NINETEENTH GENERATION

280. Sir Faithful FORTESCUE ⁽³³⁶⁾ was born in 1585. He was christened on 22 Aug 1585. He died in 1666. He was buried in 1666 in Carisbrooke Church, Isle of Wight. Sir Faithful went over to Ireland early in the reign of James 1st. Commanded a regiment of foot under his uncle, the Lord Deputy SIR ARTHUR CHICHESTER.

Faithful, the third son of John Fortescue of Buckland-Filleigh, was born no later than 1581 since in 1606 he was made Constable of Carrickfergus Castle, and he was unlikely to have been less than 25 years old at that time. He left school at a young age and had his education from Sir Arthur, 1st Lord Chichester, whom he probably accompanied to Ireland (in about 1588 or 9). The post of Constable was richly rewarded. His father left only £50 to Faithful, most - about £3000 - going to his eldest son Roger.

Faithful was knighted by King James in 1617. He acquired the territory of Clinaghartie, situated in the lower Claudeboye in County Antrim; there was a "Manor of Fortescue" there in 1860 although the lands and manor were sold in 1624. Faithful also had lands at Gortfadda, Co. Antrim. A seal was found nearby which is engraved "S. Riehort Fortescu"; it indicates that there was a marriage between English and Norman Fortescues. The seal is French and of the 14th or 15th Century. Faithful also acquired lands at Down, near Scarva, which remained in the hands of his direct descendants until 1827.

In 1634 a Parliament was called in Dublin, to which Sir Faithful was elected, first for the borough of Dungannon, and then for Co. Armagh. His eldest son Chichester, of Donoughmore, Co. Down, succeeded him as the member for Charlemont.

On 24th October 1641 the rebellion broke out in the north of Ireland and the rebels marched south. They were in the neighbourhood of Drogheda, where Sir Faithful was governor. He resigned his commission. His son Colonel Chichester Fortescue died in the siege, and his second son John also died whilst Sir Faithful sought help.

He raised a troop of horse for the Irish expedition in 1642, and a company of foot soldiers. But when the Civil War broke out in 1642 they were compelled to join the Earl of Essex in opposition to the King. They changed sides in battle and Sir Faithful fought on the King's side as a Lieutenant-Colonel. He lost three sons in the wars in Ireland and the Civil War - Chichester, John and another, leaving Thomas as the eldest remaining son. The King directed that Chichester's places and charges "be passed to Captain Thomas Fortescue" (brother).

Sir Faithful went back to Ireland in 1646 when the King lost the Civil War. He opted to join the Parliamentarians rather than the Catholics in Ireland. He went to the Isle of Man for safety, but then went to Wales and was arrested and imprisoned for his "desertion" in the Civil War (above), first in Caernarvon Castle (9 months), and then in Denbigh Castle.

Sir Faithful was next recorded as following King Charles II to Scotland, and was with him at Stirling in 1651 and fought in the battle at Worcester on 3rd September 1651. He fled with Charles to the Continent until the Restoration in 1660. He lost his estates in North Ireland to the rebels. Charles II restored him to Carrickfergus, which then went to his son Thomas, who was Governor there.

Sir Faithful stayed with the King until the plague in 1665, when he went to the Isle of Wight, where he died at the manor of Bowcombe at the age of 85. He was buried at Carisbrook on 29th May 1666.

Sir Thomas Fortescue, Lord Clermont (the author of the book), placed a brass tablet on the wall at the East end of the church there.

Below is the summary of the Fortescue Papers held in the Northern Ireland PRO.

The lands of Dromiskin were the property of the See of Armagh. In 1622 Sir Faithful Fortescue of Carrickfergus (a nephew of Sir Arthur Chichester) bought the lease of the lands from Sir Moyses Hill. Upon Sir Faithful's death, Dromiskin passed to his eldest son, Sir Thomas Fortescue who consolidated the family's Co. Louth estate by purchasing several freeholds within the area, including Baltray and lands along the River Glyde.


