ROLL OF BISHOPS AND MEMBERS OF THE CHAPTER OF ST. SAVIOUR'S, CONNOR, FROM 1609.

BISHOPS.

DEANS.

ARCHDEACONS.

ÝTop
CHANCELLORS.

PRECENTORS.

ÝTop
TREASURERS.

PREBENDARIES OF KILROOT.

PREBENDARIES OF RASHARKIN.

PREBENDARIES OF CONNOR.

PREBENDARIES OF CAIRNCASTLE.

ÝTop
The following account, of the battle fought in Lisburn in 1641 is found in the Vestry Book: -

"LISNEGARVY, the 28th of Nov., 1611.

"A brief relation of the miraculous victory gained there that, day over the first formed army of the Irish, soon after their rebellion, which broke out the 23d of October, 1641.

"Sir Phelemy O'Neil, Sir Connor Maginnis, their general then in Ulster, and Major-General Plunkett (who had been a soldier in foreign kingdoms) having enlisted and drawn together out of the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, Antrim, and Down, and other counties in Ulster, eight or nine thousand men, which were formed into eight regiments, and a troop of horse, with two field-pieces; they did rendezvous on the 27th of November, at and about a house belonging to Sir John Rawdon, at Brookhill, three miles distant from Lisnegarvy, in which they knew there was garrison of five companies, newly raised, and the Lord Conway's troop of horse. And their principal design being to march into and besiege Carrickfergus, they judged it unsafe to pass by Lisnegarvy, and therefore resolved to attack it next morning, making little account of the opposition that could be given them by so small a number, not, half armed, and so slenderly provided of ammunition (which they had perfect intelligence, of by several Irish that left our party and stole away to them) for that they were so numerous and well provided of ammunition by the fifty barrels of powder they found in his Majesty's store, in the castle of Newry, which they surprised the very first night of the Rebellion; also they had got into their hands the arms of all the soldiers they had murdered in Ulster, and such other arms as they found in the castles and houses which they had plundered and burnt in the whole province. Yet it so pleased God to disappoint their confidence; and the small garrison they so much slighted, was much encouraged by the seasonable arrival of Sir George Rawdon, who being in London on the 23d of October, hastened over by the way of Scotland; and being landed at Bangor, got, to Lisnegarvy, tho' late, on the 27th Nov. where, those new-raised men, and the Lord Conway's troop, were drawn up in the market-place, expecting hourly to be assaulted by the rebels; and they stood in that posture all the night, and before sunrise, sent out some horse to discover their numerous enemy, who were at mass (it being Sunday) ; but immediately upon sight of our scouts, they quitted their devotion, and beat drums, and marched directly to Lisnegarvy; and before ten of the clock, appeared drawn up in battalia, in the warren, not above a musket-shot from the town, and sent out two divisions, of about six or seven hundred apiece, to compass the town, and plant their field-pieces on the high way to it, before their body, and with them and their long fowling-pieces killed and wounded some of our men, as they stood in their ranks in the marketplace; and some of our musketeers were placed in endeavouring to make the like returns of shot to the enemy.-And Sir Arthur Terringham (governor of Newry) who commanded the garrison, and Sir George Rawdon, and the officers foreseeing if their two divisions on both sides of the town should fall in together, that they would overpower our small number. For prevention thereof, a squadron of horse, with some musketeers, was commanded to face one of them that was marching on the north side, and to keep them at a distance as long as they could: which was so well performed, that the other, division which marched by the river on the south. side, came in before the other, time enough to be well beaten back by the horse, and more than two hundred slain of them in Bridge-street, and in their retreat as they fled back to the main body.

