Sir William Parsons, 1st Baronet of
Bellamont,
PC (Ire) ( – 1650), was known as a "land-hunter" expropriating land from owners whose titles were deemed defective. He also served as
Surveyor General of Ireland and was an undertaker in several plantations. He governed Ireland as joint
Lord Justice of Ireland from February 1640 to April 1643 during the
Irish rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was an uprising in Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, initiated on 23 October 1641 by Catholic gentry and military officers. Their demands included an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and ...
and the beginning of the
Irish Confederate War.
Birth and origins
William was born in England about 1570, the eldest son of James Parsons and Catherine Fenton. His father was the second son of Thomas Parsons of
Diseworth,
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
. William's mother was a daughter of Henry Fenton and Cicely Beaumont, and a sister of Sir
Geoffrey Fenton, the
Principal Secretary of State in Ireland to Elizabeth I. Both his parents' families were English and Protestant.
Early life
Parsons settled in Ireland about 1590, in the last years of the reign of
Queen Elizabeth I. He became a commissioner of
plantations and obtained considerable territorial grants from the Crown. In 1602, Parsons became
Surveyor General of Ireland; In 1610 he obtained a pension of £30 (English) per annum for life. In 1611, he was joined with his younger brother Laurence in the supervisorship of the crown lands, with a fee of £60 per annum for life. His proposal that a
Court of Wards be established in Ireland was accepted and he became its first master.
MP 1613–1615
He sat in the Irish House of Commons of the Parliament of 1613–1615, the only Irish Parliament of James I, as one of the two members for
Newcastle Borough, County Dublin. This was one of the 39 new boroughs the King created for this parliament in an effort to ensure a Protestant majority.
Marriage and children
About 1615 William Parsons married his cousin Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Lany, an
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
of Dublin, and niece of his maternal uncle Sir Geoffrey Fenton. This marriage made him a cousin 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 ...
, the dominant
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 ...
magnate of his time, to whom he was close.
William and Elizabeth had five sons:
# Richard (living 1639), MP for the borough of
Wicklow
Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...
, married Lettice Loftus, eldest daughter of Sir Adam Loftus of
Rathfarnham
Rathfarnham () is a Southside (Dublin), southside suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Dublin. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16, 16. It is between the Lo ...
, vice-treasurer of the Exchequer, and predeceased his father
# John, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Walsingham Cooke, of Tomduffe,
County Wexford
County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...
# Francis (died 1668) of Garrydice,
County Leitrim
County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...
, married Sarah Faircloath, and left children
# James, died unmarried and
# William, died unmarried
—and seven daughters:
# Catherine, married
Sir James Barry, created 1st
Baron Barry of Santry
# Margaret, married
Thomas Stockdale of Bilton Park,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
# Elizabeth, married Sir William Ussher, of Grange Castle,
County Wicklow
County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...
, grandson of Sir William Ussher, clerk of the
Privy Council of Ireland
His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...
# Jane, married Sir
John Hoey, Knight of Dunganstown, County Wicklow
# Mary, married Arthur Hill of
Hillsborough, County Down
Royal Hillsborough (Irish: ''Cromghlinn'', meaning 'Crooked Glen'Patrick McKay, ''A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names'', p. 81. The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, 1999.), more commonly known simply as ...
# Anne, married Sir
Paul Davys,
Secretary of State (Ireland)
# Judith, married Thomas Whyte of Redhills, County Cavan
Later life
Knight and Baronet
Parsons personally presented surveys of
escheat
Escheat () is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied t ...
ed estates to
King James I. On 7 June 1620 Parsons was
knighted by
Oliver St John
Sir Oliver St John (; c. 1598 – 31 December 1673) was an English barrister, judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640-53. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.
Early life
St John was the son o ...
,.

He was created
1st Baronet Parsons on 10 November. Parsons built or perhaps rebuilt Bellamount Castle in 1622. The ruin of a tower remains and stands in
Ballymount
Ballymount (), is a locality on the south side of Dublin, near the mainly residential areas of Walkinstown to the east, Tallaght to the west and Greenhills, Dublin, Greenhills to the south. Ballymount is accessed by a number of public bus routes ...
Park, SW-Dublin, alongside the
M50 Motorway. This baronetcy must not be confused with the later baronetcy Parsons of Birr Castle created in 1677.
In 1623 Parsons was sworn a member of the
Privy Council of Ireland
His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...
