensibly to better the economy of the country by encouraging the English nobility to take up residence there.
Strafford himself purchased the half barony of Shillelagh in 1635 and built a hunting lodge and park (Fairwood) near Coollattin. There are records of his writing to King Charles about the wonderful countryside and hunting in the area, although it is likely that the local O’Byrne clan, whose lands he took over, were less than enthusiastic about his presence in the area.

The remains of Strafford’s hunting lodge and surrounding fortifications still exist at a site know locally as “Black Toms Cellar”. The Earl acquired the nickname “Black Tom” as he was regularly seen in the area wearing black armour and riding a black horse; there is also a “Black Tom’s Tavern” in nearby Tinahely.
Strafford’s son William 2nd Earl of Strafford (1626-1695) went on to build up the family estates in Coollattin. The area is famous for its oak woods and its timbers were sold for use in the construction of

Westminster Hall in London as well as parts of Westminster Abbey,

King’s College Chapel, Cambridge England St Patricks Cathedral Dublin

Stadt House in Amsterdam.

Even accounting for the higher shipping costs, the cost of felling and preparing timber in Ireland worked out at half the price of producing comparable timber on the Wentworth estates, hence the family’s involvement in the area continued to grow.
On the death of the 2nd Earl the estates passed to his nephew, Thomas Watson Wentworth (1665-1725), whose son Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Malton and 1st Marquis of Rockingham was the father of Lady Ann Wentworth was to go on to unite the Wentworth/Fitzwilliam lines by marrying 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam.

THE EARLY FITZWILLIAMS

The history of Coollattin Estate began with Sir William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Milton (1460-1534). A successful merchant and Alderman of London, Fitzwilliam made numerous land purchases, including the family’s first estates in Ireland.
William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, built Coollattin House around 1800.
The history of the Fitzwilliam family in Ireland starts with Sir William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Milton (1460-1534). A successful merchant and Alderman of London, Fitzwilliam made numerous land purchases, including the family’s first estates in Ireland. Unlike many other aristocrats of the time Fitzwilliam seems to have built up his fortune by honest hard work and gained significant respect from his peers.
Fitzwilliam’s grandson (also Sir William Fitzwilliam) was the first family member to have significant political influence in Ireland. He was made Lord Deputy of Ireland (shortly after Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford) and was Commander in Chief of the Army. He seems to have lasted longer in the post than Strafford and as a reward his family was granted yet more Irish lands by the King.
By 1620 the family had been granted the title Baron Fitzwilliam of Liffer (the first holder being yet another Sir William Fitzwilliam, great-great-grandson of the 1st Earl) and then in 1716 the 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (who, as you’ve probably guessed, was also called William) was created 1st Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland.
The 1st Earl’s grandson (William again!) was not only 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland but also became 1st Earl Fitzwilliam of England following his marriage to Lady Ann Wentworth, daughter of the Marquis of Rockingham and heir to the Wentworth Estates, including Wentworth family’s significant Irish landholdings. The 4th Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland
William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland (or 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam of England) was the first heir to the combined Wentworth/Fitzwilliam family fortune.
It was the 4th Earl who built Coollattin House (it was originally called Malton House, presumably after one of his grandfather’s titles as the Earl of Malton). The house was designed by the leading architect John Carr, who was also responsible for the grandiose “stable block” at Wentworth Woodhouse as well as the Keppel’s Column and Mausoleum monuments near Wentworth.
The building was started around 1794 but before completion it was burned down in a rebellion in 1798 (along with 160 other houses in the nearby village of Carnew and several Catholic churches). It isn’t clear if the house was burnt to the ground, but on Lady’s Day in 1798 a carpenter was paid £27 7s 5d and a half pence, even though his work had apparently been destroyed by the rebels. Work resumed again in 1800 and the house was completed in 1807.
As well as rebuilding their house and the village, the Fitzwilliams contributed to the repairs of the Catholic Churches and gave land for other churches (whilst other landlords would not even allow a Catholic church on their estate). Throughout the family’s time in Ireland they did not take sides in the various Irish struggles through the centuries, and perhaps as a consequence their house was left untouched in the last dash for independence.
Around 1780 the Earl sent over an instructor in ploughing from Wentworth to train his Irish tenantry. In 1812 someone called Wakefield wrote “His estate is the best cultivated of all I have seen in Ireland”.
As well as undertaking building and agricultural projects, the 4th Earl was also Lord Lieutenant or Ireland for a short time in 1795. Knowing of the family’s strong Irish connections and relative local popularity, Prime Minister Pitt had sent the Earl to Dublin telling him to appease the Catholic leaders of the day.
On arrival in Dublin, Fitzwilliam set about dismissing senior officials with strong Protestant connections, including Beresford the Commissioner of Customs. This apparently backfired as Beresford then appealed above Fitzilliam’s head directly to Pitt who ordered the reinstatement of the officials; inevitably Fitzwilliam then resigned. Apparently Fitzwilliam’s departure was seen as a major setback by the local population who closed all the shops in Dublin on the day he left, almost as if in mourning. Fitzwilliam and Beresford later met at the Tyburn Turnpike in London for a duel (which fortunately was stopped by the local constable!).

