THE
DISPOSSESSED LANDOWNERS
OF IRELAND, 1664
(Adapted
from lists
given to the Duke of Ormonde to select his
nominees for restoration)
As published in The Irish
Genealogist November 1971 (Volume 4, No. 4;
pages 275-302)
In 1641, rebellion broke out in Ireland and was
followed by more than nine years of almost
continuous fighting, while in England King
Charles I and the Parliament strove for
supremacy. The Irish Rebellion of 1641 (Irish:
Éirí Amach 1641) began as an attempted
coup d’etat by Catholic Irish gentry, who tried
to seize control of the English administration
in Ireland to force concessions for the
Catholics living under English rule. However,
the coup failed and the rebellion developed into
an ethnic conflict between native Irish
Catholics on one side, and English and Scottish
Protestant settlers on the other. This began a
conflict known as the Irish Confederate War. The
rising was sparked by Catholic fears of an
impending invasion of Ireland by anti-Catholic
forces of the English Long Parliament and the
Scottish Covenanters who were defying the
authority of the King Charles I. In turn, the
rebels' suspected association with the King of
England, Scotland and Ireland, Charles I, helped
to spark the outbreak of the English Civil War.
The English and Scottish Parliaments refused to
raise an army to put down the rebellion unless
it was under their command rather than the
King's.
The Irish rebellion broke out in October 1641
and was followed by several months of violent
chaos before the Irish Catholic upper classes
and clergy formed the Catholic Confederation in
the summer of 1642. The Confederation became a
de facto government of most of Ireland,
free from the control of the English
administration and loosely aligned with the
Royalist side in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
The subsequent war continued in Ireland until
the 1650s, when Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army
decisively defeated the Irish Catholics and
Royalists, and conquered the country.
Maurice Eustace of Castlemartin, who had become
a Catholic, joined the rebellion, and in
February, 1642, both Castlemartin and Kilcullen
Bridge were burnt by Lieutenant General the Earl
of Ormonde, when his troops captured Naas and
proceeded to lay waste the surrounding
countryside. A reward of
£400
and a free pardon was offered to anyone who
would bring in the head of Maurice Eustace, and
later that same year he was attainted and his
lands declared forfeit. In 1643, Castlemartin,
then garrisoned by 400 men under one of the
FitzGeralds, surrendered to Ormonde, who
quartered his troops there during his march
south to capture Timolin. Harristown seems to
have avoided trouble at this time, but was
occupied as an outpost by General Preston in
1647, when he was at Naas preparing to advance
into County Meath. Earlier that year,
Castlemartin had been captured by Colonel
Michael Jones and again burnt.
In 1648, both Castlemartin and Harristown fell
to Colonel Hewson, and were left in ruins, which
included Sir Maurice Eustace's new house. Sir
Maurice Eustace (later Lord Chancellor who was a
Protestant, was arrested by Colonel Jones, and
kept in prison at Chester for seven years, only
narrowly escaping exile to Jamaica. On his
release and return to Dublin in 1655, Sir
Maurice was accused of communicating with King
Charles II, and arrested again, but he was set
free though under strict supervision.
Such was the fate of Sir Maurice Eustace, a
loyal Protestant, but the Catholic Eustaces
suffered far worse during these years of
fighting and later under the Commonwealth
(1649-1660). By 1657, the following Eustaces had
been deprived of their lands: Maurice of
Castlemartin, Alexander of Dowdenstown, Anne and
Jane of Ballymore Eustace, Walter and Nicolas of
Elverstown, Oliver of Ballymore Eustace, Oliver
of Blackhall, Thomas of Tipperkevin, James and
Nicolas of Confey, Thomas and Maurice of Moone,
Walter of Ballycolane, Edward of Blackwood,
Richard of Narragh, Rowland of Mullaghcash, and
Christopher of Newland. Some of Christopher
Eustace's lands were restored but only after his
mind was impaired because of mental illness.
The lists which follow were copied from the
Prendergast MSS. Vol. iv at the Kings Inns
Library, Dublin, by E. G. More O'Ferrall in
1970, and are published by kind permission of
the Committee of that library. The originals are
among the Carte MSS. Vol. 44 (1660-70) in the
Bodleian Library, Oxford, where the Prendergast
transcript was made. Thus we here present a copy
of a copy, but we are satisfied that it is
accurate, since Prendergast was a careful worker
and we have taken great pains to reproduce his
copy faithfully. The names that occur in these
lists are those of the heads of families who
lost their lands through the Cromwellian
Settlement and were not, for the most part,
compensated with grants in Connacht or Clare,
nor restored by the Court of Claims which
functioned in 1663. In a few cases, where two or
three members of a family are mentioned, one of
them is described as ' past'. This means that
the individual has passed the Court of Claims
for restoration. A very small number of the
ex-landowners on these lists were eventually
restored to some of their former lands as
nominees, and it fell to Ormonde, as Lord
Lieutenant, to make the recommendations.
