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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2019
This article examines a letter from Cavan's political elite to the lord deputy and council in July 1629 in protest against the imposition of charges relating to the Graces. The letter, with its graphic description of a county gripped by famine, tells us much about conditions on the ground at this time. What is most interesting about this petition, however, are the more than one hundred signatures appended to it. The names include a mix of both Gaelic Irish and British settlers and indicate a plantation county whose two communities were prepared to work with each other, on this occasion at least, in order to achieve a common goal.
1 Gillespie, Raymond, ‘Harvest crises in early seventeenth century Ireland’ in Irish Economic and Social History, xi (1984), pp 5–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
2 Ibid., pp 7–11; lord deputy and council to the English privy council, 4 Apr. 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/248, f. 181).
3 The lord deputy [to Lord Dorchester?], 19 Mar. 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/248, f. 132).
4 The Irish council to the king, 28 Apr. 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/248, f. 205); the lord deputy [to Lord Dorchester], 2 May 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/248, f. 210).
5 Clarke, Aidan, The Graces (Dublin, 1968)Google Scholar; Gillespie, Raymond, Seventeenth-century Ireland (Dublin, 2006), pp 74–8Google Scholar.
6 The lord deputy and council to the king, 11 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/248, ff 15–16); the lord deputy and council to the English privy council, 29 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/248, ff 59–60).
7 Philip Reilly was the sheriff of Cavan in 1629 (‘Sheriffs of Cavan, 1584–1899’, undated (R.I.A., Upton MS 19a)). It had been estimated by Lord Deputy Falkland in 1627 that £900 would be required from Cavan towards the upkeep of the army (Hunter, R. J., The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, 1608–1641 (Belfast, 2012), p. 162Google Scholar).
8 ‘Copy of the order sent by the council to the sheriffs of counties ordering them to collect monies for payment into the exchequer’, 17 June 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, ff 29–30).
9 Philip Reilly (sheriff of Cavan) to the lord deputy, 8 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, f. 63).
10 ‘Petition of the inhabitants of Cavan to the lord deputy and council’, 8 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, ff 65–6).
11 Shuckburgh, E. S. (ed.), Two biographies of William Bedell (Cambridge, 1902), pp 297–8Google Scholar.
12 Burnet, Gilbert, The life of William Bedell (London, 1692), p. 46Google Scholar.
13 There had been protests in autumn 1628 against payments towards the disbanding of an army regiment (Hunter, The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, p. 166).
14 Cal. S.P. Ire., 1625–32, pp 461–2, 467–8.
15 ‘The petition of the knights and gentlemen of Ireland on behalf of themselves and Ireland’, July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, ff 17–18). Hugh Culme also signed this document and the signature of a Patrick Brady appended to this same document closely resembles that on the Cavan letter.
16 Robert Forte, (sheriff of Co. Monaghan), to the lord deputy, 17 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, f. 78); Richard Chevers, mayor of Wexford, to the lord deputy, 21 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, f. 80).
17 The justices of the peace for County Donegal to the English privy council, 9 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, ff 72–3). In 1626 complaints had been made of pillaging by soldiers billeted throughout Ulster, but none from Cavan: Hunter, The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, p. 161.
18 ‘The humble peticon of the protestante Inhabitants both Cleargie and laytie wthin the Countie of Cavan’, 1633 (Sheffield Archives, WWM/Str P 20/115); William Bedell to Thomas Wentworth, 5 Nov. 1633 (Sheffield Archives, WWM/Str P 20/116).
19 Copy of the lord deputy and council to the sheriff of Cavan, 24 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, ff 84–5).
20 Cal. S.P. Ire, 1625–32, p. 470.
21 Copy of the order of the deputy and the council to the sheriffs of counties in Ireland, 28 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, ff 59–60). The fear among those billed for payment had been that monies paid into the exchequer would become a perpetual claim demanded upon their estates by the Crown: the lord deputy to the king, 13 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, ff 35–6).
22 ‘The humble peticon of the protestante Inhabitants both Cleargie and laytie wthin the Countie of Cavan’, 1633 (Sheffield Archives, WWM/Str P 20/115).
