Sir Edward Crofton, 1st Baronet (1624–1675) 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 ...

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

politician.

Family

Crofton was the son of George Crofton of Ballymurray,

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

and Elizabeth Berkeley, daughter of Sir Francis Berkeley and Catherine Loftus, and granddaughter of Adam Loftus,

Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

. The Crofton family had come to Ireland in the sixteenth century and settled in County Roscommon. His father sat in the Irish House of Commons as MP for

Askeaton Askeaton (, Waterfall of Géitine, also historically spelt Askettin) is a town in County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is built on the banks of the River Deel which flows into the Shannon Estuary 3 km to the north. Aske ...

in the Irish Parliament of 1639. At about the same time he began the building of Mote Park House, which Edward inherited, and remained the family seat for generations.

Education

Crofton entered

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

on 15 February 1640.

Created 1st Baronet

On 1 July 1661 he was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in the

Baronetage of Ireland Baronets are hereditary titles awarded by the Crown. The current baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier, existing baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland and Great Britain. To be recognised as a baronet, it is necessary ...

as a reward for his support of

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest su ...

during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

and

The Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state. This may refer to: *Conservation and restoration of cultural property **Audio restoration **Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property **Film restoration ** Image ...

.Barak Longmate
''Stockdale's Peerage of England, Scotland and Ireland''
Volume 2 (J. Stockdale, 1810), p.315 (Retrieved 1 April 2020). In 1661 he represented Lanesborough in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

Marriages

First marriage

He married firstly in 1647 Mary, daughter of the eminent

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

Sir James Ware and his wife Elizabeth Newman, daughter of John Newman of Dublin. She died without issue in 1651.

Second marriage

He married secondly in 1661 Susanna, daughter of Thomas Clifford of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, by whom he had an only son and heir, Edward.

Widow's re-marriage

After his death, his widow remarried the prominent barrister Garrett Dillon. She died before 1689.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crofton, Edward, 1st Baronet 1624 births 1675 deaths 17th-century Anglo-Irish people Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

Cavaliers Irish MPs 1661–1666 Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Politicians from County Roscommon 17th-century Irish landowners Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Longford constituencies