"After which expedition, the horse returning to the market-place found the enemy had forced in our small party on the north side, and had entered the town, and was marching down Castle-street, which our horse so charged there, that at least 300 were slain of the rebels in the street, and in the meadows behind the houses, through which they did run away to their main body; whereby they were so much discouraged, that almost in two hours after, their officers could not get any more parties to adventure upon us; but in the main space, they entertained us with continued shot from their main body, and their field pieces, till about one of the clock, that fresh parties were issued out and beaten back as before, with the loss of many of their men, which they supplied with others till night.; and in the dark they fired all the town, which was in a few hours turned into ashes; and in that confusion and heat of the fire, the enemy made a fierce assault. But it so pleased God, that we were better provided for them than they expected, by a relief that came to us at night-fall from Belfast, of the Earl of Donegall's troop, and a company of foot, commanded by Captain Boyd, who was unhappily slain presently after his first entrance into the town. And after the houses were on fire, about six of the clock, till about ten or eleven, it is not easy to give any certain account or relation of the several encounters in divers places in the town, between small parties of our horse, and those of the enemy, whom they charged as they advanced, and hewed them down, so that every corner was filled with carcases, and the slain were found to be more than thrice the number of those that fought against them, as appeared next day, when the constables and inhabitants, employed to bury them, gave up their accounts. About ten or eleven o'clock, their two generals quitted their stations, and marched away in the dark, and had not above 200 of their men with them, as we were informed next morning, by several English prisoners that escaped from them, who told us that the rest of their men had either run away before them, or were slain; and that their field-pieces were thrown into the river, or into some moss-pit, which we never could find after; and in their retreat, they fired Brookhill house, and the Lord Conway's library in it, and other goods, to, the value of five or six thousand pounds, their fear and haste not at all allowing them to carry any thing away, except some plate and some linen; and this they did in revenge to the owner, whom they heard was landed the day before, and had been active in the service against them, and was shot that day, and also had his horse shot under him, but mounted presently upon another; and Captain St. John and Captain Burley were also wounded, and about thirty men more of our party, most of whom recovered, and not above twenty-five or twenty-six were slain. And if it be well considered, how meanly our men were armed, and all our ammunition spent before night, and that if we had not been supplied with men, by the timely care and providence of the Earl of Donegall, and other commanders from his Majesty's store at Carrickfergus (who sent us powder, post, in mails, on horseback, one after another), and that most of our new-raised companies, were of poor stript men, that had made their escape from the rebels, of whom they had such a dread, that they thought them not easily to be beaten, and that all our horse (that did the most execution) were not above 120, viz., the Lord Conway's, troop, and a squadron of the Lord Grandison's troop (the rest of them having been murdered in their quarters in Tanragee), and about 40 of a country troop, and a company from Belfast that came to us at night. It must be confessed that the Lord of Hosts did signally appear for us, who can save with or without any means, and did by very small means give us the victory over his and our enemies, and enough of their arms to supply the defects of our new companies, and about 50 of their colours and drums. But it is to be remembered with regret, that this loss and overthrow did so enrage the rebels, that for several days and weeks after, they murdered many hundreds of the Protestants, whom they had kept prisoners in the counties of Armagh and Tyrone, and other parts of Ulster, and tormented them by several manners of death. And it is a circumstance very observable, that much snow had fallen in the week before this action, and on the day before it was a little thaw, and a frost thereupon it in the night, so that the streets were covered with ice, which proved greatly to our advantage; for that all the smiths had been employed that whole night to frost our horses, so that they stood firm, while the brogues slipt and fell down to our feet. For which, and our miraculous deliverance from a cruel and bloody army, how great cause have we to rejoice and praise the name of our God, and say with that kingly prophet-- 'If it had not been the Lord Himself who was on our side, when men rose up against us, they had swallowed us up quick, when they were so wrathfully displeased at us. Yea the waters of the deep had drowned us, and the stream had gone over our soul; but praised be the Lord who has not given us over a prey unto their teeth: our soul is escaped even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler : the snare is broken and we are safe. Our hope standeth in the name of the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth.' "-Amen.
ÝTop

A VAULT IN LISBURN CATHEDRAL.

