Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby (died 6 June 1642), was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

peer. Digby was the son of Sir Robert Digby of

Coleshill, Warwickshire Coleshill ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England, taking its name from the River Cole, on which it stands. It had a population of 6,900 in the 2021 Census, and is situated east of Bi ...

, and Lettice FitzGerald, of

Geashill Geashill () is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is situated between the towns of Tullamore and Portarlington (each 12 km away), on the R420 road. The village has a Church of Ireland church, a shop and petrol station, a school, a ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, granddaughter of

Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare (1525 – 16 November 1585), also known as the "Wizard Earl" (a sobriquet also given to Henry Percy), was an Irish peer. He was the son of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare and his second wife Eli ...

.Mosley ed. ''Burke's Peerage'', 107th Edition, Delaware, 2003, Vol. 1, p. 1141.

John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol (February 1580 – 21 January 1653),David L. Smith, 'Digby, John, first earl of Bristol (1580–1653)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008. was an ...

, was his uncle, and

Essex Digby Essex Digby was an English Anglican priest in Ireland in the second half of the seventeenth century. Digby came from an eminent family. He was the son of Sir Robert Digby of Coleshill, Warwickshire and Lettice FitzGerald, of Geashill, Ireland ...

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 Irela ...

, his brother. Digby notably served as Governor of King's County in Ireland. In 1620, he was raised to the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

as Baron Digby, of Geashill. He married, firstly, Lady Sarah Boyle, daughter of

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as 'the Great Earl of Cork', was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland. Lord Cork was an important figure in the continu ...

, and Catherine Fenton; this marriage produced a son, Kildare Digby (c. 1627 – 1661). Digby married secondly, Elizabeth Altham, daughter of

Sir James Altham Sir James Altham (about 1554 - 1617), of Oxhey, Hertfordshire, was an English judge, briefly a member of the Parliament of England, and (from 1607) a Baron of the Exchequer.'Altham, James. B.E. 1607', in E. Foss, ''The Judges of England'', Vol. VI: ...

and his second wife, Mary Stapers. Digby died in 1642 and was succeeded in the barony by his son Kildare. They are buried in the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Coleshill.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Digby, Robert Digby, 1st Baron Year of birth missing 1642 deaths

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 ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

Peers of Ireland created by James I Robert 01