William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde

William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde (died 1687), Irish peer, was the son of Sir William Burke, younger son of Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde, and Joan O'Shaughnessy.

William Burke
Earl of Clanricarde
Reign	1666–1687
Predecessor	Richard, 6th Earl of Clanricarde
Successor	Richard, 8th Earl of Clanricarde
Died	1687
Spouse(s)	Lettice Shirley Helen MacCarty
Detail Issue Richard, & others
Father	William Burke
Mother	Joan O'Shaugnessy

Burke had served with his brother Richard, the 6th Earl under their cousin, Ulick Burke, 5th Earl of Clanricarde, during the Irish Confederate Wars and they each succeeded to his title. He became Lord Lieutenant of County Galway in 1680 and its Chief Governor in 1687.

Birth and origins

William was a younger son of Sir William Burke and his wife Joan. His father was the third son of Ulick Burke, the 3rd Earl of Clanricarde.[1] William's mother was a daughter of Dermot O'Shaugnessy of Gort.[2]

Family tree

William Burke with his two wives, his parents, and selected relatives. Ulick 3rd Earl d. 1601 Honora Burke b. c. 1535 Richard 4th Earl 1572–1635 William Burke d. 1626 Joan O'Shaugh- nessy Ulick 1st Marquess 1604–1657 Richard 6th Earl d. 1666 Lettice Shirley c. 1617 – 1655 William 7th Earl d. 1687 Helen MacCarty d. 1722 Richard 8th Earl d. aft. 1708 John 9th Earl 1642–1722 Mary Talbot d. 1711 Ulick 1st Viscount Galway 1670–1691 Michael 10th Earl 1686–1726 Anne Smith d. 1733 Legend XXX William Burke XXX Earls & Marquesses of Clanricarde William's two wives: 1st left, 2nd right. Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

William Burke had two sons:[3]

|He appears below as the younger of two brothers:

1. Richard (died 1666), became the 6th Earl of Clanricarde; and
2. William (died 1687).

It is likely that he also had sisters but nothing seems to be known about them.

First marriage

His first wife was Lettice Shirley, daughter of Sir Henry Shirley, 2nd Baronet, by Lady Dorothy Devereux and granddaughter of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. She was born about 1617 and died on 25 Sep 1655.[4] By her he had three sons including his heir, Richard.

Children with Lettice Shirley:

1. Richard (died after 1708), became the 8th Earl of Clanricarde;[5]
2. John (1642–1722), became the 9th Earl of Clanricarde.[6]
3. Thomas (died 1688), killed at the Siege of Buda, Hungary;[7][lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2][8]

Earl of Clanricarde

During William's childhood his uncle Richard had been Earl of Clanricarde, the 4th of his name. That uncle died on 12 November 1635[9] and was succeeded by his cousin Ulick as the 5th Earl and 1st Marquess. Ulick was a royalist during the Irish Confederate Wars and the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland. He died in July 1657 and was succeeded by William's brother as the 6th Earl of Clanricarde.[10] In July 1657 his brother Richard succeeded his cousin Ulick as the 6th Earl of Clanricarde. In 1666 his elder brother died[11] and William eventually succeeded as the 7th Earl of Clanricarde.

Second marriage

His second marriage was to Helen MacCarty, daughter of Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty.[12][13]

Among his children with Helen were:[lower-alpha 1]

1. Ulick (1670–1691), was created Viscount of Galway and fell at the Battle of Aughrim fighting for the Jacobites;[14][lower-alpha 1]
2. Margaret (1673–1744), first married Bryan Magennis, 5th Viscount of Iveagh, and then Thomas Butler of Garryricken;[15][lower-alpha 1]
3. William, died childless in France;[16][lower-alpha 1]
4. Honora (c. 1675 – 1698), married 1st Patrick Sarsfield and 2nd the Duke of Berwick.[17]

Death, succession, and timeline

Lord Clanricarde died in October 1687[18] and was succeeded by his eldest son Richard as the 8th Earl of Clanricarde. His daughter Honora inherited a fortune of £3,500 from her father.[19]

Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages.
Age	Date	Event
0	1615, estimate	Born.[lower-alpha 3]
10	1625, 27 Mar	Accession of King Charles I, replacing King James I.[20]
20	1635, 12 Nov	His cousin Ulick succeeds as the 5th Earl of Clanricarde.[9]
34	1649, 30 Jan	King Charles I beheaded.[21]
40	1655, Sep	His 1st wife dies.[4]
42	1657, Jul	His brother Richard succeeded his cousin Ulick as the 6th Earl of Clanricarde.[10]
45	1660, 29 May	Restoration of King Charles II.[22]
51	1666, Aug	Succeeded his brother as the 7th Earl of Clanricarde.[11]
55	1669, estimate	Married 2ndly Helen MacCarty.[12]
55	1670	Son Ulick born.[13][14]
58	1673	Daughter Margaret born.[15]
59	1674	Daughter Honora born, his last child.[17]
70	1685, 6 Feb	Accession of King James II, replacing King Charles II.[23]
72	1687	Died.[18]

