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O'MULLOY,

Standard-Bearer to the King in Ireland.

MULLOY, COOTE, esq. of Hughstown, in the county of Roscommon, chief and

representative of the ancient Milesian family of O'Mulloy, "Standard Bearers to the Crowne of England in Ireland,' m. in 1799, Mary, eldest daughter of William Lloyd, esq. of Rockville, in the same county, and has issue,

COOTE, in holy orders, who wedded Alicia, eldest dau. of the late Robert King Duke, esq. of New Park, in the county of Sligo, and has two sons,

COOTE.

Robert.

William-James.

Mary.

Hessy. Margaret.

He is a magis

Mr. Mulloy succeeded his father in 1825.
trate and deputy-lieutenant for the county of Roscommon.
Lineage.

The family of O'Mulloy, of acknowledged Milesian descent, enjoys the hereditary honor of standard-bearer to the crown of England in Ireland. It derives from

* The following are some curious particulars relative to the early members of the family.

Upon the death of O'Hethe, Girald Barry (commonly called Cambrensis, archdeacon of St. David's) having refused the see (that of Ferns) from John, Earl of Morton (afterwards king), Albin O'Mulloy was elected. He was first a monk, and afterwards Abbot of Baltinglass, and appears to have been a zealous but intemperate man. He had a very angry dispute with Cambrensis in

Mid-lent 1185. It was as follows:

John Comin (the Ai bishop) having convened a synod in Christchurch, preached himself the first day on the Sacraments. On the second day, Albin O'Mulloy (Abbot of Baltinglass, afterwards Bishop of Ferns) preached on clerical strictness of morals; whereon he inveighed bitterly against the English clergy, who came into Ireland, and by their evil examples had vitiated the probity and innocence of the clergy of Ireland, which drew upon him Cambrensis the moment he had ended.

Albin engaged in a far more serious and reasonable contest with William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, who had forcibly disseised him of two manors belonging to his bishoprick. The earl being contumacious died under excommunication, and in 1220 the bishop went to London to complain of the injury done to the church. The king commanded him to go to the earl's tomb and absolve him, and promised he would endeavour to obtain him satisfaction from the young Earl Wil

liam.

Whereupon the bishop, accompanied by the king, (HENRY III.) went to the grave, and said, "O William, that here liest wrapped in the bonds of excommunication, if what thou hast injuriously taken be restored by the king, or thy heirs, or thy friends, with competent satisfaction, I absolve

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thee; otherwise, I ratify the sentence; that being wrapped in thy sins, thou mayest remain damned for ever!

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The king was displeased with the rigour of the bishop, but could not prevail with the young earl to restore the manors. The young earl and his four brothers died afterwards, without issue male, and the superstitious people thought it to be the effect of the excommunication. Our prelate died at an advanced age about the close of the year 1222, having governed the see of Ferns thirty-six years.

Curious circumstances attending the election of two knights of the shire, to serve in parliament for the King's County, which election took place 20th April, 1613.

Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, vol. i. p. 349. The freeholders assembled in Philipstown to elect knights, and some of the Irish having consulted together the same morning, attended the sheriff to the shire-house, between eight and nine o'clock, where the writ being read, Sir Francis Rushe, and Sir Adam Loftus, (ancestor of the first Viscounts Ely), were propounded by some of the freeholders as the fittest men to be elected. But Philip O'Dagan delivered to the sheriff two several lists of names in paper, who (he said) had given their names for "Sir John Mac Coughlan and Callagh O'Mulloy," whom they had chosen already, and would have none others; and upon delivering the list, they cried out "Mac Coughlan and O'Mulloy!" The other side, to the number of sixteen, gave their votes publicly for Sir F. Rushe and Sir A. Loftus. The under-sheriff received the papers, and made up the indentures for Mac Coughlan and O'Mulloy, (having the greatest number of names in the list), which indentures were accepted by the high-sheriff; yet, notwith

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Niall, whose designation" of the nine hos- | enumerated, as some of the castles here tages arose from his having nine captive alluded to: princes at the same time in his keeping, had, with other issue,

EOGAN, or OWEN, ancestor of the GREAT
O'NIELL, from whom Tir-Owen, or
Tyrone.

CONALL GULBANE, progenitor of O'Don-
NELL, chief of Tyrconnel.