ORIGINS OF THE WENTWORTH-FITZWILLIAM FAMILY OF MILTON

Estates in Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire were acquired from the 16th century onwards by the Fitzwilliam family. The founder of the local dynasty was Sir William Fitzwilliam, a Merchant Taylor, a Merchant of the Staple of Calais and an Alderman of the City of London; he was probably knighted in 1515. He first began building up a landed estate in Essex (Gaynes Park, sold in 1636) and then in 1502 began buying land in the Soke of Peterborough. Much later the family acquired other distinct estates, most notably in Ireland (based on Coollattin Park, Co. Wicklow) and Yorkshire, where they inherited in the late eighteenth the Marquess of Rockingham’s estates centered on the great house at Wentworth Woodhouse, situated between Sheffield and Barnsley. History of Milton Hall

The oldest part of Milton Hall is the north front, which is probably built in the period c1590-1610 either for Sir William IV or V, who were both courtiers. After 1618, and for the next three or four generations, the family’s income came from less lucrative sources, principally the agricultural management of their estates, especially grazing sheep on enclosed land, and from rents from their tenants. So it was not until the mid-18th at the third Earl was able to enlarge the Hall by commissioning the architect Henry Flitcroft to design the imposing south front in the Palladian style. Milton remained the principal house of the Earls Fitzwilliam until after the death of the fifth Earl in 1857, when it was agreed to divide the estate, so that the sixth Earl retained the Yorkshire and Irish estates and went to reside at Wentworth, whilst his eldest surviving brother, George, acquired the Milton Estates. In the 1880′s the Earl’s estates totalled 22,200 acres in Yorks with 91, 800 in Ireland, whilst the Milton Estate consisted of 23,300 acres extending along the Nene Valley roughly between Peterborough and Irthlingborough. What remained of all these estates was combined under the tenth Earl Fitzwilliam in 1952, with Milton Hall again the principal residence.

Following the death of Sir William Fitzwilliam I in 1543, the next two heads of the family (Sirs William II & III) were courtiers, holding mostly minor state appointments, but made useful marriages and enjoyed the patronage of Lord Burghley. Under Queen Elizabeth, Sir William III held appointments in Ireland, principally Lord Deputy 1560-1594, and was also Keeper of Fotheringhay Castle when Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned there. Sir William V was elevated to the Irish Peerage in 1620 with the title of Baron Fitzwilliam of Lifford, and the third Baron was advanced to the Earldom in 1716. The third Earl (in the Irish Peerage) became the first Baron in the British Peerage in 1742 and four years later was raised to the Earldom; the consequent dual numbering in the two peerages frequently causes confusion (we use the numbering in the Irish Peerage in this text). In 1807, as a result of their Yorkshire inheritance, the fourth Earl altered the family name (by Royal Licence) to Wentworth Fitzwilliam [sometimes hyphenated]. One of their lesser titles was Viscount Milton, which was used by the heir apparent from the early 18th century as a courtesy title.

The Earldom descended naturally through several generations but faltered with the sudden death (without issue) of the eighth Earl in 1948, aged 38, when the title reverted to an elderly distant cousin. As the ninth Earl also had no children it was necessary to determine who would succeed to the title, so in the early months of 1951 a case was brought before the High Court in London between Capt Tom Fitzwilliam, who lived at Milton Hall, and his much older brother George James, known as Toby. The case hinged on the validity of their parents’ alleged marriage in Scotland in 1886, and was ultimately resolved in favour of Capt Tom. It was only 13 months later that the ninth Earl died, and so in 1952 the title came back again to the branch of the family at Milton.

Elizabeth Anne Marie Gabrielle (b.26 Jan 1934 d.20 March 1997) who married firstly in 1952, Sir Vivyan Edward Naylor-Leyland (b.1924-d.2 Sept 1987) and had, with other issue, a son and heir: Philip Vivyan Naylor-Leyland (b. 9 Aug 1953) [succeeded his father as baronet in 1987] who married, in 1980, Lady Isabella Lambton, and has issue, 3 sons and a daughter.

Lady Elizabeth’s first marriage was dissolved in 1960 and she married, secondly, in 1975, Sir Stephen Hastings (b. 4 May 1921 d. January 2005). Records held at the Northamptonshire Record Office

In relation to the family Northamptonshire Record Office holds the following material:
Fitzwilliam Charters twelth Century-1850 and Fitzwilliam Rolls 1532-1750s including Peterborough Quarter Sessions Rolls 1700-1710. Papers of Sir William Fitzwilliam as Lord Deputy in Ireland, late 16th century.
Political papers and speeches of Sir Walter Mildmay, late 16th century.
Architectural plans of Milton, mainly 18th and 19thcentury. Includes 1643 plan of mansion and garden, 1675 gateway, 1690 mason’s agreement, 1693 account for carpentry, 1720 elevation of stables, 1725 new wing by Robert Wright, 1726 designs for new mansion (never built), 1749-1754 designs for new mansion (never built) and extension of existing house, some by Henry Flitcroft. Accounts for extension 1750-1751.

18th century plans for a London house.

Large collection of 18th and 19th century vouchers.
Extensive private family correspondence from 1528 including Sir William Paget’s letter book 1547-1549, a minister under Henry VIII. Peterborough Abbey bailiffs’ accounts and court records, late 13th century, 14th century and 15th century.
‘Miscellaneous volumes’ collection includes rentals, surveys, estate accounts, court books and printed works. With late 16th, early 17th century household accounts, also 1690s and 1775-1826, kitchen accounts 1584-1591, servants wages 1628-1638 and 1772-1826. Estate and household accounts for Setchey (Norfolk), 17th, early 18th century. Building accounts for Dogsthorpe 1579-1601 and Milton 1750-/SI. The 1st Earl’s notebooks or almanacs.