The Papers By his will of 1684, Sir Thomas Fortescue settled the lease of Dromiskin on his eldest son, Chichester, and the freeholds on the younger son, William. Chichester, however, died during the Siege of Derry leaving an infant son, Thomas, as his sole heir. Perhaps because of this, William, who had been living at Dromiskin, attempted to stake a claim to the lease himself, thus hoping to gain all of the family's Co. Louth estate. A legal wrangle then ensued between William and the guardians of young Thomas, a matter further complicated by the fact that old Sir Thomas (who lived until 1710) sided with each party at various stages of the proceedings. The intricacies of this tussle, which witnessed claims and counter-claims, various recriminations and gradually descended into a general slanging match, are documented in detail [D/4074/1/1/1-10]. Though the case was finally settled c.1715 (with the lease of Dromiskin coming into possession of Thomas), the family as a whole had by this stage become involved in another legal dispute with the Archbishop of Armagh, who accused Sir Thomas and William Fortescue of surreptitiously annexing church estates during the upheaval of the 1690s. Document D/4074/1/7, in which the Archbishop sets his lengthy grievances before the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Sir Constantine Phipps, paints a vivid picture of local disorder within a kingdom in crisis.

The descendants of Thomas Fortescue continued to hold Dromiskin during the eighteenth century, whilst those of his uncle, William, held and/or acquired various estates in Louth and elsewhere. Sections D/4074/2-7 chart the rise in prosperity, of William's family, from his death in 1733, through 1777, the year when his grandson, William Henry Fortescue was created Earl of Clermont, to the year 1833, when the large Clermont estates (at Reynoldstown and Ravensdale, Co. Louth and Grangegeeth, Co. Meath) reverted to Thomas Fortescue of Dromiskin. Detailed maps (many coloured) are also included, along with a series of rentals.

Sections D/4074/8-10 of the archive contain deeds, leases, maps, rentals, etc, relating to other lands were acquired from or by the Fortescues, including five townlands near Banbridge sold by Chichester Fortescue of Dromiskin to the 3rd Marquis of Downshire in 1826. Of particular interest, however, are papers concerning the Levinge family of Knockdrin Castle, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, whose lands at Stickillin, Co. Louth, were sold to Thomas Fortescue in 1835. The story of Stickillin represents an interesting example of the machinations of Williamite favourites (in this instance Henry Sidney, Earl of Romney, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1692-1695) in relation to the post 1691 forfeitures. The land itself was originally part of the estate of Richard Talbot, 1st Duke of Tyrconnel, James II's Lord Lieutenant. After the confiscation of Tyrconnel's land by William III, Stickillin was granted to Henry Sidney, who in turn sold it to Charles Campbell of Dublin. In the wake of the English Act of Resumption of 1700, which sought to undermine the Williamite policy of rewarding favourites with large tracts of Irish land, Stickillin was sold by the Trustees of the Forfeited Estates to Sir Richard Levinge. For those researching the land settlement in the wake of the Jacobite defeat in Ireland, Stickillin makes a worthy case study.

Phillip Smyth

He was married to Anne MOORE (daughter of Garret MOORE Viscount Drogheda) in , Ireland. Anne MOORE ⁽³³⁷⁾ died on 5 Sep 1634. She was buried in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. Daughter of Viscount Moore Sir Faithful FORTESCUE and Anne MOORE had the following children:

+356 i. Chichester FORTESCUE M.P..
357 ii. Capt John FORTESCUE⁽³³⁸⁾ died in 1642. Captain in Army. Killed in action by rebels 1642
+358 iii. Sir Thomas FORTESCUE of Dromiskin.
359 iv. Roger FORTESCUE⁽³³⁹⁾. Unmarried
360 v. Garret FORTESCUE⁽³⁴⁰⁾. Unmarried
+361 vi. William FORTESCUE.
+362 vii. Lettice FORTESCUE.
363 viii. Mary FORTESCUE⁽³⁴¹⁾. Died unmarried
364 ix. Alice FORTESCUE⁽³⁴²⁾. Unmarried

He was married to Eleanor WHITECHURCH (daughter of Sir Marmaduke WHITECHURCH) about 1637. Could be up to 3 years earlier