William Brabazon, 1st Earl of Meath (158018 December 1651) 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. Brabazon was descended from an English family that was seated in

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 ...

from the reign of Henry III, and came to Ireland in the 1530s. He was the second but eldest surviving son of Edward Brabazon and Mary Smythe, daughter of Thomas Smythe,

Clerk of the Green Cloth The Clerk of the Green Cloth was a position in the British Royal Household. The clerk acted as secretary of the Board of Green Cloth, and was therefore responsible for organising royal journeys and assisting in the administration of the Royal H ...

. His father had been created Baron Ardee in 1616. His grandfather, also William Brabazon, had served as Vice-Treasurer of

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 ...

for 23 years and the family acquired large estates there. Brabazon was knighted in 1604 by James I. On 7 August 1625 he succeeded his father as Baron Ardee. He was made 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 ...

in 1627 and held various appointments in the government of Ireland. He also served as Custos Rotulorum of

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

. On 16 April 1627 he was created Earl of Meath in 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 ...

, with remainder in default of male heirs to his brother Sir Anthony Brabazon and his male heirs. In 1631 at Kilruddery House (which is still the family home) he hosted the marriage of his widowed sister Elizabeth to Sir John Bramston, the Lord Chief Justice of England (a belated love marriage which their father had forbidden many years earlier, but of which her brother evidently approved). In 1644, at the height of the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union un ...

, Brabazon was sent by the Irish Parliament to the

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 ...

court at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

to consult with Charles I. He was subsequently taken prisoner by the Parliamentarians and imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

for 11 months. He married Jane Bingley (died 1644), the daughter of Sir John Bingley MP, Comptroller of the Musters and Cheques, and his first wife Anne Henshaw, and together they had one son,

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 ...

. Edward succeeded his father in his titles in 1651.John Debrett, ''Debrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland'' (1836), 432.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meath, William Brabazon, 1st Earl of Year of birth uncertain 1651 deaths 17th-century Anglo-Irish people Members of the Privy Council of Ireland

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...