Papers of Edmund Burke, secretary to the Marquess of Rockingham as Prime Minister, and political theorist, (d. 1797).
Papers of Anne, Lady Godolphin and her husband Francis the 2nd Lord Godolphin. The family had estates at Baylies and Quainton (Bucks.) and around Helston (Cornwall). Personal and estate correspondence 1740-1802, including letters from Charles Lyttelton Bishop of Carlisle and references for servants. Late 18thC. household accounts and bills, including work on London house. Plans of the house in St. James’ Place 1766. Papers on dispute with Helston borough 1768-1783. Lord Godolphin’s account book 1743-1785 and testamentary papers. Nominations for Eton and Kings College Cambridge 1765-1784.

This information has been copied from Northamptonshire Record Office’s website:
The catalogues for the charters and rolls, the Burke papers and the Godolphin papers are all available on the Access to Archives website.
‘The Correspondence of Lord Fitzwilliam of Milton and Francis Guybon his Steward 1697-1709′ edited by D.R. Hainsworth and Cherry Walker is volume 36 of the Northants. Record Society series, 1990.

Other material relating to this family is held at other archive repositories. See The National Register of Archives for details. Printed sources
The Wealth of Five Northamptonshire Families 1540-1640 by Mary E. Finch (1956)
Burke’s Peerage (various editions).
The Fitzwilliam family of Milton Hall [The text of a talk by W.T.G., Tenth Earl Fitzwilliam] edited by M.B. Osborne and D. Allanach, Bretton Local Studies Group, 1983.

THE WENTWORTH’S

Wentworth village England

The village itself dates back to at least 1066, when lands in the area were given to Adam de Newmarch and William le Flemming, later passing to the Canons of Bolton Abbey. It is not known how the Wentworth family came into the lands, but around 1300 they united by marriage with the Woodhouse family who lived outside the village on the site of what is now Wentworth Woodhouse. The Woodhouse lands were originally part of the manor of “frerehouse” which also included the sites of the modern Friars House, Friars Cottages and Boltons Yard. The combined Wentworth family went on to dominate the area for centuries, slowly acquiring more land, money and influence.

The first Wentworth family member to achieve national fame was Thomas Wentworth (b. 1593), 1st Earl of Strafford (pictured). He entered parliament and progressed rapidly through the ranks, becoming Lord President of the Council of the North and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and no doubt acquiring a lot more land and money along the way. Unfortunately he must also have acquired a lot of enemies in the House of Commons because he was tried and beheaded for treason in 1641. His remains are buried under the Old Church in Wentworth.
“En Dieu Est Tout” In God is all Thomas Wentworth was born in 1591, the son of Henry Baron Wentworth of Nettlestead. On the death of his father in 1593, Thomas succeeded to the title as 4th Lord Wentworth. In 1626, thanks to the patronage of the Duke of Buckingham, Wentworth was created 1st Earl of Cleveland, a title that was to die with him, and the year later accompanied Buckingham on the ill fated expedition to La Rochelle. In the same year his son, also called Thomas, was born. In 1641 another Thomas Wentworth, this time the Earl of Strafford, faced execution in London. Attending him on the scaffold was his kinsman Thomas, Earl of Cleveland. As a side issue Strafford’s estate eventually passed to a Yorkshire branch of the family headed by, unsurprisingly, someone called Thomas Wentworth. It would seem that that Wentworth’s whilst being both brave and loyal, were not very original when it came to naming their children.

In 1642 England was split by the Civil War. Thomas Wentworth naturally took the field for the King, serving with distinction. At the Battle of Cropredy Bridge he led the cavalry charge against John Middleton’s Parliamentary horse and completely routed them. He was then joined by Lord Wilmot and another charged captured the Parliamentary artillery. After the defeat at Langport, he temporarily took command of the western army before being replaced by Hopton and in the same year was taken prisoner at the 2nd Battle of Newberry.

The end of the First and Second Civil Wars, and the execution of Charles I in 1649, did not dampen Wentworth’s enthusiasm for the Royalist cause. When the future Charles II landed and the Third Civil War began in 1651 he once again took up arms. The disaster of the Battle of Worcester saw an end to the Royalist hopes and Charles fled. That he managed to escape is a direct responsibility of Wentworth who prevented the Parliamentary pursuit and was again captured in the process. As a result of this he was incarcerated in the Tower until 1656. On his release he joined Charles in exile, where he was given command of the Royal Regiment of Guard, which in later years was to become the Grenadier Guards.

Charles returned in 1660 and was crowned King, and was once again accompanied by Wentworth. On 25th March 1667, Thomas Wentworth died. Considered one of the most colourful characters of the 17th century, he was a man who was both brave and loyal, but also a man with an appetite for life. His estate at Nettlestead had to be sold to cover his drinking and gambling debts, and between the Restoration and his death he was a frequent patron of the fleshpots of London.