Notes and references

1. Lodge by error ignores Clanricarde's second marriage to Helen and lists all the children as born by Lettice Shirley, his first wife.
2. There probably is some error here as the siege of Buda was in 1686.
3. His 1st wife was born about 1617; assuming she was 18 at that time, her marriage would be in 1635; assuming he was 20, gives 1615 as year of his birth.

1. Cokayne 1913, p. 232, line 18: "... which William was 3rd s. of Ulick, the 3rd earl."
2. Cokayne 1913, p. 232, line 17: "... by Joan, da. of Dermot O'SHAUGNESSY of Gort ..."
3. Lodge 1789, p. 137: "... he had two sons, viz. Richard, the sixth Earl of Clanricarde; and colonel William who succeeded his brother."
4. Cokayne 1913, p. 232, line 29: "She, who was b. about 1617, was bur. as 'he wife of Col. Burke', 25 Sep. 1655, at Bredon, co. Leicester."
5. 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."
6. Cokayne 1913, p. 234: "9. JOHN (BOURKE), EARL OF CLANRICARDE & [I.], br. and h. male by full blood. He was born 1642 ..."
7. Lodge 1789, p. 138, line 11: "Thomas, who was killed in 1688 at the siege of Buda, in Hungary, then possessed by the Turks ..."
8. Burke 1869, p. 228, left column, line 6: "Thomas, killed at Buda."
9. Cokayne 1913, p. 231, line 13: "He [the 4th Earl] d. 12 Nov. 1635 and was bur. there [Tunbridge] aged about 63."
10. Cokayne 1913, p. 232, line 7: "He [the 5th Earl] d. s.p.m. at Somerhill, Kent, July 1657 and was bur. at Tunbridge."
11. Cokayne 1913, p. 232, line 23: "He [the 6th Earl] d. s.p.m. Aug. 1666."
12. 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 ..."
13. Burke 1832, p. 249: "His Lordship [Clanricarde] m. secondly, Ellen, daughter of Donough, Earl of Clancarty and had ULICK ... "
14. Lodge 1789, 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."
15. Lodge 1789, 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."
16. Lodge 1789, p. 138, line 26: "William died in his minority in France."
17. Burke 2005, p. 21: "Honora de Burgh was born C 1675 at Portumna Castle, Co. Galway."
18. Cokayne 1913, p. 233, line 5: "He d. Oct. 1687."
19. Hardy 1913, p. 14: "... the late Earl of Clanricarde bequeathed to his daughter, Lady Honor Burke, who since married Colonel Sarsfield, the sum of 3,500l by his last will and testament, which is forfeited to the King by her marriage with the said Patrick Sarsfield ..."
20. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 18: "Charles I. . [Accession] 27 March, 1625"
21. Burke 1949, p. cclxvii, line 9: "… after the decapitation of CHARLES I at Whitehall, 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
22. Seaward 2004, p. 127, right column: "… he sailed to England and on 29 May [1660] he entered London in triumph."
23. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 20: "James II. . [Accession] 6 February, 1685"

• 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 (1869), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (31st ed.), London: Harrison
• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd. (for Charles I)
• 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)
• Hardy, William John (1913), Calendar of the State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of William III. 1 January—31 December 1696, London: His Majesty's Stationery Office (for Honora's inheritance)
• Lodge, John (1789), The Peerage of Ireland, 1, Dublin: James Moore – Blood royal, dukes, earls (for Clanricarde)
• 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)
• Smyth, Constantine (1839), Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland, London: Henry Butterworth (for Table of reigns)

Further reading

• Portumna Castle and its Lords, Michael Mac Mahon, 1983.
• Burke, Bourke & De Burgh: People and Places, Eamon Bourke, Dublin, 1995. (Google Books, no preview)
• From Warlords to Landlords: Political and Social Change in Galway 1540-1640, Bernadette Cunningham, in "Galway: History and Society", 1996.

External links

• Genealogy of William Bourke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde on The Peerage website

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Richard Burke, 6th Earl of Clanricarde	Earl of Clanricarde 1666–1687	Succeeded by Richard Burke