23 For more on these men, see Roulston, William, ‘The Scots in plantation Cavan’ in Scott, Brendan (ed.), Culture and society in early modern Breifne/Cavan (Dublin, 2009), pp 121–46Google Scholar; Brendan Scott, ‘Sir Stephen Butler and other inhabitants of early plantation Belturbet’ in Breifne (forthcoming).
24 Although Charles Waterhouse and Thomas Fleming, both of whose names are signed in the letter under discussion here, were charged with collecting monies in Fermanagh and Cavan respectively: ‘List of commissioners to the counties of Ireland, presumably for raising the money for the army’, July 1627 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1625–32, p. 254).
25 Recent work by David Edwards, however, points to the unsettled nature of Ulster during this period: Edwards, David, ‘Out of the blue? Provincial unrest in Ireland before 1641’ in Siochrú, Micheál Ó and Ohlmeyer, Jane (eds), Ireland 1641: contexts and reactions (Manchester, 2013), pp 95–114Google Scholar. Clodagh Tait has also examined how mutual indebtedness between planter and native in Cavan could cause tensions between both communities in the period between 1610 and 1641: Clodagh Tait, ‘Cavan in 1638: natives and newcomers’ in Scott (ed.), Culture and society in early modern Breifne/Cavan, pp 188–99. There had also been a threatened insurrection in Cavan in 1625 by the McGoverns working with the Maguires, and rebels were noted around Ireland, including Cavan, in March 1627: see the series of relevant entries in Cal. S.P. 1625–32, pp 35–7, 220.
26 This coalition did not last long, as a petition from the Protestant laity and clergy in 1633 makes clear: ‘The humble peticon of the protestante Inhabitants both Cleargie and laytie wthin the Countie of Cavan’, 1633 (Sheffield Archives, WWM/Str P 20/115).
27 Philip Reilly (sheriff of Cavan) to the lord deputy, 8 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, f. 63).
28 ‘Deposition of Ambrose Bedell’, 26 Oct. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 106r); Philip Reilly (sheriff of Cavan) to the lord deputy, 8 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, f. 63).
29 At the 1640 assizes, Hugh Mac Mahon was offended by Monaghan's sheriff, Edward Aldrich, who refused to give Mac Mahon the ‘right hand of friendship’. Mac Mahon was affronted by the behaviour of Aldrich, whom the Gaelic Irishman considered noveau riche, Aldrich being described as having been ‘a vintner or Tapster few yeers before’: ‘O'Connolly's relation of the plot to seize Dublin Castle’, undated (T.C.D., MS 840, f. 1).
30 The signature of John West, however, remains quite constant between 1629 and 1642; ‘Deposition of John West’, 10 Feb. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 83r). That of Edmund Sherwin also shows similarities between 1629 and 1642: ‘Deposition of Edmund Sherwin’, 10 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 64v).
31 R. J. Hunter and John Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’: the Ulster settlers, c.1630 (Belfast, 2012) contains no other such example, although there was a John Hibott living in Cavan in 1641, possibly the John Iboott who also signed the document under discussion here: ‘Deposition of John Hibbot’, 19 July 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 8r). Moses's father was also named Moses and is recorded in 1612 as being a tenant of Stephen Butler: T. W. Moody (ed.), ‘Ulster Plantation papers’ in Anal. Hib., no. 8 (1938), p. 277. That Moses, Daniel and John are all grouped together in the muster of 1629 implies that they were related: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 9.
32 It could also be that some had simply forgotten how to sign their name. Reading was a much more common skill than writing, which was more difficult to master.
33 Ford, Alan, ‘“Force and fear of punishment”: Protestants and religious coercion in Ireland, 1603–33’ in Boran, Elizabethanne and Gribben, Crawford (eds), Enforcing Reformation in Ireland and Scotland, 1550–1700 (Ashgate, 2006), pp 99–100Google Scholar.
34 Gillespie, ‘Harvest crises in early seventeenth century Ireland’, p. 12.
35 Ibid., pp 12–15.
36 Hunter, The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, pp 162–5.
37 ‘The humble peticon of the protestante Inhabitants both Cleargie and laytie wthin the Countie of Cavan’, 1633 (Sheffield Archives, WWM/Str P 20/115).
