Almeric de Courcy
Baron Kingsale
Detail (head) of a painted portrait of Almeric de Courcy, 23rd Baron Kingsale, showing a clean-shaven man with brown eyes and shoulder-long brown curly hair or such a wig, clad in armour, standing in front of dark background.
Detail from the portrait below
Tenure1669–1720
PredecessorPatrick, 22nd Baron (a child)
SuccessorGerald, 24th Baron Kingsale
BornMay 1664
Died9 February 1720
BuriedWestminster Abbey
Spouse(s)Anne Dring
FatherJohn, 21st Baron Kingsale
MotherEllen MacCarthy Reagh

Almeric de Courcy, 23rd Baron Kingsale (1664–1720) was an Irish Jacobite.

Birth and origins

Almeric was born in May 1664, the second son of John de Courcy and his wife Ellen MacCarthy Reagh. His father was the 21st Baron Kingsale. His father's family, the de Courcys, were Old English and claimed descendence from John de Courcy, who had arrived in Ireland in 1176. Almeric's first name evokes Almeric Tristram, a liegeman of John de Courcy and remote ancestor of the Earls of Howth.[1]

His mother was a daughter of Charles MacCarthy Reagh.[2] Her father's family were the MacCarthy Reagh, a Gaelic Irish dynasty that branched from the MacCarthy-Mor line with Donal Gott MacCarthy, a medieval King of Desmond, or with Donal Maol Cairprech MacCarthy, the first independent ruler of Carbery.[3]

He had two brothers[lower-alpha 1] and at least one sister, who are listed in his father's article..[4][5]

Family tree
Almeric de Courcy with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.[lower-alpha 2]
John
de Courcy
18th Baron
d. 1628		Mary
O'Crowly
Gerald
de Courcy
19th Baron
d. c. 1642		Patrick
de Courcy
20st Baron
d. 1663		Mary
FitzGerald		David
de Courcy
John
de Courcy
21st Baron
d. 1667		Ellen
MacCarthy
Reagh		Miles
de Courcy		Elizabeth
Sadleir		Anthony
de Courcy
d. 1727
Patrick
de Courcy
22nd Baron
Kingsale
1660–1669		Almeric
de Courcy
23rd Baron
Kingsale
1664–1720		Anne
Dring
d. 1724		Gerald
de Courcy
24th Baron
1700–1759		Miles
de Courcy
John
de Courcy
25th Baron
1717–1776		Martha
Heron
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article		XXXBaron
Kingsale

Baron Kingsale

On 19 May 1667 his elder brother Patrick, a seven-year-old child, succeeded their father as 17th or 22nd Baron. However, Patrick's tenure lasted only two years. Almeric succeeded him in 1669 as the 18th or 23rd Baron Kingsale.[10] King Charles II had bestowed a pension of £300 yearly on the 22nd Baron, which was carried over to him.[11]

Early life

Kingsale was raised a Catholic by his parents but was then sent to Oxford for a Protestant education.[12] Kingsale studied under Doctor John Fell, Dean of Christ Church and Bishop of Oxford. In a letter written in 1678 Fell complained that Kingsale was "addicted to the tennis court, proof against all Latin assaults and prone to kicking, beating and domineering over his sisters; ... fortified in the conceit that a title of honour was support enough, without the pedantry and trouble of book-learning."[13]

On 6 December 1681 Kingsale fought a duel with Charles Livingston, 2nd Earl of Newburgh and had Patrick Sarsfield as his second.[14]

When the Catholic King James II acceded the throne in 1685, he continued Kingsale's pension. Kingsale served as a captain in a troop of horse in the Irish army, later becoming Lieutenant Colonel of Patrick Sarsfield's regiment of horse.[15] In 1689 he sat in the House of Lords of the Patriot Parliament.[16][17]

He was attainted in 1691 but obtained the reversal of his attainder in 1692.[18]

He sat in the House of Lords of the Irish parliament of 1692–1693, taking his seat on 25 October 1692.[19]

In 1692 he exercised before William III his privilege, supposed to have been granted to his ancestor John in 1203, to remain covered before the king.[20][21] He probably did this in London as William had left Ireland on 5 September 1690.[22]

Marriage

On 2 March 1698 Kingsale married Anne, daughter of Robert Dring, of Isleworth, Middlesex, at St Martin, Ludgate, London, in an Anglican ceremony.[23]

bust-length painted portrait of a clean-shaven man wearing a shoulder-length wig and clad in armour
Almeric de Courcy

Later life

Kingsale sat again in the House of Lords during the Irish Parliament of 1703–1713 on 20 May 1712.[19]

Death

Kingsale died childless on 9 February 1720 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.[24] His wife died on 25 April 1724. In her will, she provided for a monument to her husband. This took the form of a mural with a life-size effigy under a canopy that still stands in the north choir aisle.[25][26] Its large size might be explained by the sympathy for Jacobites entertained by the then dean, Francis Atterbury.[27]

