Ireland and Irish lands

Analytical Index to the Series of Records Known as the Remembrancia 1579-1664. Originally published by EJ Francis, London, 1878.

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'Ireland and Irish lands', in Analytical Index to the Series of Records Known as the Remembrancia 1579-1664, (London, 1878) pp. 172-175. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/index-remembrancia/1579-1664/pp172-175 [accessed 24 March 2024]

Ireland and Irish Lands.

III. 14. Letter from [the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen] to Lord Compton, (fn. 1) reminding him of their former letter, that he would be pleased, "for the ease of the poor Company of Clothworkers" (of which his late father-in-law, Sir John Spencer, (fn. 2) Knight, was a most principal help and upholder), to pay in the sum of 200l. towards the Irish Plantation, (fn. 3) which, in his lifetime, Sir John Spencer, by his own consent, was rated at; that he (Lord Compton) had promised to pay that sum, and requesting that he would do so at once, as his protraction had much distracted their proceedings in the Plantation business, in which he would receive a proportionate profit with them.
(Circa 1610–11.)

Note in margin. "The said sum of 200l. was immediately on receipt of this letter sent to the Company of Clothworkers."

III. 130. Letter from the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen to the Lords of the Council, informing them that the Master and Wardens of the 'Skinners' Company had complained that Matthew Brownrigg, a Merchant, and one of the Livery of that Company, had refused to pay the sum assessed upon him towards the charge of the Plantation in Ulster, whereupon—according to the course adopted in all the Companies on similar refusals—the Master and Wardens had, upon the Lord Mayor's commandment, committed him to prison, where he was detained till he paid his money, but that he had since commenced suit at Common Law against the Master and Wardens and the officer who carried him to prison. Since these courses, if permitted to pass unpunished, would be of dangerous consequence to their future proceedings in the honourable and hopeful work of Plantation, they hoped the Council would make it appear to others by his chastisement how much such courses were displeasing to them.
8th February, 1613.

III. 158. Letter from Sir Arthur Chichester, (fn. 4) Lord Deputy for Ireland, to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of London, stating that the King had desired him to get him some store of Hawks of Irish breed yearly, with which the writer had acquainted Mr. Alderman Cokayne and some others of the Committees for the London Plantation in Ireland, and had requested them to grant him during his life the Hawks which bred in the lands assigned to the City, which they had done so far as in them lay, but had referred the final decision to the Commonalty, of whose answer he prayed he might be informed. He further requested them to acquaint him what steps had been taken for the strengthening and better defence of the town of Coleraine.
8th July, 1614.

VII. 136. Petition of the Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens of the City of London, and of the Society of the Governors and Assistants of the New Plantation in Ulster, in Ireland, to the King, stating that, to their great grief, various suits were, on His Majesty's behalf, being prosecuted against them in the Courts, and praying His Majesty's favour.
Dated in margin, 23rd January, 1634.

VII. 159. Petition of the Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens of the City of London, and of the Governors and Society of the New Plantation in Ulster, in Ireland, to the King, reciting that he had deferred his answer to their former petitions till the AttorneyGeneral had replied in the cause heard in the Star Chamber as to the City's Plantation in Ireland, which he had done. They therefore prayed His Majesty to take their petitions into consideration.
In margin, delivered to the King 22nd February, 1634.

VII. 163. Petition of the Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens of the City of London, to the King, reciting the Letters Patent of Incorporation by King James the First, of the Irish Society, and that by a decree of the Star Chamber, the Patent had been ordered to be forthwith surrendered and brought in to be cancelled. That the Petitioners thought it convenient to call a Common Council touching the matters in difference between the King and the City. That being entrusted to choose the Governor and Assistants of the Irish Society for the benefit of the Companies, who were not parties to the suit in which the decree was made, the Petitioners conceived, if they forebore the choice, it would be a breach of trust in them. That it would not prejudice the King's title, or lessen the force of the judgment, but it might be held a contempt without his dispensation. They therefore prayed that they might make the election accordingly.
(Circa 1634–5.)

A note of the King's compliance with the prayer of the Petition is appended.

VIII. 147. Petition of the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, and of the Governor and Assistants of the Irish Society, on behalf of themselves and the several Companies of the City, to the King, with respect to questions made and suits begun on His Majesty's behalf, touching the Irish lands, and beseeching his merciful consideration, they being much indebted, and having forthwith to be at great charge, in respect of sewers, ditches, watergates, and prisons, and in bringing water to the City, besides the great loss by the late sudden and lamentable fire on London Bridge.
(Circa 1626–7.)

VIII. 148. Letter from the King, recommending Captain Bingham to be appointed Keeper of Kilmore Castle, vacant by the death of Captain Baker.
16th January, 1627.

Footnotes

  • 1. William, second Lord Compton, K.G.; succeeded his father as Baron Compton, 1589; Lord President of the Marches and Dominion of Wales, November 16th, 1613; created Earl of Northampton, August 2nd, 1618. He married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir John Spencer, Knight, Lord Mayor in 1594; died 1630.
  • 2. Clothworker; Sheriff, 1583; elected Alderman of Langbourn, August 9th, 1587; Lord Mayor, 1594; a native of Waldingfield, Suffolk. Queen Elizabeth gave him the Manor of Canonbury, and visited him there in 1581. During his Mayoralty, a dearth occurred in the City, and the Lord Mayor ordered the Companies to provide a certain quantity of corn to be stored in the Granary of the Bridge House; he also wrote to Lord Burghley, Lord Treasurer, December 23rd, 1594, asking his help to revictual the City. In the course of the year 1595, the differences between the City and the authorities of the Tower, as to the Tower Liberties, caused a serious riot, which Sir John, with the Sword Bearer and other officers, went to suppress. Sir John kept his Mayoralty at his town residence, Crosby Place. He was President of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 1603–9. He died March 30th, 1609, and was buried at St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, where a tomb is erected to his memory. From his great wealth, he was called "Rich Spencer." His only daughter, Elizabeth, married, in 1594, William, second Lord Compton, Lord President of Wales, from which marriage the present Earls of Northampton are descended. At his death he is said to have left a fortune variously asserted at from 500,000l. to 800,000l. In 1603, the French Ambassador, Monsieur de Rosney, Great Treasurer of France, was entertained by Sir John Spencer at Crosby Place. See a curious note in 'The Progresses of King James I.', by John Nichols, vol. i., pages 159–160.
  • 3. In the early part of the seventeenth century, towards the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a revolt against the Crown of England broke out in the Province of Ulster. After considerable resistance, the rebels were overcome, and finally attainted of high treason, and their possessions, consisting of six counties, were, in the reign of James the First, escheated to the Crown, by Act of Parliament, as forfeited property. King James determined to establish a colony of English and Scottish Protestants upon the escheated lands. With a view to carry out his object, he applied to the City of London, offering to grant to the citizens a large portion of the forfeited estates. The City ultimately undertook the Plantation; for which purpose a charter was granted to them, March 29th, 1613. The full details of the scheme are to be found in the 'Concise View of the Irish Society,' Malcolm's 'Londinium Redivivum,' vol. ii., and Nicholls's 'History of the Ironmongers' Company,' &c.
  • 4. Lord Deputy of Ireland, 1603; Lord Privy Seal in Ireland, December 15th, 1604; created Lord Chichester, of Belfast, February 23rd, 1612–13; Lord High Treasurer, July 13th, 1616; died, February 19th, 1624.