Some years ago, when the old tiles were being removed from the chancel of the Cathedral, it was found that the space beneath the old chancel was hollow, and further investigation revealed that, it was a well-built burial chamber, containing two coffins apparently in good preservation. This was very interesting, and also a challenge to ascertain whose earthly remains had been there in darkness and silence for so long a, period that even the existence of the vault was unknown. I have come to the conclusion that this vault contains the bodies of Sir George Rawdon, and his son, Sir Arthur Rawdon-and for the following reasons: -Dr. Cupples, in his "Account of the town of Lisburn," writing of some remarkable persons buried in The Cathedral, says: "The Rt. Hon. Sir George Rawdon, Kt. and Bart. in the chancel beside his son, Sir Arthur Rawdon, August 23rd, 1684." The exact entry in the Register of Burials is "The Rt. Honble. Sir George Rawdon, Knight and Baronet, died the 18th August, 1684, between nine and ten in the evening, and was interred the 28th day following, honourably and decently, by his son, Sir Arthur Rawdon in the chancel at Lisburn." Now, the place beneath which the vault is situated is exactly where the former chancel was; also, no other persons are mentioned in The Register as having been buried there. Bishop Foley is entered as buried in the quire; Bishop Hacket between the chancel and the wall beneath Lord Conway's pew.; Bishop Walkington at the north side of the quire; and so on. Archdeacon Cotton says in his "Fasti" that Bishop James Traill "was buried under the chancel of Lisburn Church," but I cannot verify this statement from the Registers. I think we may fairly conclude that the coffins in the vault are those of Sir Geo. Rawdon, and his son. The plates and mountings of the coffins were quite decayed, so that the names could not be, read; but the evidence, I believe, is quite conclusive.

Sir George Rawdon was a great man in his day, and one of the English Settlers who helped to make Ulster what it is. He also had a very close connection with Lisburn, so an account of him should be found interesting:--

He was the only son and heir of Francis Rawdon, of Rawdon Hill, near Leeds. His mother was Dorothy, daughter of William Aldborough. She married in 1603, and died in 1660. He went to Court about the end of the reign of James I., and became private secretary to Lord Conway, Secretary of State. After Lord Conway's death Rawdon was attached to his son, the Second Viscount Conway, who had large estates in Down; he became his secretary or agent, and frequently visited this part of the country, residing when he, came at Lord Conway's house at Brookhill. He commanded a company of soldiers, and sat in the Irish Parliament of 1639 as member for Belfast. When the Irish Rebellion broke out on 23rd October, 1641, Rawdon was in London; but he lost no time in coming to the post of duty. He travelled at once to Scotland, and crossed to Bangor, reaching Lisburn on the 27th November. The account of his visit to Lisburn at this critical time is fully recorded in a most interesting and vivid contemporary note in the old Vestry Book of The Cathedral. From this document it seems that the Rebels, numbering about eight or nine thousand men, under Sir Phelemy O'Neill, Sir Conn Maginnis, and General Plunkett, had stopped at Brookhill on their way to the north. Their objective was Carrickfergus, which was then the chief town in Ulster. Having heard that there was a garrison of five companies in Lisnagarvey, recently raised by Lord Conway's Troop of Horse, they considered it unwise to pass on, leaving this force behind, so they resolved to attack the town next morning. The Rebels were well equipped for battle, having recently surprised Newry, and taken fifty barrels of gunpowder; also, they had plundered the whole province, and taken the ammunition and arms of murdered soldiers. Lord Conway's troops were untrained men, and very badly provided with the implements of war. But the battle is not, always to the strong, and under the brave leadership of Sir George Rawdon, the great Rebel force was utterly broken that day in Lisburn by a small number of brave men; and though the town was burnt to ashes. there was a great slaughter of the Rebels "so that every corner was filled with carcases." They retired in disorder, and in revenge burnt down Brookhill, and with it Lord Conway's valuable, library. But Sir George Rawdon had saved Ulster, and proceeded to do more constructive work. The towns of Moira and Ballynahinch were built by him. He was married in 1639 to Ursula, daughter of Sir Francis Stafford, and widow of Francis Hill, Esq., of Hillhall, by whom he had no surviving issue. After her death he married, in 1654, Dorothy, eldest daughter of Edward Viscount Conway. She died in 1676. There was an only son of this marriage (Sir Arthur Rawdon), who was buried beside his father in the vault. Sir Arthur Rawdon was M.P. for Down: he was born 17th October, 1662, and died 17th October, 1695. He was a distinguished soldier like his father, and a leader of the Loyalists of Ulster and fought against the army of James II. He was in Londonderry during the siege, but as he was dangerously ill he had to leave the town by the advice of his doctor He was succeeded by an only son (Sir John Rawdon), who was also M.P. for Down. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Richard Levinge, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons (she, after his death, married the Most Rev. Charles Gobbe, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin) ; he was succeeded by his son (Sir John Rawdon), who was raised to the peerage 9th April, 1750, as Baron Rawdon, of Moira, Co. Down, and created Earl of Moira, 3Oth January, 1762. He was married three times, 1st to Helena, daughter of the Earl of Egmont; 2ndly, Anna, daughter of Viscount Hillsboro' ; 3rdly, Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon-and, through her, the Rawdon family inherited the Marquisate of Hastings. His eldest son, Francis, was a distinguished soldier and scholar; he was Governor General of India. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society; he fought in the American war, and was present at the Battle of Bunkers' Hill. He died 28th November, 1826. His grandson, Henry, 4th Marques of Hastings, was the last male descendant of Sir. George,Rawdon; he died without issue, and thus came to an end one of the great families to whom Ulster owes so much.
 

