Henry Whitfield (1619–1688) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

lawyer who moved to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, where he was elected a member of the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

, and apparently had financial interests in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

Life

Baptised on 17 June 1619 at the church of St Giles Cripplegate in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and recorded as age 16 in the 1634 Visitation of London, he was the second son of Sir Ralph Whitfield, a landowner, MP and prominent lawyer in London, and his wife Dorothy, daughter of the antiquary Sir

Henry Spelman Sir Henry Spelman (c. 1562 – October 1641) was an English antiquary, noted for his detailed collections of medieval records, in particular of church councils. Life Spelman was born in Congham, Norfolk, the eldest son of Henry Spelman (d. 1581 ...

. His elder brother was the lawyer and landowner Sir Herbert Whitfield. In 1632 he was admitted at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

, his father's inn of court, to study law and in 1635 he was admitted to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge for a university education. In 1646 at the church of St Bartholomew-the-Less in London he married Hester, daughter of William Temple. At some point he moved to Ireland, and by 1685 was MP for Trim. Having made his will on 26 September 1688, which was later registered in Barbados where he presumably had financial interests, he died in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

on 26 October 1688. His wife outlived him, dying in 1696.

Family

Together, he and Hester had six known children: *Temple (died 1730) married Elizabeth Osborn but had no children. His father's sister Dorothy, widow of John Fotherley whose father Sir Thomas Fotherley died in the 1692 Jamaica earthquake, left him the manor of

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and ...

and the estate there of Bury Park. *Ralph (died 1694) married his first cousin Arabella, daughter of his uncle Sir Herbert Whitfield, and had two known children: Ralph, who in 1710 married Felicia Johnson, and Maria. *Henry settled at Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire, where in 1689 he married Abigail Gape from St Albans. Their son Henry inherited the manor of Rickmansworth and estate of Bury Park from his childless uncle Temple. *Jane (died 1712) first married Joseph Saunders and had issue including Richard: their granddaughter Jane Saunders became the wife of the politician

Arthur Gore, 1st Earl of Arran Arthur Gore, 1st Earl of Arran PC (Ire) (1703 – 17 April 1773), known as Sir Arthur Gore, 3rd Baronet from 1741 to 1757 and as Viscount Sudley from 1758 to 1762, was an Irish politician. Arran was the son of Sir Arthur Gore, 2nd Baronet, and ...

. After his death, she married secondly in 1684 the Irish judge

Sir Robert Doyne Sir Robert Doyne (1651–1733) was an Irish barrister and politician. Judge He was member of the Irish House of Commons for New Ross from 1692 to 1695, and later a distinguished judge who served as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer from 1695 ...

and had further issue, including Philip. *Dorothy (died 1705) was the second wife of the politician

Sir Richard Bulkeley, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Bulkeley, 1st Baronet (7 September 1634 – 17 March 1685) was an Irish politician and baronet. Born at Tallaght, County Dublin, he was the oldest son of William Bulkeley, Archdeacon of Dublin, a son of Lancelot Bulkeley, Archbisho ...

and after his death in 1685 became the third wife of the judge William Worth. *Hester in 1690 married as his first wife the soldier

Joseph Sabine Joseph Sabine FRS ( ; 6 June 1770 – 24 January 1837) was an English lawyer, naturalist and writer on horticulture. Life and work Sabine was born into a prominent Anglo-Irish family in Tewin, Hertfordshire, the eldest son of Joseph Sabine ...

but, after having three sons who all died young, died at the age of 24. According to legend, her ghost then appeared to her husband, who at the time was overseas recovering from wounds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfield, Henry (lawyer) 1619 births 1688 deaths Lawyers from London Members of Gray's Inn Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 17th-century Irish lawyers Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Meath constituencies