FIACHADA, from whom the O'MULLOYS. The Mulloy or O'Mulloy family is consequently of the Heremonean line, and enti- | tled to the distinctive appellation of HyNialls; a title which in Irish history exclusively belongs to the descendants of Niall, the Great, and claims for its possessors the highest station amongst the distinguished

families of Ireland.*

The ancient territory of this family, viz. Fercall,+ (now comprehending the baronies of Eglish and Ballyboy, in the King's county) was in their possession from the 5th century until long after the invasion of the English in 1179; in fact, until about the year 1641, the period of the great rebellion; for in the proclamation of attainder, which followed the failure of Roger Moore's insurrection, we see enumerated amongst his principal abettors the names of Art. O'Mulloy, of Rathlin Castle, and Owen O'Mulloy, of Clonkeene Castle.

In the "Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica," (vol. ii. p. 52.) the territory of Fercall is stated to have been 49,235 acres in extent. A recent writer of high respectability in the "Beauties of Ireland," observes, "that there are still in the King's County some respectable families belonging to the Sept of O'Mulloy, and the ruins of many ancient castles attest their former consequence and dignity." In "Slater's Itinerary," (King's County), as well as in the writer above named, we find the following

standing, he returned Sir A. Loftus and Sir F. Rushe, alleging "that the greatest number of voices given publicly were for them. In which proceeding on the part of Mac Coughlan and O'Mulloy we find this miscarriage, that two gentlemen whose names were returned in the list, upon the reading, disavowed the same, and subscribed the other part. Some other also confessed he had set his hand to the list after the election was done; and Sir Terence O'Dempsy being absent, gave his voice by proxy to the said Mac Coughlan and O'Mulloy, which O'Mulloy cannot speak English!

This deficiency was not uncommon amongst the magnates of the land, for we read that amongst other articles of agreement by which Munough O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, obtained (in June, 1543) the favour of King HENRY VIII., who created him in the same year Earl of Thomond, he promised "that he, his heirs, &c. &c. should use the English habit and manner, and to their knowledge, the English language, and to their power,

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1. Geslid Castle. 2. Erry Castle (ruins). 3. Lemanagh Castle. 4. Broghill Castle.

5. Rathlin Castle.

6. Clonkeene Castle, &c. &c. Surnames were first given to distinguish families by Brian Boiroimhe, (the hero of the celebrated battle of Clontarf). The practice was then borrowed by the Germans, French, and Italians.§ The name of Mulloy is derived from the Irish words " Mulluagh ah Loah," i. e. “the front of the battle," || and this brave clan, by their unwearied opposition to the English in defence of their hereditary dominions, while a tenable position remained, abundantly proved that they merited the appellation. For a space of 484 years, that is from 1172 (when the English first got possession of the island) to 1557, (the 3rd of PHILIP and MARY), they maintained their independence against the invaders. Indeed, according to Sir James Ware, they were in opposition to the English government at a later period, for soon after the appointment of Sir Henry Sidney, as sole lord justice, we find, to use the words of Sir James,†† "he directed his colours against Arthur O'Mulloy, Lord of Fercally, who harboured rebels and began new factions, and a great part of that country being burned and plundered, he conferred the lordship on Theobald Mulloy, Arthur's brother, who gave his son as a pledge that he should be faithful to the queen.' It may have been that peculiar severity was exercised by Sir Henry Sidney against this clan, inasmuch as their chief had, according to the authority of the above-mentioned historian, “sworn allegiance in the preceding year, 1557, to the queen, and given pledges,'

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bring up their children in the same.' (Vide Lodge's Peerage, London edition, 1754).

And we further read (in the same work, vol. ii. p. 325) that in April, 1576, the Lord Deputy Sidney, in his account to the lords of the council of the state of affairs in the province of Connaught, informs them, that Mac William Ewghter (Sir Richard Bourke, ancestor to the Earls of Mayo, elected Lord Mac William Oughter in 1469)

very willingly came in to him," and "I found him," says he, " very sensible, though wanting the English tongue, yet understanding the Latin," &c.

&c.

* Vide O'Halloran's Hist. of Ireland, O'Connor's Dissertations, Abbé Geoghegan's History of Ireland, &c.

+ See Sir William Petty's Map.