Two quotes probably sum him up quite well. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon in his history of the War described him as “a man of signal courage and an excellent officer”, whilst others described him as “The wildest of the wild boys”. Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (13 April 1593 (O.S.) – 12 May 1641) was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland. Recalled to England, he became a leading advisor to the king, attempting to strengthen the royal position against Parliament. When Parliament condemned him to death, Charles signed the death warrant and Wentworth was executed. Rockingham Mausoleum Situated in Mausoleum Wood near the hamlet of Nether Haugh. Commissioned in 1783 by the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam in memory of his uncle Charles 2nd Marquis of Rockingham (whose body is actually in York Minster). Architect John Carr of York designed the three-storeyed building, 90ft high. The ground floor and enclosed hall is solid and square containing a statue of the 2nd Marquis by Nollekens and casts of the original fine busts of eight of his closest friends. Above this level, an open colonnade with an arcade of Corinthian columns surrounding an empty sarcophagus. The third level is a cupola resembling a Roman temple. Open to the public on Sunday afternoons between 2-5pm between Spring Bank Holiday and August Bank Holiday only. Parties catered for on request to the Estate Office, Wentworth.

THE 4th EARL FITZWILLIAM

The history of the Fitzwilliam family in Ireland starts with Sir William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Milton (1460-1534).
A successful merchant and Alderman of London, Fitzwilliam made numerous land purchases, including the family’s first estates in Ireland.
Unlike many other aristocrats of the time Fitzwilliam seems to have built up his fortune by honest hard work and gained significant respect from his peers.

By 1620 the family had been granted the title Baron Fitzwilliam of Liffer (the first holder being yet another Sir William Fitzwilliam, great-great-grandson of the 1st Earl) and then in 1716 the 3rd Baron Fitzwilliam (who, as you’ve probably guessed, was also called William) was created 1st Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland.

William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland (or 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam of England) was the first heir to the combined Wentworth/Fitzwilliam family fortune.

The building was started around 1794 but before completion it was burned down in a rebellion in 1798 (along with 160 other houses in the nearby village of Carnew and several Catholic churches).
It isn’t clear if the house was burnt to the ground, but on Lady’s Day in 1798 a carpenter was paid £27 7s 5d and a half pence, even though his work had apparently been destroyed by the rebels.
Work resumed again in 1800 and the house was completed in 1807.

As well as rebuilding their house and the village, the Fitzwilliam’s contributed to the repairs of the Catholic Churches and gave land for other churches (whilst other landlords would not even allow a Catholic church on their estate).
Throughout the family’s time in Ireland they did not take sides in the various Irish struggles through the centuries, and perhaps as a consequence their house was left untouched in the last dash for independence.

As well as undertaking building and agricultural projects, the 4th Earl was also Lord Lieutenant or Ireland for a short time in 1795.
Knowing of the family’s strong Irish connections and relative local popularity, Prime Minister Pitt had sent the Earl to Dublin telling him to appease the Catholic leaders of the day.

On arrival in Dublin, Fitzwilliam set about dismissing senior officials with strong Protestant connections, including Beresford the Commissioner of Customs.
This apparently backfired as Beresford then appealed above Fitzwilliam’s head directly to Pitt who ordered the reinstatement of the officials; inevitably Fitzwilliam then resigned.
Apparently Fitzwilliam’s departure was seen as a major setback by the local population who closed all the shops in Dublin on the day he left, almost as if in mourning.
Fitzwilliam and Beresford later met at the Tyburn Turnpike in London for a duel (which fortunately was stopped by the local constable!).

THE FITZWILLIAM’S

The Earl Fitzwilliams (or Wentworth-Fitzwilliams) took over in 1782 and were responsible for much of the early industrial development in the area, establishing numerous mines and factories in the surrounding towns and villages (not too close to their house of course!). This made the family even richer, and by the mid-nineteenth century they were reckoned to be the 6th wealthiest landowners in the country. They didn’t lose touch with the village though and gave money to establish the Mechanics Institute and the girls school (now Wentworth C of E school) for the benefit of their tenants. They also built cottages for their workers in Wentworth and Elsecar, most of which exist to this day.
The 6th Earl gave us the magnificent Holy Trinity Church (the “new” church), the 7th Earl started a factory in Sheffield which produced one of the first motor cars (the Simplex), the 8th Earl sadly died in a plane crash along with Kathleen Kennedy, sister of J. F. Kennedy, who he was seeing at the time. And so it goes on…

TO THE PRESENT DAY

The family’s fate was settled in May 1948 by a thunderstorm. For two years, Peter had been having a passionate affair with Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, daughter of the American ambassador and sister of Jack, the future president of the United States. They were star-cross’d lovers: he was already married, and Kick was a Catholic. Like much of the aristocracy, the Fitzwilliams were virulently anti-Catholic, and the Kennedys – who have never acknowledged the relationship – told Kick that if she married Peter, she would be disinherited. (This, too, helps explain the three-week bonfire at Wentworth.) But on May 13, 1948, wanting to reach the south of France with his lover, Peter persuaded a private pilot to fly into the worst storm anyone could remember over the Ardèche mountains in France. For the last minute or so on the flight, everyone on board must have known they were about to crash: the pilot and co-pilot stuffed handkerchiefs into their mouths, a military procedure to avoid biting through the tongue in a crash landing. Peter and Kick were killed. The new earl was Eric, an alcoholic. “When Peter got killed, that were it then,” Geoff Steer, a miner’s son who went to Peter’s funeral, recalled. “Wentworth House died with him.”