. On 12 January 1632
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Viscount Wentworth (later
Earl of Strafford
Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history.
The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the 1st Viscount Wentworth, the clo ...
) was appointed
Lord Deputy of Ireland. During the years 1633–40, when Strafford was all-powerful in Ireland, Parsons prudently offered him no open opposition, but he came increasingly to dislike and distrust "that strange man ... a mischief to so many".
Parsons was notorious as a "land-hunter", who acquired lands previously held by Irish clans by dubious legal means. He has been particularly censured by historians for the seizure of the former O'Byrne lands in
County Wicklow
County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...
, although it has also been argued that his behaviour was no worse than that of his partner in the transaction, Lord Lieutenant Wentworth, who proceeded to swindle Parsons out of his share.
MP 1634–1635 and 1639–1649
According to Bagwell (1909) and Clavin (2009), Parson was one of the two MPs for
County Armagh
County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...
during the
Parliament of 1634–1635, the first of Charles I, but the list of Irish MPs compiled in 1878 states that Sir
Faithful Fortescue, knight, and Sir
George Radcliffe, knight, sat for County Armagh in that parliament.
Parsons sat in the Irish House of Commons of the
Parliament of 1639–1649, the second parliament of Charles I, as one of the two members for
County Wicklow
County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...
, at which occasion his residence is given as "Bellamont, Dublin". His son Richard sat for
Wicklow
Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...
.
2nd marriage
His first wife died in April 1640. He probably remarried soon after this. His second wife was Catherine Jones, a daughter of
Arthur Jones, 2nd Viscount Ranelagh.
Lord Justice
In December 1640 Parsons was appointed
Lord Justice jointly with
Robert Dillon, the future 2nd
Earl of Roscommon. However, Dillon was soon removed as he was considered to have been too close to Strafford. On 10 February 1641 Parsons was resworn with
Sir John Borlase,
Master-General of the Ordnance
The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...
.
The King appointed
Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1641 but Leicester never went to Ireland and left the administration of the country to the Lords Justices. Leicester would resign in 1643 to make place for
Ormond.
Strafford was executed on 12 May 1641. His downfall ruined those members of the Irish administration who had been close to him, but Parsons, who had quarrelled with Strafford over the O'Byrne land deal, was clearly identified as one of his enemies, and Strafford's fall strengthened Parsons's position in the short term.
When the
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was an uprising in Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, initiated on 23 October 1641 by Catholic gentry and military officers. Their demands included an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and ...
broke out, Sir William had to cope with it virtually single-handedly, since his colleague Borlase was incompetent. His management of the crisis has been much criticised, in particular, his habit of dealing with the
English Parliament
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised th ...
directly without informing King
Charles I. His enemies accused him of inflaming, or even provoking the Rebellion, as a pretext for a second and more thorough conquest of Ireland. Certainly he argued that the Rebellion must be crushed ruthlessly, and rejected all attempts at compromise.
Parsons continued in the government until April 1642, when Charles I replaced him with
Sir Henry Tichborne. In 1643 Parsons was charged with
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
, and committed to prison, together with
Adam Loftus, 1st Viscount Loftus and others. He was quickly released, but complained bitterly of this "poor reward" for his "zealous and painful toil on behalf of the Crown". He continued to live in Dublin until 1648 when he retired to England.
Death, succession, and timeline
Parsons died in January or February 1650 at Westminster, London, and was buried in
St Margaret's, Westminster
The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret the Virgin, Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Pal ...
. As his eldest son Richard had predeceased him, he was succeeded by his grandson William as the 2nd Baronet Parsons. The 2nd Baronet married Catherine, the eldest daughter of
Arthur Jones, 2nd Viscount Ranelagh and his wife
Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, née Boyle.
See also
*
List of Irish Parliaments
Notes and references
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
* – 1603 to 1642
*
*
*
* – L to M (for Earl of Leicester)
* – N to R
* – 1611 to 1625
* – 1665 to 1707
*
*
* – (for timeline)
* – (for the subject and his son Richard as MPs)
* – Viscounts (for Ranelagh)
* – Knights bachelors & Index
* – 1641 to 1643
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, William
1570s births
1650 deaths
17th-century Anglo-Irish people
Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland
Burials at St Margaret's, Westminster
17th-century English knights
Irish MPs 1613–1615
Irish MPs 1639–1649
Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Dublin constituencies
Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Wicklow constituencies
People of Elizabethan Ireland
People of the Irish Confederate Wars
Surveyors General of Ireland