ÝTop
A DISTINGUISHED LISBURN MAN.

Edward Smith was born in Lisburn in 1662, and baptized in the Cathedral. His father was James Smith, a gentleman who held property in Lisburn. The Smiths were an important family, and their descendants are living to-day at Ingram. James Smith was one of the same family as Sir Thomas Smith, who, with his son, received in 1572 the possessions of the O'Neills, on condition of subduing all rebels therein, and planting them with good subjects. The father of James Smith came from Rossdale Abbey, Yorkshire, and settled at Dundrum, Co. Down, in or about 1630, and part of his family settled in Lisburn. James Smith had a brother named Thomas, who was born in 1650, and became Bishop of Limerick, 1695, and was the father of Arthur Smith, who became Archbishop of Dublin, 1766. Another brother of James was Ralph Smith, whose son, William Smith, became Bishop of Kilmore in 1693; he had previously been Bishop of Raphoe since 1681.

But to return to Edward Smith: He received his early education from the Rev. Thos. Haslam, Curate to the Rev. Dr. Wilkins, who was Rector of the Cathedral, and also a schoolmaster under the Commonwealth payroll, with a salary of £30 a year. At the age of 14 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, his tutor being Patrick Christian. He had a distinguished college course: Entered 12th September, 1676; elected scholar 27th May, 1678; B.A., 9th February, 1680; Fellowship, 26th May, 1684; M.A., 15th July, 1684; D.D., 25th February, 1695; LL.B., 5th February, 1686. Trinity College was not a. happy place in those days. It was filled with soldiers by order of the Government, and not only was it a garrison, but also a prison. So, in 1688 Smith and other members of the University embarked for England, and soon he was appointed, under the Smyrna Company, as Chaplain to their factories at Constantinople. After some years at this work, he returned to England in 1693, and was made Chaplain to King William III., whom he attended in Flanders and England, and became a great favourite with that Monarch. In 1695 he was made Dean of St. Patrick's, being installed by Dives Dawns, Archdeacon of Dublin, and one would have thought he would now settle down to the quiet, happy work there ; but the wander-lust was upon him, and a few days after he was installed he produced to the Chapter a letter from the King granting him licence of absence for twelve months in order that he might attend upon the person of his Majesty. He appointed Dr. Henry Price his sub-Dean, and St. Patrick's saw little more of him, most of his time being spent beyond the seas; but he came back again, and on the 20th November, 1697, he was made vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin by the Duke of Ormond. But his promotion did not end here; on 24th February, 1698, he was, by letters patent, made Bishop of Down and Connor, and soon afterwards a member of the Privy Council. In 1696 he married his cousin Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. William Smith, Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. She was his first wife, and they had a son, Edward, and two daughters. After her death he married, in 1710, Mary, eldest daughter of Lord Massereene, and by her he had three sons, the eldest, Skeffington Randal Smith, married in 1735 Mary Moore, who had two distinguished grandfathers The Earl of Drogheda, and Sir Charles Porter, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Bishop Edward Smith died at Bath, in October, 1720, having accumulated great wealth. By his will, proved 14th January, 1721, he bequeathed to his children, estates in Dublin, Kildare, Roscommon, Wexford, and Armagh. But wealth was not the only thing he accumulated in his life-time. He was also a great scholar. He published books about Lough Neagh, and an account of Soap Earth at Smyrna, The Use of Opium Amongst the Turks, etc. He also published some sermons, chiefly preached in Dublin before the Judges and the Lord Lieutenant, and also before the old Irish House of Lords: and contributed some learned papers to the Royal Society in London, and the Dublin Philosophical Society.

