The Conway Hertford Families - Landlords of the Lisburn Area

    Origins of the Conway family. The following information was extracted from the book "The Conway Letters: edited by Marjorie Hope Nicolson, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992, which drew on the correspondence contained in the Conway Papers, mostly found in the British Library under ref - Additional m/s nos. 223214, 23215, 23216 & 23217.

    The Conways are described as a distinguished Anglo- Irish family of Welsh descent. In the reign of Elizabeth , Jenkin Conway and his brothers Hugh, Edward and William had gone to Ireland with sir William Herbert, Sir Edward Dering and Robert Blennerhassett. Jenkin Conway attained there the Seigniory of Killorglin known thereafter as Conway Castle in Kerry. From that time the Conways divided their time between England and Ireland.

    Sir John Conway (relationship with the brothers above is not explained) who was Governor of Ostend, married Ellen, daughter of Sir Fulke Greville of Beauchamp Court.

    Their eldest son Edward (there is some doubt about this name, and most references to the landlord of the Conway holdings around Lisburn call him Sir Fulke Conway. This seems likely as his grandfather was Fulke Grevillle. The relevant section of "The Conway Letters" is also a little confused at this point. JTF) became the first Viscount Conway also obtained the Irish Viscounty of Killultagh (a territory located in SW of Co. Antrim). He had been knighted for services at the sacking of Cadiz in 1587, and later served as one of the principal Secretaries of State under James I and again under Charles I, as Captain of the Isle of Wight and as ambassador to the Princes of the Union when he became acquainted with Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia. He died in 1630.

    The country seat of the Conways was at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire.

    Edward's second son, also Edward, succeeded him as the eldest son had predeceased his father. This Edward spent his active life in charge of the King's troops in various parts of England, Sometimes on land sometimes at sea, but his real interests lay away from the field of battle . He was described by his contemporaries as a man of great personal charm, of amusing conversation, an epicure who preferred the delicacies of his table to the taste of war and a loyal and affectionate friend. Among his correspondents and friends were Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of William Cecil Earl of Salsbury and Carew Raleigh son of Sir Walter.

    He was in turn succeeded by his son also Edward, who in 1679 became the first Earl of Conway. This Edward was born in 1623 and married Anne Finch (1632-) of another prominent family, on 11 Feb 1651. Through this marriage he acquired an interest in Kensington House which became his residence when in London. In the time of William III it was acquired by the Crown and became Kensington Palace. At various times, Edward was Governor of the Counties of Armagh, Tyrone, Monaghan and part of Down; Joint Commissioner of Customs; Lieutenant Governor of Horse and Secretary of State for the North.

    Anne Finch was an invalid for most of her life, dying in 1679. They had only one son who died in infancy. Conway subsequently married Elizabeth, daughter of George Booth, Lord Delamere who died in childbirth. He then married Ursula, niece of Baron Stawell in 1681, but within a year he was out of favour with the King and was removed from his office as Secretary of State and lived for only a few months, dying on 11 August 1683, without an heir and the Conway family became extinct.

    By the terms of his will, his estates passed to Popham Seymour, son of Sir Edward Seymour, Speaker of the House of Commons. Sir Edward's wife, Letitia, was a cousin of Lord Conway. The will stipulated that the heir should take the name Conway. Popham Seymour-Conway died unmarried at the age of 24 and the estates passed to his brother Francis. After two childless marriages he had an heir also Francis who became the Marquis of Hertford. Since the eighteenth century the dignities of the Earl of Conway have been merged with those of the Marquisate of Hertford.

    The family physician, who was also related to them by marriage was William Harvey the discoverer of the circulation of the blood.

Conway

    Extract from the Dictionary of National Biography - Copy in Lansdowne Library

    Sir John Conway, knight bannerer of Arrow, Warwickshre married Katherine, dau. Of Sir Ralph Verney of Liscombe, Bucks

Sir John (junior) knighted in 1559

    He was imprisoned in Dec. 1583 in Connection with the Somerville Arden case. Governor of Ostend from 29 Dec. 1586 and later imprisoned there. Returned to England in July 1590.
Married Ellen or Eleanor Granville, dau. of Sir Fulke Greville of Beauchamps Court, Warwicks.

     _____________________________________________________________
    |                            |                             |                              |                                |
    Edward             Fulke                      John                     Thomas            Elizabeth, Katherine,
                                                                                                                       Mary, Frances

    Edward was knighted at the sacking of Cadiz in 1596 where he commanded a regiment of foot. Later served in the Netherlands where he was Governor of Brill. MP for Penryn in James I's first Parliament.

    He was a principal Secretary of State for James I and Charles I. MP for Evesham 1623-24
 

        22 March 1625 created Baron Conway
        8th December 1625, Captain of Isle of Wight
        2 Car. I created Viscount Killultagh, Irish
        6th June 1627 Viscount Conway, Wales
        Died 3rd, January 1630/01
    He had three sons and four daughters, the eldest son Edward succeeded him.

Seymour

    The Conways later married into the Seymour family. Their link with the Seymours is believed to be the connection between the Fultons and the settlement on Conway land in Derriaghy. Mr. Dr. Fulton was requested by the Privy Council on 8th September 1614 to attend the Lady Arabella Stuart, prisoner in the Tower to give such spiritual and fitting comfort as he saw cause. The link is -

Henry VII of England
|
Margaret Tudor, married James IV of Scotland
|

                       _____________________________________________
                       |                                                                                         |
                James V (1512-1542)                                                        ? Stuart
                                                                                            Married Margaret Douglas
                       |                                                                                         |
         Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 -1567)                          Charles Stuart, Earl of Lennox
                       |                                                                                         |
        James VI & I(1566-1625)                                         Lady Arabella Stuart
                                                                                      Married Edward Seymour

         Elsewhere Arabella's husband is referred to as William

    The Herford Estate 1833. Extract from OS Memoir Vol 12, p. 32

    The estate includes the manors of Killultagh and Derryvolgie and contains 11 parishes, and is computed at 80,000 acres. The income from this estate is about £70,000 per annum. The owner has no residence on this estate but has a good house in Castle Street Lisburn occupied by his lordship's agent the Very Reverend Dean Stannus. The estate includes the whole of the Parish of Lisburn lying on the Antrim side of the River Lagan and part of the parish lying on the Down side.
 

Copyright Trevor Fulton
You may freely link to these pages, but you may not reproduce or distribute them elsewhere without my permission.