On Eric’s death, the last earl at Wentworth was Tom Fitzwilliam, who lived until 1979. He kept a suite of 40 rooms, but chose to live elsewhere. The local authority gave up its lease and in 1988 Tom’s daughter put the house and 30 acres up for sale. In 1989 they were bought by Wensley Haydon-Baillie, a flamboyant businessman whose tenure was short. He invested in a company that promised a cure for herpes. This never materialised, and in 1998 he admitted to debts of £13m and the place was repossessed. After standing empty for a year, its lawns neglected and the roof at risk of collapse, it was bought by an anonymous bidder for the knockdown price of £1.5m – at £7 per square foot, cheaper than a council house in nearby Rotherham. The new owner is Clifford Newbold, 80, an architect from Highgate, north London, and a past master of the Guild of Freemen of the City of London.

Nobody in the village of Wentworth knows what he looks like. He does not employ locals, apparently for fear of gossip, and does not answer letters. “I’ve never seen him,” remarked a former postmistress, “and no one I know ever has.”

Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty (Viking, £20), by Catherine Bailey, is published on March 1. It is available from BooksFirst for £18, inc. p&p.

The Fitwilliam reign continued until the death of the 10th Earl in 1979, again tragically without issue. Since the death of the last Earl much of the property in the village has been managed by a trust which does an excellent job of preserving the character of the village and continues to make charitable donations for the benefit of residents. Wentworth Woodhouse is now under separate private ownership, and little is known about future plans for the building. The rest of the estate, which still has significant land holdings in the area, lives on under the stewardship of Sir Philip Naylor-Leyland.

SOME MORE HISTORY

The above are just edited highlights of the history of the village and estate. For more comprehensive and scholarly coverage you may wish to read Graham Hobson’s (far from brief) 4 volume “Wentworth – A Brief History”, or Roy Young’s excellent “The Big House and The Little Village”, which you may be able to obtain from shops in the village.

Thomas Wentworth’s Regiment

“En Dieu Est Tout” In God is all

Thomas Wentworth was born in 1591, the son of Henry Baron Wentworth of Nettlestead. On the death of his father in 1593, Thomas succeeded to the title as 4th Lord Wentworth. In 1626, thanks to the patronage of the Duke of Buckingham, Wentworth was created 1st Earl of Cleveland, a title that was to die with him, and the year later accompanied Buckingham on the ill fated expedition to La Rochelle. In the same year his son, also called Thomas, was born. In 1641 another Thomas Wentworth, this time the Earl of Strafford, faced execution in London. Attending him on the scaffold was his kinsman Thomas, Earl of Cleveland. As a side issue Strafford’s estate eventually passed to a Yorkshire branch of the family headed by, unsurprisingly, someone called Thomas Wentworth. It would seem that that Wentworth’s whilst being both brave and loyal, were not very original when it came to naming their children.

FITZWILLIAM (MILTON) CHARTERS F(M) Charter (12th – 1850)
These documents are held at Northamptonshire Record Office
This collection comprises of 57 Charte boxes and 5 standard boxes c 20½ cubic feet
Conditions of access: Finally, readers should be aware that there are restrictions on access to a few documents within this collection. Such restrictions are noted within the list and enquiries regarding these should be addressed to the County Archivist.
Source of acquisition: Accession 1956/23
Creator(s): Fitzwilliam family of Milton, Northamptonshire
Contents:
The family of Fitzwilliam dates back to pre-conquest times, as is set forth in many genealogical tables bearing the authority of Herald’s College; and was in the 13th century settled at Elmley and Sprotbrough in the West Riding.
The particular member of the family who, early in the 16th century settled at Milton was William Fitzwilliam, stated in the above mentioned pedigrees to be a son of John, (sixth son of Sir John Fitzwilliam who died in 1417) by Ellen Villiers of Brokesby.
It is, however, worthy of mention that in not one of the numerous deeds which concern this William Fitzwilliam is the name of his father given. He was, as we know, before coming into Northamptonshire, a citizen and Merchant Taylor of London, and an Alderman of Bread Street Ward. He was Sheriff in 1506 and knighted. We know also that he had a country house at Gaynes Park in Theydon Gernon, Essex.
But though Sir William from 1520 made Milton his principal residence, Gaynes Park was not given up for a hundred years at least, and F(M) Charter 1709-1745 show various transactions of the family there between 1508 and 1602, the last document (F(M) Charter 1745) being a Writ to the Sheriff, etc. of Essex to enquire into an alleged forcible entry by “John Fitzwilliam, esq. of London” with “certain evildoers armed and “arrayed for war” into the park of “William Fitzwilliam esq” at Theydon Gernon and seizure of his goods, etc.
In this year 1602, Anne, Lady Fitzwilliam (who founded the Fitzwilliam Almshouses at Theydon) died, and the two events may have some connection.
William Fitzwilliam the merchant purchased the Milton and Marholm estates from Robert Wyttilbury, esquire, (whose family had held them since 1381) for 1200 marks [£800] by deed dated 1 Aug. 1502 (F(M) Charter 1424), but he let them on lease at a nominal rent to the said Robert and Ann his wife for term of their lives.
Robert died in 1506, his wife surviving him. In these deeds William Fitzwilliam is described as “of Milton” first in 1522. The details of the acquisition of Milton and Marholm will be found below in the Introduction under “Milton”, as well as in the deed itself (F(M) Charter 1424).