38 See Hunter, The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, p. 213 for a further example of the Gaelic Irish in Cavan utilising the British legal system. Earlier attempts by the O'Reillys, in 1610, to use British law to resist the escheatment of Cavan ended in failure: Brady, Ciaran, ‘The end of the O'Reilly lordship, 1584–1610’ in Edwards, David (ed.), Regions and rulers in Ireland, 1100–1650 (Dublin, 2004), pp 174–6Google Scholar.
39 ‘The humble peticon of the protestante Inhabitants both Cleargie and laytie wthin the Countie of Cavan’, 1633 (Sheffield Archives, WWM/Str P 20/115).
40 ‘Petition of the inhabitants of Cavan to the lord deputy and council’, 8 July 1629 (T.N.A., SP 63/249, ff. 65–6).
41 This is endorsed in a separate hand.
42 Waterhouse was one of the original incorporators of Belturbet and was possibly the chief officer in 1624. He took the oath of supremacy in 1612, married around this time a woman named Etheldred Hamon and was involved in numerous land transactions throughout this period. Charles died on 18 Aug. 1638 and was succeeded by his son and namesake who, at the time of the 1641 rising, continued to hold the manor of Castlewaterhouse in County Fermanagh: the lord deputy to the attorney general, 15 Nov. 1612 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1611–14, p. 299); ‘Deposition of Stephen Allen’, 7 Mar. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 832, f. 177r); Hunter, The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, p. 134; Moody (ed.), ‘Ulster plantation papers’, p. 277; Schlegel, Donal M., Abstracts of chancery inquisitions of the seventeenth century for Counties Fermanagh and Monaghan (Monaghan, 2008), pp 33–4Google Scholar.
43 A ‘Sir Henrie Pearse’ had rented land to one James Stewart in Cavan before the outbreak of the rising: ‘Deposition of James Stewart’, 12 Nov. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 196r).
44 Captain Arthur Forbes was a Scotsman who was normally based in Longford, but who had married the widow of Sir Claud Hamilton, who had been a major landowner in Tullyhunco and had established Killeshandra. Forbes represented the Ulster landowners in 1629 when attempting to ease the financial burdens upon them. A petition in 1633 from the Protestant laity and clergy in Cavan criticised Forbes for exceeding his authority by treating with recusant agents and setting a sum to be paid from Cavan without, it seems, the approval of some of the people he represented. Forbes was killed by Sir Frederick Hamilton in a duel at Buxtehude (in modern-day Germany) in 1632 during the Thirty Years’ War: Hunter, The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, p. 150; Victor Treadwell (ed.), The Irish commission of 1622: an investigation of the Irish administration 1615–22 and its consequences 1623–24 (Dublin, 2006), pp 520–21; ‘The humble peticon of the protestante Inhabitants both Cleargie and laytie wthin the Countie of Cavan’, 1633 (Sheffield Archives, WWM/Str P 20/151); Dominic Rooney, The life and times of Sir Frederick Hamilton 1590 –1647 (Dublin, 2013), p. 63.
45 This is possibly Philip McHugh O'Reilly, a nephew of Archbishop Hugh O'Reilly and an M.P. for Cavan in 1640–41. He was the main ringleader of the 1641 rising in Cavan: Bríd McGrath, ‘A biographical dictionary of the membership of the Irish House of Commons, 1640–1641’ (Ph.D. thesis, 2 vols, Trinity College Dublin, 1997), i, 231–2.
46 Hugh Culme eventually established Virginia, County Cavan, the patent to do so having been held for a number of years by Captain John Ridgeway. Culme had been constable of Clogh Oughter Castle in 1610, receiving a twenty-one-year lease for it and the lands belonging to it at that time. He also received property in Tullyhaw barony. Culme died in 1630: Hunter, R. J., ‘An Ulster plantation town: Virginia’ in Breifne, no. 13 (1970), pp 43–51Google Scholar; idem, The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, 55, 56, 72.
47 A Thomas Fleming was accused in 1642 of being ‘very familier amongst and [a] partaker with the Rebells’: ‘Deposition of John Anderson’, 11 July 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 98v).
