Helen MacCarty

Lady Helen MacCarty (c. 1641 – 1722), also styled Helen FitzGerald or Helen Burke, Countess of Clanricarde, was brought to France when her family fled the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. She was educated at Port-Royal-des-Champs together with her cousin Elizabeth Hamilton. She married three times. All her children, among which Margaret, Viscountess Iveagh, and Honora Sarsfield, are by her second husband, William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde.

Helen Burke
Countess of Clanricarde
Born	Helen MacCarty
Died	1722
Family	MacCarthy of Muskerry
Spouse(s)	John FitzGerald of Dromana William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde
Detail Issue Ulick Margaret William Honora
Father	Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty
Mother	Eleanor Butler
Religion	Catholic

Birth and origins

Helen was probably born in 1641,[1][lower-alpha 1] probably at Blarney Castle, County Cork, Ireland. She was the eldest daughter of Donough MacCarty and his wife Eleanor Butler. Her father belonged to the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty, an ancient Gaelic Irish family, that descended from the kings of Desmond. At the time of Helen's birth he was the Viscount Muskerry. He would later become an earl. Helen's mother was the eldest sister of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond.[2] The Butlers were an Old English family that played an important role in southern Ireland since the Norman invasion of that country. Helen's parents were both Catholic. They had married before 1641.[3]

Family tree

Helen MacCarty with her three husbands, her parents, and selected relatives. Charles 1st Viscount Muskerry d. 1640 Thomas Butler Viscount Thurles d. 1619 Donough 1st Earl Clancarty 1594–1665 Eleanor Butler 1612–1682 James Butler 1st Duke Ormond 1610–1688 Charles Viscount Muskerry c. 1633 – 1665 Callaghan 3rd Earl Clancarty c. 1638 – 1676 Sir John FitzGerald of Dromana d. 1662 Helen d. 1722 William Burke 7th Earl Clanricarde d. 1687 Justin Viscount Mount- cashel c. 1643 – 1694 Thomas Burke d. c. 1719 Ulick Burke 1st Viscount Galway 1670–1691 Margaret Magennis 1673–1744 Patrick Sarsfield 1st Earl Lucan 1655–1693 Honora Burke 1674–1698 James FitzJames 1st Duke Berwick 1670–1734 James Sarsfield 2nd Earl Lucan 1693–1719 James Fitz-James Stuart 2nd Duke Berwick 1696–1738 Legend XXX Helen MacCarty XXX Duke of Ormond XXX Dukes of Berwick Helen's three husbands: 1st left, 2nd right and 3rd below. Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

They had five children, three boys and two girls.[4]

She was the elder of two sisters:

1. Helen (died 1722);
2. Margaret (died 1703), became Countess of Fingall;[5]

She had three brothers:

1. Charles (1633 or 1634 – 1665), slain in the Battle of Lowestoft, a sea-fight with the Dutch;[6]
2. Callaghan (c. 1638 – 1676), succeeded his brother Charles's son as the 3rd Earl;[7] and
3. Justin (c. 1643 – 1694), fought for the Jacobites and became Viscount Mountcashel.[8][9][10]

Irish wars

She was a child while her father, Lord Muskerry, commanded the Confederates' Munster army and fought the Parliamentarians in the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland. He was defeated by Lord Broghill in the Battle of Knocknaclashy in June 1651,[11] but fought to the bitter end, surrendering Ross Castle near Killarney to Edmund Ludlow and disbanding his 5000-strong army on 27 June 1652.[12][13] He was allowed to embark to Spain. He lost his estates in the Act of Settlement of 1652,[14] of the English Rump Parliament. He found that he was not welcome in Spain and returned to Ireland in 1653, where he was put on trial in Dublin for the murder of English settlers in 1641. He was, however, acquitted.[15]

Exile

Helen, aged about ten, her mother, and her siblings had fled to France already some time before the capture of Ross Castle. Her mother lived with her sister Mary Butler, Lady Hamilton, in the convent of the Feuillantines in Paris,[16] and Helen was sent to boarding school at the abbey of Cistercian nuns of Port-Royal-des-Champs, near Versailles, together with her cousin Elizabeth Hamilton. This school had an excellent reputation and was ahead of its time by teaching in French rather than in Latin. She attended this school for seven or eight years.[17][18] The abbey also was a stronghold of Jansenism, a Catholic religious movement that insisted on earnestness and asceticism but which was later declared heretic for its position on grace and original sin.[19] In 1658 her father was created Earl of Clancarty by Charles II in Brussels, where he was then in exile.[20]

Restoration and first marriage

At the Restoration Helen returned to Ireland with her family. Her father recovered his estates in the Act of Settlement 1662. Her brother Charles, Viscount Muskerry, as he was now, lived at the court in Whitehall. She soon married Sir John FitzGerald of Dromana, who died after a marriage of one or two years in 1662.[1] The marriage was childless. Dromana is near Villierstown in County Waterford.[1]