Vide Hist. of Irish Rebellion, 1661. § Keating's History of Ireland.

See Keogh's Antiquities of Ireland.

++ See Annals of Ireland, reign of Queen, MARY, A.D. 1558.

being caused so to do by Thomas Radcliffe, | Lodge, in his Peerage of Ireland, “the Earl of Sussex, then lord lieutenant of Ireland. Indeed we are told by Sir James Ware, that fifteen years previously, namely 1541, "almost all the great ones of the Irish extraction did likewise submit themselves to the Lord Deputy St. Leger, and took the oath of allegiance, as O'Carroll, O'Moore, O'Mulloy, O'Conor, &c. &c."

In the "Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica," (p. 63), we find it stated as follows: "The natives to be tied upon a proviso of forfeiture, neither to take upon them any Irish names of seignory, as O'Rooke, O' Mulloy, &c. &c. &c. nor set up, nor assist any to usurp these names; so jealous were the English of the hereditary claims and dignities by which the Milesian dynasts evidenced the superiority of their rights, over those which the former, as settlers, merely derived from conquest.

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In that rare and invaluable MS. entitled, "Annals of the Four Masters," which has never been but partially translated into English, and which is deposited in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, a very curious list is to be found of all the chiefs of the great Milesian families who were entitled to attend the parliament of the whole kingdom in the year 1585. This is a remarkable period in Irish history, no other than a Pale Parliament having been previously held in Ireland. In this list Conall O'Mulloy (the then chief of Fercall) is expressly mentioned. Conall subsequently surrendered his lands to Queen ELIZABETH, and had a re-grant thereof by patent in 1590. A younger son of this ancient Sept,

CAPT. ANTHONY MULLOY (thirty-third in descent from Frachada, son of Niall of the nine hostages, and tenth from Hugh Mor, or Great O'Mulloy, lord of the territory of Fercall, chief of his name) emigrated to the county of Roscommon in the early part of ELIZABETH'S reign, and d. 20th July, 1603. Tradition affirms that Capt. Anthony Mulloy was sent into Connaught with powers but little inferior to those of the president of that province, and he is sometimes erroneously mentioned as the president himself. It is likely he was provost marshal, as he is constantly depicted in the most sanguinary colours. This office was some years after held by Sir Charles Coote, father of the first Earl of Mountrath.

Capt. Anthony Mulloy (commonly called Green Mulloy, from the colour of his uniform) procured a large grant of land, including the manor of Urthaheera (now Coote Hall), Hughstown (the seat of the present Coote Mulloy, esq.) &c. &c. He m. Honora Dowell (of the family of Dowell, of Mantua House) and had a son and successor,

WILLIAM O'MULLOY, who is styled by

great O'Mulloy, of Ughterhera, in the county of Roscommon, knight of the shire and governor of that county." At a meeting of all the gentlemen of Roscommon, held at Ballintobber, at which Sir Lucas Dillon presided, we find his name enumerated (together with the names of Sir Ulick Bourke, Sir L. Dillon, &c. &c.) amongst those who attended and took an oath " for maintaining the king's prerogative and the Romish religion." He m. Margaret Clifford, and had four sons and three daughters, viz.

1. EDWARD, who m. Mary, daughter of
the O'Conor Don, and had a son,
GREEN MULLOY, who m. Elinor, dau.
of Sir Maurice Hurley, knt. and was
father of CAPT. WILLIAM MULLOY, in
the service of JAMES II., who m. Al-
son, daughter of Sir Oliver Tuite,
bart. of Sonnagh, in Westmeath, and
had one son, Theobald Mulloy, cap-
tain in the service of the king of
Portugal, d. s. p.

II. CONOR, of whom presently.
1. Anne, m. first, to Charles O'Conor,
esq. of Ballintobber, son of Sir Hugh
O'Conor, by whom she had issue,
Owen O'Conor, who followed the
fortunes of CHARLES II. to Flan-
ders, and there obtained a com-
pany in the Duke of Gloucester's
regiment. By the act of settle-
ment his estates were restored to
him. He became subsequently
governor of Athlone, and being
sent to England with the troops
appointed to oppose WILLIAM'S
landing, was made prisoner and
confined in the castle of Chester,
where he died in 1690, leaving,
by Lady Tuite his wife, no male
issue, whereupon his estates de-
volved on his brother.
Charles O'Conor, grandfather of

the celebrated Charles O'Conor,
M. R. I. A.