48 A Patrick Brady was involved in land transactions in Cavan town in 1611 and 1631–2, and litigation against Richard Ashe in 1635. He was one of the original incorporators of Cavan town and was sovereign in 1627: Hunter, The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, pp 209, 213; Jonathan Cherry, ‘The indigenous and colonial urbanization of Cavan town, c.1300–c.1641’ in Scott (ed.), Culture and society in early modern Breifne/Cavan, pp 93, 100–01. This signature resembles closely that of a Patrick Brady who signed the letter in July 1629 from the gentlemen and knights of the Pale: ‘The petition of the knights and gentlemen of Ireland on behalf of themselves and Ireland’, July 1629 (T.N.A. SP 63/249/1420 (1)).
49 Brockhill succeeded his father John, who had planted Ballyhaise, in 1629. Brockhill was an M.P. for Cavan in 1634 and died in 1636: McGrath, ‘A biographical dictionary of the membership of the Irish House of Commons 1640–1641’, ii, 34; ‘Deposition of Isabel Naylor’, 5 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 37r); ‘Names of the knights, citizens and burgesses of the present parliament holden in Dublin, 14 July’, 14 July 1634 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1633–47, p. 63).
50 There were two Thomas Taylors in Cavan in 1629 and again in 1641. One was a mason on the bishop of Kilmore's lands in Kilmore. The other Thomas Taylor was a tenant on Stephen Butler's estate in Belturbet, who in his deposition described himself as ‘an English protestant … Aged threescore yeares or thereabouts’. At least one, and perhaps three, of his children died during the 1641 rising. But there is little similarity between the signatures provided in either deposition and the 1629 signature: ‘Deposition of Thomas Taylor, Kilmore’, 12 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 68r); ‘Deposition of Thomas Taylor, Belturbet’, 3 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, ff 70r–70v); Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, pp 4, 15.
51 It was reported in 1622 that Lord Lambert leased some land and the bawn on one of his estates to a Palesman, ‘one Morrice Dalton’. Dalton lived in ‘an Irish thatched house within the bawn’: Treadwell (ed.), The Irish commission of 1622, p. 519.
52 A number of Hugh O'Reillys were involved in the 1641 rising, but this Hugh O'Reilly may be the chief of the O'Reilly family, who was also father of Sheriff Philip O'Reilly. A ‘Captain Hugh O'Rely’ was one of those charged in 1627 with collecting the monies for the army. Sheriff Philip O'Reilly's father died in 1629: McGrath, ‘A biographical dictionary of the membership of the Irish House of Commons 1640–1641’, i, 231; ‘List of commissioners to the counties of Ireland, presumably for raising the money for the army’, July 1627 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1625–32, p. 254).
53 An ‘Edmond Rellie’ of Clanrae was an active participant in the 1641 rising: ‘Deposition of John Stevenson’, 29 Oct. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 195r).
54 A ‘Patrick o Sheridan’ robbed a number of British settlers in 1641 and was described by other deponents as a yeoman from Oghill and a tenant of Philip MacHugh O'Reilly. See for example: ‘Deposition of William Reynolds’, 12 July 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 258r); ‘Deposition of Elizabeth Smith’, 1 June 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 192r); ‘Deposition of Dorothy Moigne and Robert Johnson’, 5 Mar. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 36r); ‘Deposition of Robert Johnson’, 21 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 19r).
55 A James Stanyon was a resident on Brockhill Taylor's estate in Ballyhaise in 1629: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 9.
56 On 20 August 1616, Sir George Mainwaring demised unto Robert Newton and his assigns lands in Gama and Anaghlogh in Loughtee barony for forty-one years: George Hill (ed.), An historical account of the plantation in Ulster at the commencement of the seventeenth century (Belfast, 1877), p. 466.
57 Thomas Cooke was a tenant of Stephen Butler's and took the oath of supremacy in 1612. A widow named Ann Cooke was living in Belturbet in 1641: ‘Deposition of Ann Cooke’, 19 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 832, f. 211r); Moody (ed.), ‘Ulster plantation papers’, p. 277.