In 1665 her brother Charles, Lord Muskerry, was killed during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) in the Battle of Lowestoft, a naval engagement with the Dutch[21]

Second marriage

Her second marriage was to William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde, which brought her the title of Countess of Clanricarde in the Peerage of Ireland.[1][22] Clanricarde already had sons from a previous marriage two of whom would succeed him as the 8th[23] and the [John Burke, 9th Earl of Clanricarde|9th]] earls.[24]

Among her children with Clanricarde were:[lower-alpha 2]

1. Ulick (1670–1691), created Viscount of Galway and slain at the Battle of Aughrim fighting for the Jacobites;[25][lower-alpha 2]
2. Margaret (1673–1744), married first Bryan Magennis, 5th Viscount Iveagh and then Thomas Butler of Garryricken;[26][lower-alpha 2]
3. William, died childless;[27][lower-alpha 2] and
4. Honora (1674–1698), married first Patrick Sarsfield and then the Duke of Berwick.[28][29][lower-alpha 2]

Her father, Lord Clancarty, died in London on 4 August 1665.[30] Her husband Clanricarde died in 1687[31] and was succeeded by his son Richard of his first marriage as the 8th Earl of Clanricarde. She was now about 46 years old. In 1689 her brother Justin lost the Battle of Newtownbutler against the Inniskilleners and was taken prisoner.[32]

Third marriage, death, and timeline

Helen married again, sometime between 1687 and 1700, to Colonel Thomas Burke. The marriage was childless.[33] Her husband died in about 1719 and she died in 1722.[34]

Timeline
As her birth date is uncertain, so are all her ages.
Age	Date	Event
0	1641, estimate	Born in Ireland, probably at Blarney Castle, County Cork.[lower-alpha 1]
8	1649, 30 Jan	King Charles I beheaded.[35]
10	1651, early	Taken to France by her mother.
10	1651, June	Her father was defeated by the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Knocknaclashy.[11]
11	1652, about	Started going to school at Port-Royal-des-Champs.[17]
11	1652, 27 Jun	Her father surrendered Ross Castle.[12]
19	1660, 29 May	Restoration of King Charles II.[36]
19	1660	Came back to England and Ireland with the Restoration.
20	1661, about	Married 1st John Fitzgerald of Dromana.[1]
21	1662	First husband died.[1]
24	1665, 3 Jun	Brother Charles was killed in the Battle of Lowestoft, a naval engagement with the Dutch.[21]
24	1665, 4 Aug	Father died in London.[37]
29	1669, estimate	Married 2ndly William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde as his 2nd wife.[1]
29	1670	Son Ulick born.[22][25]
32	1673	Daughter Margaret born.[26]
33	1674	Daughter Honora born, her last child.[28]
44	1685, 6 Feb	Accession of King James II, replacing King Charles II.[38]
46	1687, Oct	2nd husband died.[31]
48	1689, 13 Feb	Accession of William and Mary, replacing King James II.[39]
48	1689, 31 Jul	Brother Justin lost the Battle of Newtownbutler and was taken prisoner.[32]
57	1698, estimate	Married 3rdly Colonel Thomas Bourke.[33]
61	1702, 8 Mar	Accession of Queen Anne, replacing King William III.[40]
73	1714, 1 Aug	Accession of King George I, replacing Queen Anne.[41]
78	1719, about	Her third husband died.[33]
81	1722	Died.[34]

See also

• Butler Dynasty, for her mother's family.
• Earl of Clanricarde, for her title as countess, acquired by her second marriage.
• MacCarthy of Muskerry, for his father's family.

Notes and references

1. Her birth year is assumed to be 1641, as her first husband died in 1662 after a marriage of 1 or 2 years.[1]
2. Lodge by error ignores Clanricarde's second marriage to Helen and lists all the children as born by Lettice Shirley, his first wife.