Anne (O'Mulloy) O'Conor wedded, secondly, Edmund Dillon, brother of Theobald, first Viscount Dillon.

11. Mary, m. to Philip Reily, esq. of Lisnure, in Cavan, by whom she had a son, John, who m. the eldest daughter of Lucas Dillon, brother to the Earl of Roscommon.

III. Eleanora, m. to Calher Roe M Dermot, 20th chief of Moylurg (whose mother was Margaret de Burgo, of Clanricard).

The second son,

CONOR MULLOY, m. Jane, daughter of Sir Richard Rutledge, of Belleck, near Ballyshannon, by Miss O'Brien his wife, a descendant of the house of Thomond, and had a son,

THEOBALD MULLOY (called by corruption Mr. Mulloy wedded in May, 1745, MarTobias), who held the commission of cap-garet, daughter of James Dodd, esq. of Ardagh, (of the family of Dodd, of Swallowfield, in Berkshire) by Martha, his wife, daughter of Colonel Auchmuty, an officer in King WILLIAM's army at the battle of the Boyne, and had issue,

tain of horse in King WILLIAM's army at the battle of the Boyne (1690). It is stated that Capt. Mulloy, perceiving WILLIAM'S horse shot, rode up and gave his own charger to the king, and that for this seasonable service his majesty requested he would call at his tent after the action, and choose whatever horse he pleased from the royal stud. Mulloy selected one called Kaiser, the king's favourite, which William cheerfully gave him, with the housings and pistols. This horse, which lived to be forty years of age, never was allowed to be ridden by any but the old captain, and when he began to get stiff, was let run for life. He became so familiar, that he used to come to the hall door and eat bread out of the hand. Theobald, alias Tobias Mulloy, appears in the list of gentlemen attainted by the illfated JAMES, and in an act for raising the sum of £120,000 on all lands, tenements, and hereditaments, made in 1695, Henry Lord Capel being then lord deputy, Captain Tobias Mulloy is appointed one of the commissioners for the county of Roscommon. He married twice: by his first wife, a daughter of Sir King, he had no issue; but by the second, Frances Harlowe, he had two sons, CHARLES, his heir, and William, who d. at Exeter, a captain in the army. Capt. Theobald Mulloy, who was nominated four times successively high sheriff for the county of Roscommon in the reign of WILLIAM III. d. in 1734, and was 8. by his son,

CHARLES MULLOY, esq. This gentleman being at Athlone when some of King JAMES's officers were raising recruits, was persuaded to fight for the deposed monarch, and had the singular fate of being taken prisoner by a party of the regiment of horse in which his father was captain, at the battle of the Boyne. He was then but seventeen, and for his father's sake his life was spared. He afterwards served in some of WILLIAM's wars, and at the siege of Vigo was wounded in the leg. He m. Hester Adams (of the same family as the American president Adams) and had three sons,

JOHN, who m. Miss Cooper, of Cooper's
Hill, in Sligo, but had no issue.
Charles, d. at college.

COOTE, of whom we have to treat. Charles Mulloy d. in 1760, aged ninety-two, and was s. by his only surviving son,

COOTE MULLOY, esq. of Hughstown, b. in 1720, cornet in Hamilton's dragoons. This gentleman was considered a person of such solid judgment as to be frequently appointed sole arbitrator under the court of chancery, and his decisions were ever known to be reversed. The then lord chancellor used to say," that one such man in every county would prove a national blessing."

TOBIAS, his heir.

James, in holy orders, found dead in
his bed unmarried.

Coote, aid-de-camp to General Eustace
at the battle of Gemappe, d. suddenly
in London.
WILLIAM, now of Oak Port, (see that
branch.)

Hester, m. to the late Andrew Kirk

wood, esq. of Castletown, and left two sons, of whom the elder, now lieutenant-colonel of the 64th regiment, m. Emily, daughter of General Coffin, governor of St. John's, North America, and niece of Sir Isaac Coffin, by whom he had one son, Townshend Kirkwood, and two daughters. Margaret, m. to Thomas Mac Dermott Roe, esq. of Alderford, in the county of Roscommon, and had two sons and two daughters.

