Sir George Oughtred Courtenay, 1st Baronet, of Newcastle ( – 1644) was an Irish landowner and soldier. He defended Limerick at the
siege of 1642 during the
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantatio ...
.
Birth and origins
George was born between 1580 and 1585, the fourth son of
William Courtenay
William Courtenay ( 134231 July 1396) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1381–1396), having previously been Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London.
Early life and education
Courtenay was a younger son of Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon ( ...
and his first wife, Elizabeth Manners. His father was a member of the Devonshire gentry but would much later in 1831 be recognised as ''de jure'' 3rd
Earl of Devon
Earl of Devon was created several times in the English peerage, and was possessed first (after the Norman Conquest of 1066) by the de Redvers (''alias'' de Reviers, Revieres, etc.) family, and later by the Courtenay family. It is not to be con ...
. His father's family was the English branch of the
House of Courtenay
The House of Courtenay is a medieval noble house, with branches in France, England and the Holy Land. One branch of the Courtenays became a Royal House of the Capetian Dynasty, cousins of the Bourbons and the Valois, and achieved the title o ...
. His mother was a daughter of
Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland
Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, 13th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG (23 September 152617 September 1563) was an English nobleman.
Origins
He was the son and heir of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland and his wife Eleanor Paston.
Career
Li ...
in England.
Plantation of Munster
His father was an undertaker in the
Plantation of Munster
Plantation (settlement or colony), Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the Kingdom of England, English The Crown, Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Brita ...
after the
Desmond Rebellions
The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 in the Irish province of Munster.
They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond, the head of the Fitzmaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty in Munster, and his followers, the Geraldines and ...
and was in 1585 granted the seignory of
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, 10,500 acres, in the Barony of Connello, in the western part of
County Limerick
"Remember Limerick"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Munster
, subdivision ...
.
Between 1598 and 1611 Courtenay bought the seignories of Mayne (south east of Newcastle) and Beauly (also called Muskrinownan) from Sir
Henry Oughtred's heirs, increasing his lands in Munster from 10,500 to 33,678 acres. Oughtred had died childless in 1599 and was his father's stepfather.
Marriage and children
George Courtenay married Catherine Berkeley before 1616. Her father was Francis Berkeley of
Askeaton
Askeaton (, Waterfall of Géitine, also historically spelt Askettin), is a town in County Limerick, Ireland. The town on the N69, the road between Limerick and Tralee, is built on the banks of the River Deel some 3 km upstream from the e ...
, County Limerick, third son of
Maurice Berkeley of
Bruton
Bruton ( ) is a market town, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, 10 ...
in Somerset. Her uncle Captain Edward Berkeley had in 1585 or 1586 been made Constable of Askeaton Castle, which had been taken by the English in April 1580 soon after the beginning of the Second Desmond Rebellion.
George and Catherine had three sons:
#William (1616–1652), 2nd Baronet, died without son
#Francis (1617–1660), 3rd Baronet
#Morris, died without issue
Baronet
In 1622 Courtenay was created 1st
Baronet Courtenay of Newcastle, County Limerick. In that year he was also appointed constable of Limerick Castle. His father died on 24 June 1630. His elder brother
Francis Courtenay became ''de jure'' Earl of Devon and inherited the English lands. George inherited the Irish land.
Siege of Limerick
In May and June 1642, Courtenay defended
King John's Castle, Limerick, against the Munster rebels under
General Garret Barry,
Patrick Purcell of Croagh
Lieutenant-General Patrick Purcell of Croagh (died 1651) was an Irish soldier. In his youth he fought in Germany during the Thirty Years' War. Back in Ireland he joined the Irish Rebellion of 1641 in 1642 when it reached Munster. He commanded u ...
,
Lord Muskerry, and
Maurice Roche, 8th Viscount Fermoy
Maurice Roche, 8th Viscount Fermoy (1597–1670) was an magnate and soldier in southern Ireland, and a politician of the Irish Catholic Confederation. He joined the rebels in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 in January 1642, early for Munster, by be ...
. The besiegers attacked the eastern wall and the bastion on its south-east corner by digging mines. Courtenay surrendered the castle on 21 June and Muskerry took possession.
Loss of Newcastle
In July and August 1642 Purcell besieged Newcastle, Courtenay's seat, which fell on 6 August after a cannon had been brought from Limerick.
Death and timeline
Sir George died in 1644. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Sir William Courtenay, 2nd Baronet.
Notes and references
Notes
Citations
Sources
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* – 1611 to 1625
* – Dacre to Dysart (for his father as de jure Earl of Devon)
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* – (for timeline)
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* – (Preview)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Courtenay, Sir George, 1st Baronet of Newcastle
1580s births
1644 deaths
English expatriates in Ireland