1. Cokayne 1913, p. 233, line 2: "He [Clanricarde] m. 2ndly Helen, widow of sir John FITZGERALD, of Dromana, co. Waterford (who d. 1662), da. of Donough (MACCARTY), 1st EARL of CLANCARTY [I.] by Eleanor ..."
2. Lodge 1789b, p. 39, line 33: "Daughter Ellen, married to Donogh, Earl of Clancarthy, and dying in April 1682, AEt. 70, was buried 24 in the Chancel of St. Michan's church."
3. Ohlmeyer 2004, p. 107, left column: "... Donough MacCarthy had married by 1641 Eleanor (or Ellen; 1612–1682), the eldest daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, and sister of James, later Duke of Ormond."
4. Burke 1866, p. 344, right column:Lists children as Charles, Callaghan, Justin, Helen, Margaret.
5. Cokayne 1926, p. 386: "He [Luke Plunkett] m., before 1666, Margaret, da. of Donough (MACCARTY) EARL OF CLANCARTY [I.], by Eleanor, sister of James (BUTLER) 1ST DUKE OF ORMONDE, and da. of Thomas BUTLER, styled VISCOUNT THURLES."
6. Cokayne 1913, p. 215, line 13: "He [Charles MacCarty] d. v.p. slain on board 'the Royal Charles' in a sea-fight against the Dutch, 3, and was bur. 22 June 1665 in Westm. abbey."
7. Cokayne 1913, p. 216, line 6: "CALLAGHAN (MACCARTY) EARL OF CLANCARTY etc [I.], uncle and h., being 2nd s. of the 1st Earl."
8. Cokayne 1893, p. 390: "THE HON. JUSTIN MACCARTY 3d and yst s. of Donough, 1st EARL of CLANCARTY [I.] by Eleanor, sister of James DUKE of ORMONDE ..."
9. Murphy 1959, p. 49: "I have been unable to determine the precise date of his birth: the year 1643 is an approximation arrived at ..."
10. Wauchope 2004, p. 111, left column: "c. 1643 – 1694"
11. Cokayne 1913, p. 214, line 24: "... he [Muskerry] was severely defeated by Lord Broghill in June 1651, near Dromagh ..."
12. Ohlmeyer 2004, p. 107, right column: "he fought on before finally surrendering at Ross Castle (27 June 1652) and fleeing to the continent."
13. Firth 1894, p. 320, line 10: "Ross in Kerry; where the Lord Muskerry made his principal rendezvous, and which was the only place of strength the Irish had left, except the woods, bogs and mountains ..."
14. D'Alton 1910, p. 345: "... a long list of distinguished men, more than a hundred in number, were proscribed by name, and excluded from all mercy, among whom were the Lords Ormond, Clanricarde, Castlehaven, Inchiquin, Muskerry ..."
15. Firth 1894, p. 341: "... the court acquitted him [Donough MacCarty] ..."
16. Clark 1921, p. 8: "... his [Anthony Hamilton's] mother and his aunt, Lady Muskerry, had apartments at the couvent des Feuillantines in Paris ..."
17. Clark 1921, p. 8, line 16: "Elizabeth was sent with her cousin Helen, Lady Muskerry's daughter, to Port-Royal, where, as she herself was not ashamed to relate many years afterwards, the daughter of a penniless refugee, was charitably received and sheltered during seven or eight years."
18. Sainte-Beuve 1878, p. 107: "Mesdemoiselles Hamilton et Muskry furent mises à Port-Royal; elles durent y être dès avant 1655."
19. Pope Alexander VII 1665, pp. 15–16: "C'est dans cette vûë que nous tâchâmes dès la seconde année de notre Pontificat, d'achever de détruire par une Constitution expresse que nous publiâmes à ce dessein, l'heresie de Cornelius Jansenius qui se glissoit principalement en France ..."
20. Cokayne 1913, p. 215, line 2: "As reward for his services he was by patent dat. at Brussels 27 Nov., 1658, cr. EARL OF CLANCARTY, co. Cork [I.]"
21. Cokayne 1913, p. 215: "He d. v.p. being slain on board 'the Royal Charles' in a sea-fight against the Dutch, 3, and was bur. 22 June 1665 in Westm. Abbey."
22. Burke 1832, p. 249: "His Lordship [Clanricarde] m. secondly, Ellen, daughter of Donough, Earl of Clancarty and had ULICK ... "
23. Cokayne 1913, p. 233: "8. RICHARD (BOURKE), EARL OF CLANRICARDE & [I.], s. and h. by 1st wife. He conformed to the established Church in or before 1681."
24. Cokayne 1913, p. 234: "9. JOHN (BOURKE), EARL OF CLANRICARDE & [I.], br. and h. male by full blood. He was born 1642 ..."
25. Lodge 1789a, p. 138, line 13: "Ulick, created by privy seal, dated at Whitehall, 9 May, and by patent 2 June 1687, baron of Tyaquin in the co. of Galway, and Viscount of Galway; was a nobleman of true courage and endowed with many good qualities; he commanded a regiment of foot in K. James's army; and in that station was killed at Aghrim, 12 July 1691, being not full 22 years old."
26. Lodge 1789a, p. 138, line 27: "Margaret, born in 1673 and married first in 1689 to Bryan Viscount Magennis, of Iveagh who dying in 1692, she remarried in 1696 with Thomas Butler of Kilcash in the co. of Tipperary, Esq.; where she died his widow, 19 July, 1744."
27. Lodge 1789a, p. 138, line 26: "William died in his minority in France."
28. Burke 2005, p. 21: "Honora de Burgh was born c. 1675 at Portumna Castle co. Galway."
29. Lodge 1789a, p. 138, line 32: "Lady Honora (first married to Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, who was killed in the battle of Landen, 29 July, 1693, by whom she had one son who died without issue in Flanders, and secondly was married in the chapel of the Castle of St Germains, near Paris, in 1695, to James Fitz-James, Duke of Berwick, Marshal, Duke and Peer of France, eldest natural son of James II. by Arabella, sister to John Churchill Duke of Marlborough, one of the greatest generals in Europe, who was killed at the siege of Philipsburgh, 12 June, 1734, leaving issue by her (who died at Pezenas, a city of Languedoc, in 1698), James-Francis ..."
30. Cokayne 1913, p. 215, line 6: "He [the 1st Earl] d. in London, 4 Aug. 1665."
31. Cokayne 1913, p. 233, line 5a: "He [Clanricarde] d. Oct. 1687."
32. Webb (1878), p. 304, left column, line 23: "Viscount Mountcashel was miserably defeated at Newtownbutler on 31st July."
33. Cokayne 1913, p. 233, line 5b: "His [Clanricarde's] widow m. 3rdly before 1 Feb. 1699/1700, Thomas BOURKE, who died between 29 May 1718 and 5 Dec. 1720."
34. Cokayne 1913, p. 233, line 8: "Her will, dat. 6 Aug. 1720, pr. 29 June 1722."
35. Burke 1949, p. cclxvii, line 9: "… after the decapitation of CHARLES I at Whitehall, 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
36. Seaward 2004, p. 127, right column: "… he sailed to England and on 29 May [1660] he entered London in triumph."
37. Seccombe 1893, p. 437, left column, line 16: "He [Donough MacCarty] died in London on 5 Aug. 1665."
38. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 20: "James II. . [Accession] 6 February, 1685"
39. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 21: "William and Mary . [Accession] 13 February, 1689"
40. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 22: "Anne . [Accession] 8 March, 1702"
41. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 23: "George I. . [Accession] 1 August, 1714"