Rebecca, m. to John Phibbs, esq. of Lisconny, grandfather, by his first wife, of the present Countess of Norbury, who inherits his estate.

Helen, m. to the Rev. P. Birmingham. Mr. Mulloy d. 7th January, 1796, and was s. by his son,

TOBIAS MULLOY, esq. of Hughstown, b. 6th May, 1748, who was called to the bar, but never practised. At the period of the union he published a pamphlet against Sir Hercules Langrish, and in favour of triennial parliaments, which excited considerable attention at the time of its production. Mr. Mulloy m. Susannah,* daughter of Colonel Arthur Roche, (whose father, George Roche, represented the city of Limerick in three parliaments), and has issue,

COOTE, his heir.

Charles, in holy orders, m. 15th May, 1820, Margaret, sister of the late Sir Robert King, bart. of Charlestown, in the county of Roscommon, and had issue,

Charles.
Coote.
Robert.

Margaret.
Mary.
Arabella.
Caroline.

Mr. Charles Mulloy d. at Collooney

This Susannah Roche was cousin of the humorous Sir Boyle Roche, so well known in the Irish parliament.

Glebe, county of Sligo (of which place he was rector), in April, 1832. Mr. Mulloy d. 10th February, 1825, and was s. by his eldest son, the present CoOTE MULLOY, esq. of Hughstown.

The office of hereditary standard bearer to the crown of England in Ireland, vests in this family, and Mr. Mulloy, of Oak Port, is in possession of a drawing copied from an original entry made in a record in the office of arms (Dublin Castle), by Thomas Preston, esq. Ulster king at arms, in the year 1634, and attested by Sir William Betham (the present Ulster), representing O'Mulloy invested with the coat armour proper to his office, mounted upon a steed richly caparisoned, bearing in his hand the standard of England, and upon his shield the family arms. The posterity of Hugh Mor (or great) O'Mulloy, Lord of Fircal, having failed in the elder line, in the person of Conall O'Mulloy, chief of his name, and Lord of Fercall (or Fircal) in the reign of Queen ELIZABETH, (vide O'Mulloy pedigree,office of arms) the honours of primogeniture devolve

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place is now called Coote Hall) is supposed to be the chief of the name of O'Mulloy. When it recollected that William, commonly called the Great O'Mulloy, was, as has been already stated, present at a meeting of the Roscommon gentlemen, held at Balintobber, in the year 1641, and that he was one of those, who, upon that occasion, took an oath for maintaining the Roman Catholic religion (vide the above mentioned peerage, vol. iv. p. 192), it becomes scarcely matter of surprise, that in the great rebellion which broke out the following year, the possessions of this chieftain (if such he may be denominated) should have been forfeited. These possessions consisted of the grant already stated to have been made to Captain Anthony Mulloy (ELIZABETH's reign), and were known by the name of Urthaheera, which large tract of country fell, during the rebellion, into the hands of the Cootes, of whom the first that obtained a footing in Connaught, was Sir Charles Coote, father to the first Earl of Mountrath, and brother to Richard, Lord Colooney.

A division of that part of the manor of Coote Hall, which still retains the name, has, by purchase, latterly become the property of Hugh Barton, esq. from whom Mr. Mulloy, of Oak Port, holds it by lease. An extensive portion of the former manor of Coote Hall, now simply called Ballyfermoyle, has also by purchase come into the possession of the Oak Port family. Thus upon the posterity of Captain Anthony Mul-time has rendered to the descendants of the loy, who, as we have already stated, was the first of the O'Malloys who settled in Connaught, and tenth in descent in the younger line from the said Hugh Mor.

Coote Mulloy, esq. of Hughstown (the lineal descendant of Captain Anthony) is therefore the present chief of his name, and consequently hereditary standard bearer to the crown of England in Ireland. The present O'Mulloys in the King's county belong to a branch junior to that of which Captain Anthony was the founder, (vide O'Mulloy pedigree, office of arms). Brewer, in his "Beauties of Ireland," adverts to this circumstance (see vol. ii. Leinster, King's county), by observing that "O'Mulloy, of Wyhteheese, county of Roscommon, (which

original proprietors, the justice of restoring to them part of the domains of their ances

tors.

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