From this time Sir William began to acquire various properties in the neighbourhood of Milton, and the dates of these acquisitions have been noted below, where ascertainable, under each place.
Owing to the nature and variety of the collection here catalogued, and to the later discovery of early and important documents, the arrangement of the catalogue may, at first sight, appear complicated. It may be well, therefore, to clarify here what the order is (see also compiler’s note and overview) and also to explain that though the Catalogue professes to contain descriptions of deeds down to the end of the Tudors (1603), some later ones have been included for their obvious importance.
Therefore this sub-fonds of the Fitzwilliam of Milton collection consists of:

(1) Charters arranged (a) under counties alphabetically (except that Northamptonshire, the principal county, is placed first) –
(b) separate places in alphabetical order under each county –
(c) each set of deeds in chronological order: followed
(d) by about 200 documents headed “Mixed Estates” and “Personal and Miscellaneous”, which could not very well be placed locally;
F(M) Charter 1-2204.
(2) Appendix I: Charters, Rolls, Swans, Swanmarks, etc; F(M) Charter 2205-2565.
(3) Appendix II: Court rolls, surveys, etc (see not prior to catalogue entries); F(M) Charter 2566-2630
The bulk of the post-Tudor deeds, which are for the most part expired leases, mortgages, and such like documents containing matter of comparatively little interest, have been more summarily treated. A catalogue of these deeds is available at the N.R.O. Additionally, the sub-fonds Fitzwilliam of Milton: Rolls, Estate and Family (F(M) roll) is listed separately but available on-line.

The parish of Castor originally included the hamlets of Ailsworth, Milton, Upton, and Sutton, and consequently many of these Castor deeds refer also to those hamlets. In this main collection under the head of Castor are 637 deeds dating from about 1200, and, in addition, appendix I contains 32 more F(M) Charter 2206-2237)
There are points of interest in the first two:- F(M) Charter 1 is a deed of sale by three sisters, Adelicia, Botilda, and Eva, of a messuage of their father’s whose name is not mentioned; and is fortified by the names of 22 witnesses, the first being Torold de Castria, [lord of the manor].
F(M) Charter 2 is a deed of sale by three other sisters, Dianisia, Sevia, and Agnes, of a messuage of their father’s, name not mentioned – to which are appended the names of over a dozen witnesses, the first six of whom are women. This is quite unusual.
As regards F(M) Charter 2. the Eva de Glintona and Botilda “uxor fabri” [wife of the smith] may be identical with the Botilda and Eva of F(M) Charter 1. In both deeds the sale is made “concessu domini fundi” [by grant or permission of the lord of the soil] a somewhat unusual expression.
In Castor and Ailsworth there are nearly 200 names of pieces of land, woods, etc., many with the suffixes of “furlong”, “sike”, “mor”, “grene”, “gate”, etc. the names of which may be found in the printed index.
Among them is a mention of “Miltunkirke Gate” F(M) Charter 11, 55, 56, 194.). One might infer from this that in early days there was a church at Milton, but as there is no evidence of this it is presumed that the expression must mean “The gate or entrance from Castor church leading to Milton”.

In this connection it may be noted that F(M) Charter 2308 is a covenant by Sir W. Fitzwilliam for payment of an annuity to a family servant with a proviso that the annuity is to be paid at “the porche or doore which standeth on the south side of the parish church of Milton”. This, on the same hypothesis, may be Castor or Marham church.
There is no reference in these deeds to a nunnery said to have been founded in Castor by Kyneburga, daughter of Peada, King of Mercia, in the 7th century. She and her sister were buried in Castor Church which is dedicated to St.Kyneburga, but their relics were transferred to Peterborough Abbey and placed in a shrine there in the 11th century.
The first mention of Fitzwilliam, under Castor, is in a deed of purchase by William Fitzwilliam, esq., of Theydon Gernon, Essex, of lands late R.Priour’s in the year 1515 for £27, (F(M) Charter 603). In the same year he also purchased from Thomas Emson the manors called Butler’s and Torald’s in Castor for £320, the yearly value being estimated at £16 (F(M) Charter 2209).

In 1561 there was a lawsuit between Robert Wingfield and Lady Anne Fitzwilliam concerning rights of common in Upton and Ailsworth
(F(M) Charter 2216 & 2217) renewed in 1575 by William Fitzwilliam
(F(M) Charter 2222-2226)

Access to Archives Part of the UK archives network
Sheffield Archives
You are here Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments [WWM/G/1 – WWM/Y/75]
Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments
Reference WWM
Covering dates 12th century-20th century
Held by Sheffield Archives
Conditions of access.
Records relating to the estate are closed for 50 years
Records of a personal nature are closed for 75 years
Records relating to the Sturgeon family are closed for 100 years
A written application form to use the collection must be completed
Archival history.
The collection is now in two ownerships. The personal and political papers and those relating to the Irish estates were accepted in lieu of inheritance tax by H.M.Treasury in 2001 and allocated to Sheffield City Council. The estate and other papers remain in private ownership
Copies information. Much material is on microfilm (see information for individual sections)
Creators: Watson family of Wentworth Woodhouse, West Riding of Yorkshire; Wentworth, Watson-, family of Wentworth Woodhouse, West Riding of Yorkshire; Fitzwilliam family of Wentworth Woodhouse, West Riding of Yorkshire
Arrangement: Personal and Political Papers
Papers of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1593-1641) WWM/Str P/1-44
Papers of the Bright family of Carbrook, Sheffield, and Badsworth 1623-1752 WWM/Br P/1-214
Papers of Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquis of Rockingham (1693-1750) WWM/M/1-28
Papers of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham (1730-1782 WWM/R/1-229
Papers of William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam (1748-1833) WWM/F/1-134
Papers of Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam (1786-1857) WWM/G/1-102
Papers of William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam (1815-1902) WWM/T/1-117
Papers relating to Yorkshire and other elections, 18th – 19th century WWM/E/1-243
Papers relating to West Riding Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteers, 1794-1819 WWM/Y/1-75
Papers of Edmund Burke (1729-1797) WWM/Bk P/1-50
Papers of William, 2nd Earl of Albemarle, 1746-1748 WWM/Albemarle/1-2
Papers of Sir John Wentworth (d. 1820) and Sir Charles Wentworth (d. 1844) WWM/Gov/1-256

