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Date(s)
- 1531-1737 (dates covered by contents) (Creation)
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218 pp.
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Biographical history
The Earls of Limerick are descended on their maternal side from Edmond Sexten (1486-1555), who held the office of Mayor of Limerick in 1535 and was the first mayor of native Irish extraction. Originally closely associated with the Earl of Kildare, Sexten changed allegiances and ingratiated himself to King Henry VIII. He was given custody of Derriknockane Castle and remained active on the Crown’s behalf, carrying out much of this work at his own expense and at times pleading financial hardship to the Crown. By way of compensation, Sexten was granted the dissolved priory of St. Mary’s in 1537. St Francis’s Abbey came into his possession in the same year. Bartholomew Striche, who succeeded Sexten as Mayor, made an attempt to overturn the grant of St Mary’s by alleging that the expenses which Sexten claimed had not been paid out of his own purse but at the expense of the city of Limerick, and that by implication the grant should therefore have fallen to the corporation. In 1538, Sexten was committed to Dublin Castle for high treason on grounds dating back to his time as Mayor but was later released and continued to enjoy the favour of the Crown. His grandson and namesake Edmond Sexten (1595-1636) was four times Mayor and five times High Sheriff of Limerick city. He, too, was engaged in a series of disputes with Limerick Corporation, primarily concerning the immunity of the lands of the two dissolved abbeys mentioned above, and whether Sexten alone, or the parish generally, was responsible for the upkeep of the church of St John the Baptist, Limerick, whose tithes were appropriate to St Mary’s. His only sister Susan Sexten married Edmond Pery of Limerick (1599-1655) and succeeded as sole heiress to the Sexten property. Her son, Colonel Edmond Pery married Dymphna Stackpole, a wealthy heiress, and when Colonel Perry died in 1721, his son the Reverend Stackpole Pery succeeded to the Sexten, Pery, and Stackpole fortunes. His second son, the Reverend William Cecil Pery (1721-1794) became Bishop of Limerick in 1784, and six years later was created Baron Glentworth. The peerage title was derived from his maternal great-grandfather Sir Drury Wray of Glentworth, Lincolnshire. Three of William Pery’s sisters married in to Limerick families of note: Dymphna to William Monsell of Tervoe, County Limerick; Lucy to Sir Henry Hartstonge of Bruff, County Limerick, Baronet and MP for that county; and Jane to Launcelot Hill of Limerick city. William Pery’s only surviving son, Edmund Henry Pery (1758-1844) was created Viscount Limerick in December 1800 and the Earl of Limerick in February 1803. He fell out with his eldest son and heir apparent because of the latter’s recklessness with money. In order to protect the family’s future, the 1st Earl made a will in which he vested the estate in a trust and made his heirs tenants for life. He was succeeded in the title by his grandson, William Henry Tennison, who did not mix much in society and who died from a sudden attack of bronchitis at the relatively early age of 56. He was twice married, and was succeeded by his son William Hale John Charles Pery from his first marriage to Susanna Sheaffe. In 1868, the 3rd Earl commissioned Edward William Godwin to design Dromore Castle in the Gothic Revival style near Pallaskenry, County Limerick as a country retreat. The building was completed in 1874. In the event, it was rarely used as a residence and eventually sold in 1939. Like his father, the 3rd Earl was twice married. With his first wife, Caroline Maria Gray, he had one son, William Henry Edmund de Vere Sheaffe, who succeeded him as the 4th Earl. He married May Imelda Josephine Irwin but the marriage ended in a separation in 1897. The couple’s only son Gerard, Viscount Glentworth was an RAF pilot and was killed in action near the end of the First World War in May 1918. The title then passed to the 4th Earl’s half-brother, Colonel Edmond Pery from his father’s second marriage to Isabella Colquhoun. His eldest son Patrick succeeded to the title as the 6th Earl in 1967. The current holder of the title is his son, Edmund Christopher, 7th Earl of Limerick. For a more detailed pedigree of the Earls of Limerick and associated families, please refer to P51/9/5-7.
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Paginated manuscript, with an index, bound in tooled leather covers and embossed on the front cover Abstracts & Copys of Records, Relative to the Sexton, Casey, & Stackpole Familys. The manuscript comprises abstracts and copies of seventeen documents relating to the Sexten family; eight relating to the Casey family; and two to the Stackpole family. The documents relating to the Sexten family include a memorandum of a decree in favour of George Sexten in a dispute against James Roche concerning a title and possession of a store house (17 October 1531); grant to Edmond Sexten to be Chief Sewer of County Dublin (2 September 1532; in Latin); warrant to pass a grant of the monastery of St Mary’s House in Limerick to Edmund Sexten (24 September 1537); grant to Edmond Sexten of the fee farm of Limerick, with a release of all arrears then owing (1 August 1542; in Latin); free pardon to Edmond Sexten of all offences committed by him (14 December 1545); certificate by the Sheriff of County Limerick of Edmond Sexten having entered into security for his good behaviour (14 December 1545); grant of the office of Gauger and Searcher of Limerick to Humfry Sexten (10 June 1548); a protection to Humfry Sexten (23 April 1555; in Latin); grant to William Sidney of the custody and wardship of Stephen Sexten, brother and heir of Nicholas Sexten deceased (13 September 1558); grant to Edmond Sexten (son of Stephen Sexten) of the livery of his estate and lands (1 June 1559; in Latin); letter of King James I of England on behalf of Edmund Sexten’s favour (7 February 1608/9); grant to Edmond Sexten, his heirs and assigns for ever of several lands in the County and City of Limerick (10 July 1609/10; in Latin); abstract of an inquest held by Edmond Sexten in 1614 which proves that he was that year High Sheriff of County Limerick; abstract of letters patent showing that the wardship of John Gold, son and heir of Thomas Gold, deceased, was granted to Edmond Sexten (4 February 1623/4); inquisition taken at St Francis’s Abbey in County Limerick following the death of Edmond Sexten (22 January 1638; in Latin); inquisition (for which see P51/1/1/6) taken at the Tholsel of Limerick City in 1639 after the deaths of Edmond Sexten and his son Nicholas (9 October 1639; in Latin and English); and an inquisition taken at St Francis’s Abbey in County Limerick in 1639 after the deaths of Edmond Sexten and his son Nicholas (9 October 1639; in Latin and English). The documents relating to the Casey family include abstracts of letters patent creating William Casey Bishop of Limerick (23 October 1551); letters patent granting the wardship of Thomas Thornton, son and heir of Sir George Thornton Provost Marshal of Munster to James Casey and his assigns (5 June 1605); letters patent granting a pardon of alienation and mesne rates of lands in County Cork to James Casey and Ulick Roche (8 March 1629); letters patent granting special livery to Thomas Casey (18 November 1633); inquisition taken at Kilmallock after the death of Thomas Casey of Rathcannon, incorporating a family settlement made by Thomas Casey, his will, and a variety of other matters (12 March 1637; partly in Latin); inquisition taken at Newcastle, County Limerick after the death of Thomas Casey (10 July 1638; in Latin); bill filed in chancery by the Rev Stacpole Pery and other against Lord Vere Bertie and others relative to the Casey estate and family (25 January 1735); and Lord Bertie’s answer to the same bill (15 February 1737). The documents relating to the Stackpole family include a grant to Bartholomew Stacpole of Stacpole Court and several other lands in County Clare with liberty of keeping annual fairs (17 July 1676); and a deed of feoffment by way of family settlement made by Bartholomew Stacpole (3 November 1685).
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- Béarla
- Laidin