Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 4.djvu/395

KINGSALE. 397 XXIII, or XXIV. ,?J or ,?| Gekald (db Courcv), Baron King- . sale, &c. [I.], 1st cousin and h. mule, being s- and h. of the Hon. 1 ' LU - Miles de Courcy (by Elizabeth, yst. da., ami eventually [1698] sole h. of Anthony Sacleir, of Arley Hall, co. Warwick) which Miles was3ds. of Patrick, 19th, or 20th Lord, and was outlawed after the siege of Kii.gsale, tho' restored by the articles of Limerick. He wa3 b. 170'). On 2 Oct. 1721 he petitioned ( K ) the House of Lords [I.] to make such order for placing him in Pari., in the seat of his ancestors, as to their lordships should seem just," whereupon the House unanimously resolved (i Oct 1721) " that Gerald, Loro Baron ok KincisaLE and Baron Courcv and Hingrone is entitled to his seat," and he took his seat accordingly on the day followiug.( b ) In Jan. 1713 he was made P.O. and in 1748 obtained a pension of t'300 a year. He HI., 13 Msy 1725. at the Mercers chapel, Cheapside, London, Margaretta, only da. and h. of John Essingtox, of Ashlyns, Herts, by Margaretta, da. of John and sister and h. of Thomas Godfkey, all being Citizens and Mercers of Loudon. Mar. lie. at Bp. of London's office, she being 23, spinster. She d. at Uld Head, Kingsale, Oct. 1750, and was bur. at Templetryne, co. Cork. He d. s.p.m.s., also at Old Head, 1 Dec. 1759.( c ) Will pr. in Ireland. documentary evidence of the wording of King John's grant (i.e. , as to the words " and his [the grantee's] heirs," or even of the existence of the grant itself, whether here- ditary or otherwise ? (2) Is there any evidence whatever that the first Lord Kingsale wn» " the heir " of John of Ulster, the alleged grantee ! (3) Was not " Johannes de Courei, Junior " (who was father of Milo, first Lord Kingsale), a bastard son of the said John of Ulster, who is stated by Giraldus Cambi-eusis to have died without lawful issue? (1) Supposing, however, "young John " not to have been such son, what juoof is there of his parentage being such as would entitle him and his issue to be the heirs of the said John of Ulster ? (5) Can any instance be produced of any Lord Kingsale claiming this right prior to the last decade of the seventeenth century ! — a somewhat modem date for the commencement of the exeicise of so medheval a privilege. It may be observed that the pedigree of the family leads one to suppose that since 1599 no Lord Kingsale WffJ the heir (i.e., heir general, though doubtless each successive Lord was heir matt) of the first Lord Kingsale, a fortiori therefore, none since that date were heirs of John de Courcy, the Conqueror of Ulster. As to the heroic achievement of this John of Ulster (which consisted iu appearing as champion at a tournament where no one opposed him and where accordingly he cleft an empty helmet asunder) for which the •' hat-right " is said to have been granted, Mr. l'lanche remarks (" The Conqueror anti his Uompaniotu" vol. ii, p. 88), that " There is about as much truth in this story " as there was iu the one told formerly by the Warders iu the Tower of London who were wont to shew a re- markably large suit of plate armour of the time of Henry V III, as being that of the very redoubtable John de Courei afsd." Mr. Planche adds that " no one knows ichen a privilege, as worthless as it is unmannerly, was continued or by whom or on what authority it was first claimed and exercised;" while, in the critical account of John ile Courei in the " Nat. Biogr. " (by Mi-. J. Horace Hound) we find that " the well known tale " of De Couroy's "great exploit (as given in Fuller's Wort/lies) first appears iu the Bool; o) llowlh and in the Laud MS. (lath cent.) of the Annals of Ireland aud is certainly a sheer fiction. It is pretended that the privilege of remain- ing covered before the Sovereign was conferred upon John [de Courcy] aud his heirs but this is an ercn later addition to the legend, and one of the earliest allusions to the offensive hat is found iu a letter in 1702." (") Iu this petition he states " that one Mrs. Miles, who pretended to be widow to the late Lord Kingsale, had entered a caveat with the lit Hon. the Lord Chancellor to prevent the petitioners having his writ of summons to Purl., under preteuce that the petitioner's father, Col. Miles de Courcy, was outlawed in the revolution of 1688." (") lie was the second of the four poers of his race who performed " The Hat Trick" before the King, which feat he twice accomplished, viz. in 1720 and 1727. See p. 396 note " b." ' (*) Of his three surv. daughters and coheirs (1) Mary, b. 1 April 1726, m. 28 March 1751, John 0' Grady, of Killudlyowen, co. Limerick, and had issue (2) Elizabeth Qeraldina l>. 12 Nov. 1729, m. 1751 Daniel Mc Carty, of Carrignavar, co. Cork, who d Sep 1763, leaving issue (3) Eleanor Elizabeth Anne, b. 8 Dec. 1732, d. uum.