AN OLD GRAVESTONE IN LISBURN CATHEDRAL.
LIEUT.-GENERAL FREDERICK HAMILTON AND SIR CHARLES PORTER.

In the year 1920 when the central aisle was being tiled, an old gravestone was found with the following inscription : -

Here lyeth the, body of Mrs. Mary Howard, mother
Of the Right Honble. Ltt. General Frederick Hamilton,
who died in The year of our Lord, 1706. Aged 91 years.

Here lyeth the body of Captain John Porter, who
Departed this life the (Buried 25th December, 1719),
Of December, 1719, Aged 77 years.

Here lyeth the body of Mary Porter, wife
Of Frederick Porter,
Who departed this life 2-(Buried Feb. 23rd), 1745. Aged -

These people must have been of some note in their day, otherwise they would not have been buried inside the sacred building.
ÝTop

LIEUT.-GENERAL FREDERICK HAMILTON.
Frederick Hamilton was one of the family of Hamilton, of Caledon and Sion Mills, who had originally been of Priestfield Midlothian. His father was Frederick Hamilton, of Somerset, Coleraine, whose first wife was Elizabeth Gorges, fifth daughter of Colonel John Gorges, Governor of Derry. Of his second wife, Mary, who is buried in the Cathedral, I can only conjecture that she was one of the Porter family, and a relative of Sir Charles Porter, who was Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and grandfather of Mary Moore, who married Randal Skeffington Smith, one of the Ingram family in Lisburn, of that name, and son of Edward Smith, Bishop of Down.

This second wife, Mary, seems to have married after Frederick Hamilton's death, a man named Howard; hence, the Mary Howard, mother of the Rt. Hon. Lieut.-Gem. Frederick Hamilton of the inscription.

It was suggested to me by the late Mr. G. D. Burchaell, Deputy Ulster King of Arms, that Frederick Porter mentioned in the inscription may have been a son of the Lord Chancellor, who married his first cousin, Mary Porter, only daughter of John, brother of the Chancellor.

This General Frederick Hamilton was M.P. for Coleraine, which was his father's town (1713-14 and 1715-27). He was a captain in the army before 1684; became Colonel of the 18th Foot, 19th December, 1692 ; Major-General, 1st January, 1704 ; Lieut.-General, 2nd November, 1711 ; Privy Councillor for Ireland, 1715. He resided at Walworth, County Derry, which he held with other lands from the Fishmongers' Company. He married Jane, elder daughter of Sir Randal Beresford,  Bart., but he had no issue by her, who died in 1716.  He died 26th March, 1732; his will, dated 25th August, 1731, being proved 8th May, 1732. He demised his leases in Londonderry to his wife's nephew, Sir Marcus Beresford, Viscount Tyrone, and his estates in Kildare and Tipperary to Frederick Carey, eldest son of Henry Carey, of Dungiven. He left £50 towards the re-building of the Church of Holy Cross, Co. Tipperary, and £350 to form an endowment for the income of the clergyman officiating there. He also left £30 for the poor of the Parish of Tamlaghtfinlagan, in which Walworth is situated. It has been conjectured that because he had estates and interests in Co. Tipperary that he was a relative of Archbishop Hamilton, of Cashel.

The following account of General Frederick Hamilton is taken from "Burke's Landed Gentry," 1837:-