58 Moses was a gentleman from Castletara parish and gave a deposition on 6 July 1643 detailing his losses. He was married to ‘Meriall ffirrboord’, the daughter of a tanner from Butlersbridge called ‘Anthony ffirrbooard’. Moses was called ‘Moyses Hibbot’ by another deponent and described as a ‘gunsmith’. Moses had been living in Cavan since at least 1612, when he and his father and namesake both took the oath of supremacy in front of their landlord, Stephen Butler. By 1629, he was resident on the Taylor estate in Ballyhaise. The Moses Ibott whom in 1643 gave a deposition could not sign his name, only writing his mark, which was an ‘M’: ‘Deposition of Moses Ibott’, 6 July 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 253v); ‘Deposition of Richard North’, 22 June 1647 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 285r); Moody (ed.), ‘Ulster plantation papers’, p. 277; Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 9.
59 A Philip Ward, son of William Ward from County Monaghan (William was seventy-four years old and unaccounted for at the time of the 1641 rising), was a yeoman living in Drumlane parish in 1641: ‘Deposition of Philip Ward’, 19 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 82r). He presented for muster as a tenant of Sir Edward Bagshaw in the barony of Loughtee in 1629: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 8. The Philip Ward who gave a deposition in 1642 could not sign his name.
60 A William Ward from Monaghan was the father of Philip Ward who gave a deposition in 1642: ‘Deposition of Philip Ward’, 19 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 82r).
61 A Donnogh Mur Brady, from the parish of Annagh, was involved in the 1641 rising: ‘Deposition of Simon Wesnam’, 22 July 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 204r).
62 Page damaged.
63 Page damaged.
64 A Robert Allen, along with Faithful Teate from Ballyhaise, held lands in the barony of Clankelly in Fermanagh (close to the Cavan border) in 1630: Hill (ed.), An historical account of the plantation in Ulster, p. 482.
65 On 9 April 1629, Lighterfoote was enfeoffed Lisnadarragh in the barony of Clankee. He also held lands in Clonkine and Carrowtubber in Tullyhunco barony in 1629: Hill (ed.), An historical account of the plantation in Ulster, pp 452, 469.
66 Described as an ‘English Protestant’, Cotnam was murdered during the 1641 rising. He was possibly the father of his namesake who lived on the Moyne's estate in Cavan: ‘Deposition of John Baker’, 17 Sept. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 100v); ‘Deposition of Arthur Culme’, 9 May 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 129v); Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, pp 7, 11.
67 George Moore was a tenant of Brockhill Taylor's in Ballyhaise. He appeared on the muster roll list in the spring of 1629 armed with a sword: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 9.
68 A Christopher Meane was a tailor from Butlersbridge. By 1641, he also held land in Ballyhaise and had tenants of his own. The signatures (and spelling) vary significantly between 1629 and 1642: ‘Deposition of Christopher Meane’, 29 Mar. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 176r).
69 An ‘Edmond mc Kernan’ was involved in the 1641 rising: ‘Deposition of Robert Hunt’, 15 May 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 252r).
70 A ‘Turlo linshie’ of Lunge was involved in the robbing of John Irwin during the 1641 rising: ‘Deposition of John Irwin’, 9 Nov. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 150r).
71 William was a tenant in 1629 of Lady Waldron in Loughtee barony, in what would later become the Farnham estate. In 1643 he stated that he was an English Protestant from Tullylough: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 9; ‘Deposition of William Rasdall’, 15 May 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, 261r).
72 Peter Cross was a tenant of the bishop of Kilmore in the barony of Castlerahan in 1629. He still lived in the parish of Kilmore in 1641. An Edward Crosse and John Crosse were also tenants on the same estate. Peter (described as ‘ould’ by Arthur Culme) and his wife (reckoned to be ‘70 or 80 yeres of age’ in 1641) were murdered during the 1641 rising. The grisly manner of their deaths is related in some detail in the depositions of William Reynolds and Ambrose Bedell: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 15; ‘Deposition of John Baker’, 17 Sept. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 100v); ‘Deposition of Arthur Culme’, 9 May 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 129v); ‘Deposition of William Reynolds’, 12 July 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 258r); ‘Deposition of Robert Hunt’, undated (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 164r); ‘Deposition of Thomas Crant’, 13 Feb. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 832, f. 213v).