Estate Records
Manorial court rolls and papers for the manors of Tinsley, Wath upon Dearne, Newall Grange, Thornhill Hall, Greasbrough and Barbot Hall, Hooton Roberts, Wentworth, Tankersley, Ecclesall and others, 13th – 19th century WWM/C/1-10
Stewards’ correspondence and papers, 18th – 20th century WWM/Stw P/1-34 Maps and plans, 18th – 19th century WWM/MP/1-136
Opencast mining papers, 1941-1971 WWM/O/1-84
Account books and rentals, 18th – 19th century (Includes rentals and accounts for English and Irish estates, household, farm, stable and colliery accounts, executors’ accounts and inventories) WWM/A/1-485, 619-1650
Vouchers to accounts, 18th-19th century (Includes estate and household vouchers etc, and vouchers for personal and family expenses) WWM/Vouchers
Deeds relating to English and Irish estates, including wills and settlements, 12th – 19th century WWM/D/1-1856
Records of the East Doncaster Estates Company (Cantley Hall estate) 17th – 20th century WWM/E Donc/1-234
Other Records and Manuscript Volumes
Manuscript volumes and treatises, 16th – 18th century and undated WWM/MS/1-45
Miscellaneous papers WWM/Misc/1-287
Printed Material
American handbills, 1763-1775, undated WWM/A H/1-12
American newspapers, 1765-1782 WWM/A N/1-24
Handbills, 17th – 19th century, undated WWM/H/1-278
Newspapers (English, Scottish, Irish, French and Australian), 1763-1869 WWM/N/1-40
Pamphlets and books, 16th – 19th century WWM/P/1-19
Supplementary information: Dates in this catalogue are recorded in the New Style
Related information: Accounts for the Malton estate and Derwent Navigation, WWM/A/486-618: transferred to North Yorkshire County Record Office, 12 Feb 1987
Vouchers for the Malton estate and Derwent Navigation: transferred to North Yorkshire County Record Office, 21 April 1986

Contents:
The family and estate papers of the Wentworth, Watson Wentworth and Fitzwilliam families. The capital estate was at Wentworth Woodhouse at Wentworth, near Rotherham in South Yorkshire (formerly in the West Riding of Yorkshire). Some records relate to the estate in Malton in North Yorkshire (and there are related documents in the North Yorkshire County Record Office for that), and records relating both to the estates in Ireland of the Wentworths, Earls of Strafford) and to the Fitzwilliam Irish estates in Wicklow. Other records relate to the London house in Grosvenor Square and a few items to other houses in Newmarket and Wimbledon.
Three groups amongst the Personal and Political Papers are of national importance:
Papers of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, minister of Charles I and deputy of Ireland, executed in May 1641. Papers of the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, 1730-1782, Whig Prime Minister, who died in office. Due to his stand in opposition there is significant information relating to the American colonies and events leading to American independence; other papers relate to his personal interests in horse breeding and horse racing as well as the completion of the building and decoration of the mansion at Wentworth, begun by his father, the 1st Marquis.
Papers of Edmund Burke, Rockingham’s secretary, including manuscripts of his speeches, with notes and other writings. The later Earls had a significant role in local and regional government.
Arrangement: As far as possible the arrangement has been retained, but it has been found necessary to make a chronological arrangement of the loose letters and most miscellaneous bundles. See WWM/G/83. These letters are indexed under name of correspondent

Related information: Earl Fitzwilliam’s correspondence about the publication of the Bourke and Fitzwilliam edition of Edmund Burke’s Correspondence, is listed with the Burke Collection
With regard to estate Business, there is a good deal of overlapping between the correspondence of the 2nd (4th) and 3rd (5th) Earls, as Lord Milton had practically taken over the management some years before his father’s death
Correspondence of 4th and 5th Earls at Northamptonshire Record Office
This is extensive and on many topics ties up with the letters here. Some of the letters have been given a chronological arrangement and many are unsorted. Family, political and minor local affairs are indiscriminately mixed and there are a number relating to purely Yorkshire topics, including the 1807 County Election and the militia
Administrative history:
The 4th Earl Fitzwilliam died on 8 February 1833 and was succeeded by his only son, Viscount Milton, as 5th Earl Fitzwilliam
In this catalogue, ‘[Lord] Milton’ thus refers to the future 5th Earl, and before February 1833 ‘Fritzwilliam’ refers to his father, the 4th Earl
Contents: The correspondence of the 5th Earl consisted of several boxes and cupboard shelves of small bundles and loose letters. The contents of the bundles varied from a couple of circulars tied together or half-a-dozen letters of the same date tied up as received, to a considerable number from a particular correspondent or about a particular subject. Many were loose.
Correspondence about elections and related matters: York County and West Riding WWM/G/1-7 [n.d.]