For this purpose he needed not only the names of
the persons concerned but some briefing also on
their conduct during the period of the war of
1641-52 in Ireland, and more especially the
early part of it, which was now referred to
officially as 'the late horrid Rebellion'. This
briefing was done by means of capital letters
placed above or after names on the lists with a
key at the beginning explaining what they stood
for.
The genealogical importance of these lists is
obvious. In a number of cases they provide the
name of the son and heir of the pre-Cromwellian
head of the family where this would otherwise be
unknown. Of those who “lived inoffensively”
during the Rebellion we are sometimes told, or
can infer, the reason for it, e.g. ' aged and
bedridd ', a minor, or ' constantly
distracted '.
The inclusion of a name on these lists suggests
that the person was living in 1664 but is not
proof. Some of those named are known to have
died previously, and some are actually marked as
killed in the King's service.
Where a father and son, or other members of the
same family, are mentioned together, it may be
accepted that the earlier generation was head of
the family during the Rebellion and is now dead,
while the younger generation is the present
(1664) claimant.
It could be a reasonable genealogical aim of
many Irish people to trace their descent from an
individual on these lists. Once this has been
achieved, it is generally (possible to go back
several more generations with much less
difficulty through inquisitions, fiants, etc.
Although virtually all of these persons were
Catholic, because it was the ' Irish Papists'
that were dispossessed by Cromwell, it should be
remembered that many of their descendants
conformed later, especially during the 18th
century, so that today they are genealogically
important not only to Catholics but to many
Irish Protestants also.
The number of entries for each province is as
follows:
Leinster 538
Munster 704
Ulster 20
Connaught 368
Ulster had already been 'planted' in the reign
of James I, so that there were no longer many
native proprietors to be dispossessed. Connaught
had been left to some extent as a refuge for
Papist landowners under Cromwell's ' to Hell or
Connaught' policy. Hence the greatest number of
confiscations was in the other two provinces.
The meaning of the figures which appear on the
right hand side opposite to each name is not
explained. They do not denote the extent or
valuation either of lands previously forfeited
or of the estates to which a few of these
individuals were eventually restored. It is
possible that they are acreages to which they
were recommended to be restored immediately. We
include them in the expectation that their
purpose will eventually be known. And they do
indicate the relative importance of these former
landowners among themselves. The original is
almost unpunctuated; stops have been introduced
here occasionally for the sake of clarity.
EDITOR.
'Qualifications of Lists furnished to Ormond
whence to select Nominees'
A Those who eminently suffered by the
Nuncio & his party for their good affections to
His Majesty's Service.
B Those who by their early repentance
redeemed their former failings by submitting to
the cessation in 1643 to the peace
in 1646 to the cessation with the Earle of
Inshiquyn & upon all other occasions manifested
their good affections to his Majesty's service.
C Those who constantly upon all
occasions opposed the Nuncio & his party,
labored to induce the people to returned to
their former obedience to his Majesties'
Government signally endeavored to assert the
peace of 1646.
D Those who from the beginning lived
inoffensively
E Those named in H.M. Declaration & Act
of Settlement as specially meriting on
suffering.
G Those who continued with H.M. abroad
or served under his ensigns beyond the seas.
H Those who submitted & constantly
adhered to the peace of 1648.
I Those who since the cessation in
1643 lived quietly & inoffensively at home.
K Those who were killed in H.M.
Service.
L Those who were of known good
affections to H.M.'s service & dyed before the
cessation in 1643.
Note: For Leinster an extra category (F) is
given, for ' infants, idiots or Madd men', but
apparently is never used.
EUSTACE FAMILY MEMBERS
MENTIONED IN THE RECORDS
PROVINCE OF LIENSTER
County Meath
Town of Drogheda
County Dublin
City of Dublin
County Kildare
County Westmeath
County Louth
County Kilkenny
County Wexford
Queen's County (now County Leix)
PROVINCE OF MUNSTER
PROVINCE OF CONNAUGHT
PROVINCE OF ULSTER |