William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde

William Burke
Earl of Clanricarde
Arms of de Burgh/Burke of Clanricarde
Tenure	1666–1687
Predecessor	Richard, 6th Earl of Clanricarde
Successor	Richard, 8th Earl of Clanricarde
Died	October 1687
Spouse(s)	1. Lettice Shirley 2. Helen MacCarty
Issue Detail	Richard, John, & others
Father	William Burke
Mother	Joan O'Shaugnessy

William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde, PC (Ire) (English: /klænˈrɪkɑːrd/ klan-RIK-ard; died October 1687), was an Irish peer who fought in his youth together with his brother Richard, 6th Earl of Clanricarde under their cousin, Ulick Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde against the Parliamentarians in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. He succeeded his brother as the 7th Earl in 1666.

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, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde. William's mother was a daughter of Dermot O'Shaugnessy of Gort.

William was the younger of two brothers:

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

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

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 Donough 1st Earl Clancarty 1594–1665 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 Subject of the article XXX Earls & Marquesses of Clanricarde XXX Earls of Clancarty

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 September 1655. They had three sons:

1. Richard (died after 1708), became the 8th Earl of Clanricarde;
2. John (1642–1722), became the 9th Earl of Clanricarde.
3. Thomas (died 1688), killed at the Siege of Buda, Hungary;

Early life and Irish wars

During William's childhood his uncle Richard was Earl of Clanricarde, the 4th of his name. That uncle died on 12 November 1635 and was succeeded by his cousin Ulick as the 5th Earl and 1st Marquess. Ulick was neutral during the Irish Confederate Wars and fought the Parliamentarians during the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland. He lost the Battle of Meelick Island in 1650 and surrendered to the Parliamentarians on 28 June 1652. He died in July 1657 and was succeeded by William's brother Richard as the 6th Earl of Clanricarde.

Second marriage

Burke married secondly to Helen, widow of Sir John FitzGerald of Dromana and daughter of Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty. The date of this marriage is constrained by the death of her first husband in 1662 or 1664 and the birth of their eldest son in about 1670.

William and Helen had four children:

1. Ulick (1670–1691), was created Viscount of Galway and fell at the Battle of Aughrim fighting for the Jacobites;
2. Margaret (1673–1744), first married Bryan Magennis, 5th Viscount of Iveagh, and then Thomas Butler of Garryricken;
3. William, died childless in France;
4. Honora (c. 1675 – 1698), married 1st Patrick Sarsfield and 2nd the Duke of Berwick.
5. Thomas (d.1666)

7th Earl

In 1666 his elder brother Richard, the 6th Earl of Clanricarde, died and William eventually succeeded as the 7th Earl of Clanricarde. The date falls into the bracket of the not precisely known date of his second marriage.

Late life, death, succession, and timeline

Clanricarde, as he now was, became Lord Lieutenant of Galway in 1680 and its Chief Governor in 1687. In 1681 he become a member of the Irish Privy Council.

Clanricarde died in October 1687 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.

Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages.
Age	Date	Event
0	1615, estimate	Born.
9–10	1625, 27 Mar	Accession of King Charles I, succeeding King James I
19–20	1635, 12 Nov	Cousin Ulick succeeds as the 5th Earl of Clanricarde.
33–34	1649, 30 Jan	King Charles I beheaded.
36–37	1652, 28 Jun	Cousin Ulick, Marquess of Clanricarde, surrendered to the Parliamentarians.
39–40	1655, Sep	His 1st wife dies.
41–42	1657, Jul	Brother Richard succeeded his cousin Ulick as the 6th Earl.
44–45	1660, 29 May	Restoration of King Charles II
50–51	1666, Aug	Succeeded his brother as the 7th Earl of Clanricarde.
54–55	1669, estimate	Married 2ndly Helen MacCarty.
54–55	1670, about	Son Ulick born.
57–58	1673	Daughter Margaret born.
58–59	1674	Daughter Honora born, his last child.
69–70	1685, 6 Feb	Accession of King James II, succeeding King Charles II
71–72	1687	Died

See also

• House of Burgh, an Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman dynasty founded in 1193

Notes and references

Sources

• Burke, Bernard (1869). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (31st ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 1045624502.
• Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth Peter (1915). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (77th ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 1155471554. (for Clanricarde)
• Burke, Jim (2005). A History of De Burgo, De Burgh, De Burca, Burke, Bourke. Ireland: Séamus de Búrka. OCLC 619552006. – Jim Burke!
• Burke, John; Burke, Bernard (1844). Encyclopaedia of Heraldry, or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Comprising a Registry of all Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time (3rd ed.). London: Henry G. Bohn. – (Preview)
• Coffey, Diarmid (1914). O'Neill and Ormond – A Chapter of Irish History. Dublin: Maunsel & Company. OCLC 906164979.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1892). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. IV (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180828941. – G to K (for Viscount Galway)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1913). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. III (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. OCLC 228661424. – Canonteign to Cutts (for Clancarty and Clanricarde)
• Fryde, Edmund Boleslaw; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-86193-106-8. – (for timeline)
• Hardy, William John (1913). Calendar of the State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of William III. 1 January—31 December, 1696. London: His/Her Majesty's Stationery Office. OCLC 878147296. – 1696 (for Honora's inheritance)
• Lodge, John (1789). Archdall, Mervyn (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Vol. I. Dublin: James Moore. OCLC 264906028. – Blood royal, dukes, earls (for Clanricarde)

Further reading

• Mac Mahon, Michael (2000) [1st pub. 1983]. Portumna Castle and its Lords (Revised ed.). Portumna, County Galway: Shannon Books. ISBN 0-9538667-0-X.
• Bourke, Eamonn (1995). Burke: People and Places. Whitegate and Castlebar: Ballinakilla Press and de Búrca Rare Books. ISBN 0-946130-10-8.
• Cunningham, Bernardette (1996), "From Warlords to Landlords: Political and Social Change in Galway, 1540–1640", in Moran, Gerard; Gillespie, Raymond (eds.), Galway History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, The Irish County History & Society Series, Dublin: Geography Publications, pp. 97–130