Edward Brabazon, 1st Lord Brabazon, Baron of Ardee

Edward Brabazon, 1st Lord Brabazon, Baron of Ardee was born circa 1548 the son of Sir William Brabazon and Elizabeth Clifford. He died on 7 August 1625. He was buried at St. Catharine's, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland. His will was probated in 1625.

• He married Mary Smith, daughter of Edward Smith. The Peerage
• He married Mary Smyth, daughter of Sir William Smyth. ref
• He married Mary, daughter of Thomas SMITH, of Mitcham, Surrey. Baron Archive
• He married Mary Smith, daughter of Edward Smith of, Mitcham, Surrey, England HistFam
• He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Smyth of Mitcham, Surrey Turtlebunbury
• He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) [Ireland] in 1584.
• He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for County Wicklow in 1585.
• He was invested as a Knight on 24 August 1595 by the Lord Deputy [Ireland].
• In 1598 he purchased the estate of Nether Whitacre, Warwickshire.
• He held the office of High Sheriff of County Stafford from 1606 to 1607.
• He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Bangor between 1613 and 1615.
• He was one of the Council of Munster in 1615.
• He was created 1st Lord Brabazon, Baron of Ardee, co. Louth [Ireland] on 19 July 1616.
• His last will was dated from 16 February 1624/25 to 27 March 1625.
• In 1630 he sold the estate of Nether Whitacre, Warwickshire.

Sir Edward Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Ardee

Sir William left two young sons, Edward and Anthony. For reasons unknown, their Kent-born mother Elizabeth Clifford decided to remain at Thomas Court with the boys, outliving her husband by 30 years. In fact, she took on three further husbands, the last being Sir Edward Moore, ancestor of the Earls of Drogheda. Her eldest son, Edward, later Baron Brabazon, only 3 years old when Sir William died, was the forefather of the Earls of Meath. The younger son, Anthony Brabazon, Governor of Connaught, married the heiress of Sir Nicholas Malby, making the Brabazons one of the largest land-owning families in Ireland by the early 17th century.[v]

"Correspondence from the time suggests that Sir William’s son, Edward, was an intimate friend of Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, Secretary of State under Queen Elizabeth and King James. Edward’s wife, Mary, was a daughter of Thomas Smyth of Mitcham, Surrey, who, as Clerk of the Green Cloth, organized some of Queen Elizabeth phenomenally expensive Royal Tours. Edward was one of Queen Elizabeth’s Privy Councillors in Ireland and was elected MP for Wicklow in 1585. At the time, Wicklow was being surveyed by a royal commission under Sir William Drury but would not be officially distinguished into a county until 1606. In that year, contrary to his wishes, Edward was appointed Sheriff of Staffordshire. The Lord Deputy invested Edward as a Knight on 24th August 1595. Over twenty years later, in the summer of 1616, he was elevated to the Irish peerage by King James as 1st Lord Brabazon, Baron of Ardee, Co. Louth. He seems to have moved to Kilruddery shortly afterwards, building a small castle there in about 1619.

In 1607, John Bramston, a 30-year-old barrister from Essex, approached Edward seeking the hand in marriage of his daughter Elizabeth Brabazon. His request was turned down but over twenty years later – with Elizabeth twice widowed and Bramston five years a widower - the couple renewed their courtship by post and she became his second wife. The romance came as a surprise to Bramston’s son who accompanied him to Ireland for the wedding. “When I saw her I confess I wondered at my father’s love. She was low, fatt, red-faced; her dress too was a hatt and ruff. But my father … told me it was not beautie, but virtue he courted. I believe she had binn handsome in her youth, … and, indeed, proved a good wife and mother-in-law [stepmother] too”. Sir John Bramston went on to serve as Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench during the particularly turbulent seven and a half years that preceded the Civil War. He was impeached in 1640 but managed to live out his retirement in relative peace." TurtleBunbury

Children of Edward Brabazon, 1st Lord Brabazon, Baron of Ardee and Mary Smith

• Hon. Ursula Brabazon
• Sir Anthony Brabazon d. 1 Jul 1636
• Hon. Elizabeth Brabazon d. 7 Jun 1647
• Hon. Wallop Brabazon
• William Brabazon, 1st Earl of Meath b. c 1580, d. c 16 Dec 1651

Links

• The Peerage

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Gov. of Connaught

• Sir Edwd Brabazon Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes, 1595-1858
• Name: Sir Edwd Brabazon
• Event Type: Probate
• Event Date: 1625
• Event Place: Ireland
• Event Place (Original): Ireland
• Residence Place: Knt Ardee https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WGH3-XS2M

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• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 10 2021, 22:07:24 UTC

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• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 21 2021, 2:50:15 UTC

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Visitation (Dugdale, Lancashire, 1664-5, Rigby of Layton)