Sir Robert Digby PC(I) (1574 – 24 May 1618) was an English courtier who owned an estate at Coleshill, Warwickshire. His marriage to Lettice FitzGerald, heir-general to the

11th Earl of Kildare 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...

, led him to spend his life litigating over her claims to the Kildare lands. He divided his time between local business in Warwickshire and in Ireland.

Biography

Digby was the eldest son of George Digby, (MP) of Coleshill, and his wife, Abigail, daughter of Sir Anthony Heveningham. Robert was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took a BA, and then as a barrister at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

, which he entered in 1595. He received his MA from Magdalen in 1598. Around this time, he married Lettice FitzGerald, the daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, Lord Offaly and Catherine Knollys, daughter of Sir Francis Knollys. They had seven sons and three daughters: *

Mabel Digby Mabel Digby, Lady of Dromana and Decies (dates of birth and death unknown) was an Anglo-Irish noblewoman being the eldest daughter of Sir Robert Digby and Lettice FitzGerald, 1st Baroness Offaly. She was the wife of Sir Gerald FitzGerald, Lor ...

, Lady Fitzgerald of Dromana and Decies * Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby (d. 1642) * Essex Digby (d. 1683),

Bishop of Dromore The Bishop of Dromore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the original monastery of Dromore in County Down, Northern Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church the title still continues as a separate bishopric, but in the Church of Irel ...

* George Digby * Gerald Digby * John Digby * Simon Digby, MP for Philipstown * Philip Digby, married Margaret Moore (née Forth), daughter of Sir

Ambrose Forth Sir Ambrose Forth (c.1545-1610) was an English-born civilian lawyer whose career was spent in Ireland, where he became the Irish Probate judge and later the first judge of the Irish Court of Admiralty. He has been praised as a diligent, conscient ...

, judge of the Irish

Court of Admiralty Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offences. Admiralty courts in the United Kingdom England and Wales Scotland The Scottish court's earliest ...

, and widow of Thomas Moore of Croghan, County Offaly * Lettice Digby, married Sir Roger Langford * Abigail Digby, died as a child. Lettice's father had died in 1580, around the time of her birth, and her grandfather the Earl of Kildare had died in 1585, leaving all of his property to his heirs male. She and her husband became increasingly convinced that her grandmother Mabel, the earl's wife, had forged the will in the interest of her sons, Lettice's uncles. After Lettice's last surviving uncle

William FitzGerald, 13th Earl of Kildare William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

was lost at sea in April 1599, she assumed the title of "Lady Offaly" and laid claim to that barony and some of the Kildare estates. Meanwhile, Robert was knighted 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 4 August 1599 by the

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and his wife's first cousin. Digby divided his energies between affairs in Ireland, where his litigation against the 14th Earl of Kildare for Lettice's claims became extremely involved, and in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, where he was appointed a justice of the peace for

in 1601. His family's long-standing connection with the locally influential Knollys family, reinforced by his marriage to Lettice (whose mother was a Knollys), probably helped secure his return as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

in the same year. He was named an esquire of the body to Queen Elizabeth before her death in 1603. During the reign of

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

, Digby assisted Sir Richard Verney, then

High Sheriff of Warwickshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of the English county of Warwickshire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most ...

, in apprehending some of those involved in the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sough ...

in November 1605. Litigation in Ireland over the Kildare estates continued; King James offered to hear the suit in person in 1610, but Lord Kildare declined on the grounds that he could not afford to plead before the English courts. Kildare died in 1612, and Digby had been appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland by 1613, when he sat as MP for Athy but the issue was still unresolved when he died on 24 May 1618. The expenses of litigation had impaired his estate, and he was forced in his will to ask her to provide settlements for their children from the revenues of her Irish lands and a sum of money held by his brother. A settlement was finally achieved in July 1620: Lettice was created Baroness Offaly for life, with remainder to her grandfather's heirs male, and received the manor of

Geashill Geashill () is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is situated between the towns of Tullamore and Portarlington on the R420 regional road. Geashill has a Church of Ireland church, a shop and petrol station, a school, a GAA club, two pub ...

, with 30,000 acres of land, for herself and her children. Her eldest son Robert was simultaneously created Baron Digby, of Geashill.

Gardens

Digby's formal gardens at Coleshill Manor were excavated during the construction of the

HS2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

railway in 2019–2020. They were described as exceptional by the garden expert Paul Stamper, comparable to those at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

Kenilworth Castle Kenilworth Castle is a castle in the town of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, England managed by English Heritage; much of it is still in ruins. The castle was founded during the Norman conquest of England; with development through to the Tudor pe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Digby, Robert 1574 births 1618 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Knights Bachelor Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Privy Council of Ireland English MPs 1601 Irish MPs 1613–1615 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kildare constituencies

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...