"The Right Hon. Lieutenant-General Frederick Hamilton, of Milburn, in Lanarkshire, and of Walworth, in Derry, M.P. for Coleraine, from whom Sir Walter Scott is said to have drawn the character of ` Morton of Molwood,' in his tale of ` Old Mortality,' was, as above mentioned, the grand-uncle of the Right Hon. Edward Cary, and his sister, Mrs. Blacker. He accompanied William III into Ireland, as aide-de-camp, where he obtained large possessions. He wedded Jane, daughter of Sir Randal Beresford, Bart., of Coleraine, by whom he had no issue. She died in 1716, General Hamilton in 1732, and both were buried in Walworth Church, under a handsome monument. Having, by his will, bearing date 25th August, 1731, devised his leases of the manor of Walworth, and divers other lands, which he held from the Fishmongers' Company, London, to his nephew, Viscount Tyrone, he leaves his estates in the Countries of Tipperary and Kildare to Frederick Cary, second son of his niece, Anne, daughter of his brother George, and wife to Henry Cary, Esq., of Dungiven Castle, and his heirs male, remainder to her younger sons and their heirs male, they respectively to take and use the surname of Hamilton; remainder to Edward, her eldest. son, and his issue, male and female, etc. He bequeathed £50 towards re-building the ancient Abbey of Holycross, with £350 to be laid out at interest, or in purchasing lands, the annual produce thereof to be paid for ever to the clergyman who performs the service of the said church, and £30 to the poor of the parish of Taunafinlagan, County of Derry. The Cary family failing in heirs male, these estates descended to the, Blackers, and on the death of Dean Blacker were sold (November, 1831) under a decree of the Court of Chancery."

SIR CHARLES PORTER.
I think it is not unreasonable to conclude that because Mrs. Howard, mother of General Frederick Hamilton, and the Porter family are buried in the same grave in the Cathedral, that they were very closely connected. I have stated above the probability that she was a relative of Sir Charles Porter. His father was a Canon of Norwich Cathedral, and in his early days Charles Porter was an apprentice in the city of London, and a regular young scamp he must have been; as according to the account of his life by Oliver Burke, he was constantly taking part in riotous assemblies; on one occasion he was a ringleader, and no less than forty pistol shots were fired at him. He mingled in the crowds, and would have been captured and hanged but he had the presence of mind to snatch up a little child who was crying in the streets. The people, seeing the child in his arms, opened a way for him, saying: "Make room for the poor child, " and so he escaped to Yarmouth, and thence to Holland. Here he had a very chequered life, being first a soldier and then proprietor of an eating house. He returned to England, and became a clerk in the Court of Chancery ; and finally get called do the bar. His great abilities soon brought him into prominence in spite of the fact that he followed every vice, and soon was heavily in debt. Yet in 1678 he was chief counsel in a most important case, which there is not space here to relate; but it was a matter where the privilege of Parliament and the jurisdiction of the House of Lords was concerned. And so brilliantly did Porter acquit himself in this and other cases that he was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1686. They were difficult times for members of the Government in Ireland. King James II was very anxious to repeal the Act. of Settlement, and before the end of the year Porter was displaced and returned to London, where, sad to relate, he fell back into his old vicious habits and was soon in jail for debt. But when King William III. came to the throne it was represented to him that Porter had been displaced because of his refusal to assist James in repealing the Act of Settlement; and, sure enough, after the Battle of the Boyne Porter returned to Dublin once more as Lord Chancellor. But the extraordinary thing was that there were now two Lord Chancellors--Sir Charles Porter under King William III., and Sir Alexander Fitton, under James II.-and so the struggle went on just as it goes on to-day after more, than 200 years between the loyal and disloyal parties in Ireland. Then came the Treaty of Limerick, 1691. We know the sad history of this Treaty, how it was afterwards repudiated; and it must be recorded to the credit of Sir Charles Porter that nobody more firmly than he denounced any infraction of the Treaty. He had nothing to gain, and much to lose by this course of action; and, with all his faults, he, must get credit for following his conscience and insisting that a promise was a promise. It bears out what Lord Clarendon wrote of him, that "Sir Charles Porter and Roger North were the only two honest lawyers he ever met." His latter days were made sad by his unpopularity because of his attitude towards affairs in Ireland. He died of appoplexy on the 8th December, 1696, and was buried in Christ Church, Dublin.

He had an only son, Frederick Porter, who died without issue, and administration of his estate was granted to his nephews, Charles Macartney and Charles Devenish, and a creditor. He had two daughters, Letitia, married 14th August, 1700, George Macartney; and Elizabeth, married first Edward Devenish, and secondly, in 1708, The Hon. and Rev. John Moore, whose daughter Mary married Randal Skeffington Smith.

Thus this old gravestone forms a point of contact between Lisburn and two distinguished men who, each in his own way, played a part of the drama of history that was being enacted in the days when Ireland was, called upon to choose between William and James.

ÝTop