Kingsale was succeeded by his cousin, Gerald de Courcy, 24th Baron Kingsale, the son of Miles de Courcy.[28]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ His elder brother Patrick succeeded as the 22nd Baron Kingsale, and a younger Brother William about whom not much is known.
  2. ↑ This family tree is based on a tree of the later barons Kingsale[6] and on genealogies of the de Courcy family[7][8][9]

Citations

  1. ↑ Lodge 1789, p. 138. "... married to Sir Almericus Tristram, ancestor of the Earl of Howth."
  2. ↑ Cokayne 1892, p. 396, line 1. "John (de Courcy), Baron Kingsale, &c. [I. [Ireland] ], s. and h. ... He m. [married] Ellen 1st da. [daughter] of Charles Mc Carthy Reagh, by Eleanor, sister of Donogh, 1st Earl of Clancarty [I. [Ireland] ] and da. of Cormac Oge (Mc Carthy) 1st Viscount Muskerry [I. [Ireland] ]"
  3. ↑ Gibson 1861, p. 84, line 9. "There were at this time [15th & 16th centuries] four distinct chieftainships of the Mac Carthys; the Mac Carthys Mor, or lords of Desmond, and their off-shoots, namely, the Mac Carthys Reagh of Carbery, the Donough Mac Carthys of Duhallow, and the Mac Carthys of Muskerry."
  4. ↑ D'Alton 1855, p. 145. "One of these sisters, Ellen, was married to Sir John Magrath, of Attivolan, County of Tipperary, who was created a Baron under singular circumstances ..."
  5. ↑ Cokayne 1902, p. 260. "He [John Magrath] m. [married] Ellen sister of Patrick and Almericus, successively barons Kingsale ..."
  6. ↑ Cokayne 1892, p. 398.
  7. ↑ Lodge 1789, pp. 132–159.
  8. ↑ Cokayne 1929, pp. 279–293.
  9. ↑ O'Hart 1892, p. 537.
  10. ↑ Cokayne 1892, p. 396, line 10. "Almericus (de Courcy), Baron Kingsale, &c. [I. [Ireland] ], br. [brother] and h. [heir], about five years old in 1669;"
  11. ↑ Lodge 1789, p. 396, line 13. "He had a pension of £300 a year from Charles II, continued by James II ..."
  12. ↑ James 1995, p. 50. "Almericus de Courcy, 18th Baron Kinsale (whose mother was a MacCarthy) was raised a Catholic, yet attended Oxford."
  13. ↑ Cokayne 1892, p. 396, Note a.
  14. ↑ Wauchope 1992, p. 21. "... 6 December 1681. The two principals were both teenagers, Lords Newburgh and Kingsale ..."
  15. ↑ D'Alton 1855, p. 145, line 8. "... raised to this Lieutenant-Colonelcy in Sarsfield's Regiment ..."
  16. ↑ Cokayne 1913, p. 633. "Coursye Ba. of Kinsale."
  17. ↑ D'Alton 1855, p. 145, line 12. "He sat as a peer in the Parliament of 1689."
  18. ↑ Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1039, right column. "... outlawed 1691, for his adhesion to the fortunes of James II. The outlawry was, however, very soon removed ..."
  19. 1 2 Lodge 1789, p. 396, line 16. "... sat in Parl. [I. [Ireland] ] 25 Oct. 1692, and again 20 May 1712."
  20. ↑ Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1039, right column, line 40. "In that year [1692] he claimed and was allowed the privilege of remaining covered in the Royal presence by William III."
  21. ↑ Wills 1841, p. 52, line 9. "... the privilege to which his family lay claim, of remaining with the head covered in the presence of royalty."
  22. ↑ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 170. "William III in Ireland (left Ireland 5 Sept. 1690)"
  23. ↑ Cokayne 1892, p. 396. "He m. [married] 2 March 1698, at St. Martin's, Ludgate, London, Anne, da. [daughter] of Robert Dring, of Isleworth, Midx [Middlesex]."
  24. ↑ Chester 1876, p. 299, line 2. "Feb. 14 The Right Hon. the Lord Kinsale: in the North aisle."
  25. ↑ Brayley 1823, p. 218. "A stately monument of various coloured marbles, which have been ornamented by painting and guilding, records the memory of Almericus de Courcy; Lord Courcy; and Ann, his widow, in pursuance of whose Will it was erected."
  26. ↑ Smith 1872, p. 70. "His lordship is here represented in full proportion, reposing himself, after the fatigues of an active life, under a rich canopy, finely ornamented and guilt."
  27. ↑ Smith 1906, p. 313. "[The monument] commemorated Almericus de Courcy (d. 1720), Lord Kinsale, who was a staunch supporter of James II. and a commander of a troop of horse for his cause."
  28. ↑ Wills 1841, p. 52. "He was succeeded in his title and estates by his cousin Gerald, the son of Miles de Courcy, the third son of Patrick, the twentiest lord."

Sources

Subject matter monographs:

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