73 A ‘Teige Brady’ from Swellan, just outside Cavan town, was described as a gentleman and involved in the 1641 rising: ‘Deposition of Alice Steele’, 8 Jan. 1643[/44] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 268r).
74 There were two ‘John Smythes’ living on Stephen Butler's estate in Loughtee barony in 1629: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, pp 3–4.
75 A ‘John Coxes’ presented for muster on Stephen Butler's estate in 1629. There was also a ‘John Coxsee’ who was a tailor living in the parish of Drumully in Fermanagh in 1641: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 4; ‘Deposition of John Cox’, 5 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 95r).
76 Thomas was a tenant of Stephen Butler's in Loughtee barony in 1629. A man of that name described himself as a yeoman from Annagh parish in 1642 but could not sign his deposition: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 3; ‘Deposition of Thomas Woodward’, 20 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, ff 91r–91v).
77 A Thomas North was a tenant of Brockhill Taylor's in 1629: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 8.
78 Gillernew McGauran of Templeport appears many times in the depositions as having led attacks upon British settlers in 1641: ‘Deposition of Eleanor Reynolds’, undated (T.C.D., MS 832, f. 167r); ‘Deposition of William Reynolds’, 6 Apr. 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 260r); ‘Deposition of Martin Killhare’, 13 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 29r); ‘Deposition of William and Thomas Jones’, 26 July 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 169r).
79 A ‘Brian Mc Gawran’, who was a yeoman from Drumgoon, was involved in the 1641 rising. There was also a ‘Brian Mc Garan’ who lived in Drumlane in 1641 and a ‘Brian Mc Gowran’ who lived in Largy in west Cavan at this time: ‘List of rebels’, undated (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 162v); ‘Deposition of John Baker’, 17 Sept. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 100r); ‘Deposition of Richard Bourke’, 12 July 1643 (T.C.D., MS 835, f. 238).
80 A Thomas Trotter was a tenant on Sir Francis Hamilton's estate in 1629. A man of that same name was killed by the Gaelic Irish at Tully Castle in Fermanagh on 25 Dec. 1641: ‘Deposition of Patrick Hume’, 1 Apr. 1654 (T.C.D., MS 835, f. 259v); Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 5.
81 Hickman was a tenant of Stephen Butler's in Loughtee barony in 1629. A man with that name was still on the estate, in ‘Tunckeerveta’, in 1641 when the rising broke out. Hickman and his family were held in the house of his brother-in-law, Donnell o Lery. The John Hickman who gave a deposition in 1643 could not sign his name: ‘Deposition of John Hickman’, 6 Feb. 1642[/43] (T.C.D., MS 833, ff 156r–156v); Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 2.
82 George Netter was a yeoman from the parish of Annagh, who in 1629 was a tenant of Stephen Butler's. Three of his seven children died during the 1641 rising: ‘Deposition of George Netter’, 24 Jan. 1642[/43] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 255r); Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 4. A Thomas Netter took the oath of supremacy in front of Butler in 1612: Moody (ed.), ‘Ulster plantation papers’, p. 277.
83 In 1615, a Daniel O'Lery, along with John Taylor (Brockhill's father), was leased two poles of land called Ruskie: Hill (ed.), An historical account of the plantation in Ulster, p. 463. It is possible that this was Donnell o Lery, the brother-in-law of the above-mentioned John Hickman.
84 A ‘Phelyme mc Gawran’ from Ballymcgovern in the parish of Templeport is noted as being among the rebels in 1641: ‘Deposition of William and Thomas Jones’, 26 July 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 169r); ‘Deposition of William Reynolds’, 6 Apr. 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 260r).
85 A ‘Shane mc Goven’ of Knockbride was involved in the robbery of Robert Murdoch during the 1641 rising: ‘Deposition of Robert Murdoch’, 12 Nov. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 174r).
86 John Dewsbury was in 1629 a tenant of Brockhill Taylor's. A man of that name was still living in Castletara in 1641 and recorded losses of £109 10s. the following year. The John Dewsbury who gave this deposition could not sign his name: ‘Deposition of John Dewsbury’, 2 Apr. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 144r); Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 10.
87 Sir Patrick Acheson held an estate in Tullyhunco (he succeeded his father in 1634) and was involved in a number of land transactions in Cavan before his death in 1638: Hunter, The Ulster plantation in the counties of Armagh and Cavan, pp 181, 188, 190–91, 259, 270, 278.