• Burke, Jim (2005), A History Of Burke in Ireland - Jim Burke!
• Burke, John (1832), A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, 1 (4th ed.), London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley – Abdy to Hutchinson (for Clanricarde)
• Burke, Bernard (1866), A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.), London: Harrison (for MacCarty)
• Clark, Ruth (1921), Anthony Hamilton: his Life and Works and his Family, London: John Lane
• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1893), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 5 (1st ed.), London: George Bell and Sons – L to M (for Mountcashel)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1913), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 3 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Canonteign to Cutts (for Clancarty and Clanricarde)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1926), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 5 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Eardley of Spalding to Goojerat (for Fingall)
• D'Alton, Rev. E. A. (1910), History of Ireland from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, 4, London: The Gresham Publishing Company - 1649 to 1782
• Firth, Charles Harding (1894), The Memoirs of Henry Ludlow, 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Lodge, John (1789a), The Peerage of Ireland, 1, Dublin: James Moore - Blood royal, dukes, earls (for Clanricarde)
• Lodge, John (1789b), The Peerage of Ireland, 4, Dublin: James Moore - Viscounts (for Thurles)
• Murphy, John A. (1959), Justin MacCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, Commander of the Irish brigade in France, Cork: Cork University Press
• Ohlmeyer, Jane (2004), "Maccarthy, Donough, first earl of Clancarty (1594–1665)", in Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 35, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 107–108, ISBN 0-19-861385-7 - Macan–Macpherson
• Pope Alexander VII (15 February 1665), Bulle de N. S. P. le Pape Alexandre VII contre les cinq propositions extraites du livre de Jansenius (in French)
• Sainte-Beuve, Charles-Augustin (1878), Port-Royal (in French), 2 (4th ed.), Paris: Hachette
• Seaward, Paul (2004), "Charles II", in Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 11, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 122–145, ISBN 0-19-861361-X (for Charles II)
• Seccombe, Thomas (1893), "MACCARTHY or MACCARTY, DONOUGH", in Lee, Sidney (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, 34, London: Smith Elder & Co, pp. 436–438
• Smyth, Constantine (1839), Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland, London: Henry Butterworth (for Table of reigns)
• Wauchope, Piers (2004), "Maccarthy, Justin, first Viscount Mountcashel (1643–1694)", in Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 35, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 111–112, ISBN 0-19-861385-7
• Webb, Alfred (1878), "MacCarty, Donough, Viscount Muskerry, Earl of Clancarty", Compendium of Irish Biography, Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, p. 303, right column, line 35

External links

• Genealogy of Lady Helen MacCarty on The Peerage website