COMPILER’S NOTE
The arrangement of this Catalogue is, roughly as follows:-
PLACES… alphabetically under counties. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE… is treated first, as being the principal county.
Other Counties follow in alphabetical order. Under each place the arrangement is chronological.
After the counties, come “MIXED ESTATES,” that is, where places in several counties are concerned.
Then comes a group of documents called “PERSONAL and MISCELLANEOUS,” in which are included “Appointments”, “Marriage Settlements”, “Wills”, etc.
Appendix I: containing Deeds etc found later
Appendix II: adderda to F(M) rolls catalogue but added here (see note) containing additional court rolls, rentals, sureys, etc

OVERVIEW
Northamptonshire Deeds F(M) Charter 1-1659
Deeds of other counties F(M) Charter 1660-2031
Mixed Estates F(M) Charter 2032-2040
Personal and Miscellaneous F(M) Charter 2041-2204
Appendix I: F(M) Charter 2205-2565
Northamptonshire Deeds F(M) Charter 2205-2361
Personal and Miscellaneous F(M) Charter 2362-2374
Northamptonshire court rolls, account rolls, etc F(M) Charter 2375-2410
Deeds of other counties F(M) Charter 2411-2549(b)
Ireland F(M) Charter 2550-2558
Swans and Swanmarks F(M) Charter 2559-2565
Appendix II: court rolls, rentals, surveys, etc (see note prior to entries) F(M) Charter 2566-2630

William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, built Coollattin House around 1800.

The history of the Wentworth/Fitzwilliam family in England has been well documented, but what is less well known is the influence they had on the history of Ireland. As well as the family seat of Wentworth Woodhouse, they owned another large house called Malton House (later Coollattin House) in County Wicklow from where they managed their 88,000 acres of Irish lands. They also acquired a number of Irish titles and political positions over the years.

The Early Wentworths

A close adviser to King Charles, Strafford was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1633. He set about the job with the aim of creating greater prosperity in Ireland and thus (he hoped) greater loyalty to the English Crown. His methods, however, left much to be desired and there was considerable local resentment about the way in which he manipulated the Irish parliament and appropriated lands in the name of the Crown, ostensibly to better the economy of the country by encouraging the English nobility to take up residence there.

Strafford himself purchased the half barony of Shillelagh in 1635 and built a hunting lodge and park (Fairwood) near Coollattin. There are records of his writing to King Charles about the wonderful countryside and hunting in the area, although it is likely that the local O’Byrne clan, whose lands he took over, were less than enthusiastic about his presence in the area.

Strafford’s son William 2nd Earl of Strafford (1626-1695) went on to build up the family estates in Coollattin. The area is famous for its oak woods and its timbers were sold for use in the construction of Westminster Hall in London as well as parts of Westminster Abbey, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge and the Stadt House in Amsterdam. Even accounting for the higher shipping costs, the cost of felling and preparing timber in Ireland worked out at half the price of producing comparable timber on the Wentworth estates, hence the family’s involvement in the area continued to grow.

On the death of the 2nd Earl the estates passed to his nephew, Thomas Watson Wentworth (1665-1725), whose son Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Malton and 1st Marquis of Rockingham was the father of Lady Ann Wentworth was to go on to unite the Wentworth/Fitzwilliam lines by marrying 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam.

The Early Fitzwilliams

William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland (or 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam of England) was the first heir to the combined Wentworth/Fitzwilliam family fortune.

It was the 4th Earl who built Collattin House (it was originally called Malton House, presumably after one of his grandfather’s titles as the Earl of Malton). The house was designed by the leading architect John Carr, who was also responsible for the grandiose “stable block” at Wentworth Woodhouse as well as the Keppel’s Column and Mausoleum monuments near Wentworth.

The building was started around 1794 but before completion it was burned down in a rebellion in 1798 (along with 160 other houses in the nearby village of Carnew and several Catholic churches). It isn’t clear if the house was burnt to the ground, but on Lady’s Day in 1798 a carpenter was paid £27 7s 5d and a half pence, even though his work had apparently been destroyed by the rebels. Work resumed again in 1800 and the house was completed in 1807.

As well as rebuilding their house and the village, the Fitzwilliams contributed to the repairs of the Catholic Churches and gave land for other churches (whilst other landlords would not even allow a Catholic church on their estate). Throughout the family’s time in Ireland they did not take sides in the various Irish struggles through the centuries, and perhaps as a consequence their house was left untouched in the last dash for independence.

On arrival in Dublin, Fitzwilliam set about dismissing senior officials with strong Protestant connections, including Beresford the Commissioner of Customs. This apparently backfired as Beresford then appealed above Fitzilliam’s head directly to Pitt who ordered the reinstatement of the officials; inevitably Fitzwilliam then resigned. Apparently Fitzwilliam’s departure was seen as a major setback by the local population who closed all the shops in Dublin on the day he left, almost as if in mourning. Fitzwilliam and Beresford later met at the Tyburn Turnpike in London for a duel (which fortunately was stopped by the local constable!).

Sports Center

The Coollattin Estate hosted a number of sporting events at pictured below