88 A Donnell bradie of Shankill was involved in the robbery of John Sharpe during the 1641 rising: ‘Deposition of John Sharpe’, 9 Nov. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 183r).
89 John Baker, along with his wife Maria and son William, was leased Derrychrine poll from Sir John Fishe on 1 June 1616. He, along with his son and namesake, presented for muster on Edward Fishe's estate in 1629. John Baker senior described himself as a gentleman from the parish of Drumlane in 1642. He was permitted to remain on his property under the protection of Philip Hugh McShane O'Reilly until August of that year. The John Baker who gave a deposition in 1642 could not sign his name: Hill (ed.), An historical account of the plantation in Ulster, p. 463; Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 14; ‘Deposition of John Baker’, 17 Sept. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, ff 100r–100v ).
90 Davison was John Hamilton's tenant in the proportion of Kilcloghan in the barony of Clankee in 1618/19, and on 2 December 1618, received a lease for a poll of land called Glasdromen for the term of his own life and that of his wife Jennett even though they refused to take the oath of supremacy. He presented for muster in 1629: Hill (ed.), An historical account of the plantation in Ulster, p. 454; Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 12.
91 John West was a tenant of Stephen Butler's in Loughtee barony. By 1641 he was still a tenant on the Butler estate and described himself as a gentleman. He was farming three townlands near Belturbet and claimed to have suffered losses of £411 10s. as a result of the rising. He presented for muster in 1629. His signature is a close match to that given in 1642: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 4; ‘Deposition of John West’, 10 Feb. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 83r).
92 ‘Edmond Sherin’ presented for muster in 1629 on Stephen Butler's estate. In May 1640, he took an eighty-nine-year lease on the townland of Creeny in Belturbet, and claimed in his deposition to have been resident there since circa 1619. In his deposition, taken in January 1642, Edmund described himself as a ‘gentleman’ and claimed to have been attacked by his landlord, Philip Hugh MacShane O'Reilly, estimating losses totalling £2238 10s. He held property in Monaghan and Fermanagh and his mother-in-law and one of his children died en route to Dublin: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 3; ‘Deposition of Edmund Sherwin’, 10 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, ff 64r–65v). The signatures given in 1629 and 1642 are not a match, but do bear some similarities to each other.
93 See earlier entry for Thomas Taylor above.
94 North presented for muster on Brockhill Taylor's estate in 1629. In 1642, a man of that same name who was a weaver living in Annagh parish (close to the Taylor estate) recorded losses of £184 as a result of the 1641 rising. The William North who gave a deposition in 1642 could not sign his name: Hunter and Johnston (eds), ‘Men and arms’, p. 10; ‘Deposition of William North’, 30 June 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, ff 179r–v).
95 John lived in Innishbeg, close to Butlersbridge, and was a yeoman. He estimated losses of £248 5s. as a result of the rising, with a further annual loss of £15 for as long as the rising continued. A Moses Ibott was married to a woman from Butlersbridge and it is reasonable to assume, given the rarity of the surname, that he and John were related. John could not sign his name in 1642: ‘Deposition of John Hibbot’, 19 July 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 8r); ‘Deposition of Moses Ibott’, 6 July 1643 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 253v).
96 A William Brady from Castletara was part of the rising in 1641. There was another William Brady from Drumgoon involved in the rising also: ‘Deposition of Ann Borrell’, 4 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 832, f. 192r); ‘Deposition of Isabel Naylor’, 5 Jan. 1641[/42] (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 37r); ‘Deposition of John Dudd’, 28 Apr. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 145r).
97 A Daniell Brady from Mullagh was involved in the 1641 rising: ‘Deposition of John Dewsbury’, 2 Apr. 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 144r).
98 A Patricke mc Donell Brady from Kilnecrosse was involved in the 1641 rising and was one of those who robbed John Hibbot: ‘Deposition of John Hibbot’, 19 July 1642 (T.C.D., MS 833, f. 8r). My thanks to Raymond Gillespie, Christopher Maginn, William Roulston, Bríd McGrath and the two anonymous readers for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
