Lettice (Brownlow) Beversham (abt. 1612 - 1699)

Born about 1612 in County Armagh, Ireland

Ancestors

Wife of Patrick Chamberlain — married about 1639 in Ulster, Ireland

Descendants

Died Jan 1699 at about age 87 in Lurgan, County Armagh, Ireland

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This profile is part of the Brownlow Name Study.

Biography

Lettice was born about 1612 the eldest child of Sir William Brownlow and Elinor O'Doherty.^[1] Her father and paternal grandfather were both English undertakers in the Plantation of Ulster. Her father was also a magistrate and a member of parliament; her mother was from an old Irish family. In a paper Women in County Louth in the Seventeenth Century Harold O'Sullivan tells us

In her various marriages Letitia managed to embrace all of the socio-political and ethnic divisions which constituted seventeenth century Ireland, from the native Irishman and Roman Catholic, Patrick McCartan of Loughinsland County Down, whom she first married, to the two Old-English landed gentlemen of County Louth, Patrick Chamberlain and Patrick Clinton, ... [to] Arthur Aston, a former Parliamentarian soldier ... and lastly Mr Beversham ... ^[1]

O'Sullivan later continues

Considering her family and religious backgrounds, Letitia had contracted a series of disastrous marriages in that the estates of each of her first three husbands, all of whom had been Roman Catholics, were confiscated in the early years of the Commonwealth and she was left to care for a large and growing family.^[1]

O'Sullivan is in error about Lettice's first husband (see Research notes), but the general point stands. Her first father-in-law was executed for his part in the rebellion and war. Lettice was granted a life interest in a major part of her second husband's estate before the rebellion ^[2] but forfeited it afterwards.^[3] Her third husband was originally sentenced to be transplanted to Connaught, but eventually given a dispensation. ^[4]

Lettice became a significant businesswomen in co Louth, holding several leases in her own name.^[1] She also appears to have engaged in a considerable effort (sometimes together with her fourth husband) to recover her or her son's rights to confiscated land. In 1658, just after the death of her third husband, she took an action in chancery against John Thomas of Ardee for recovery of lands in Killany which had been let to him by her late husband.^{[1] [5]} On 26th May 1663 Lettice won a decree^[6] of 'innocence at large' meaning that although she was judged innocent, she would have to prove her title to the contested land. In the event the Sheriff put them in possession of the land, but this was contested at length and in the event Lettice and her husband appear to have lost.^[1]. Then on 13 August 1663 they won a claim on behalf of Arthur Chamberlain ^[7] This claim was more successful and saw Arthur reinstated in much of his father's lands. The net result of these claims was that Lettice's son Arthur gained all of her late husband Patrick Chamberlain's lands at Niselrath (although ownership of was evidently still disputed in about 1670 as Alexander Aston, John Swift and Arthur Chamberlain were all listed as owners) ^[8] and just under one third of Patrick Chamberlain's former lands in the barony of Louth. Earl Carlingford was the owner the most of the rest, with a part unaccounted for. ^[9]

The mention of lands in Down in the court of claims suggests that Lettice was also trying to regain lands of the McCartan family (which owned lands there). This was also clear in a series of actions that Lettice took in Chancery against the people to whom the McCartan lands had been granted. ^[10] There is no evidence that these claims were successful.

Lettice also inherited a life interest in her father's very substantial estates which later passed to her son Arthur (Chamberlain) Brownlow (abt.1645-1711).

Lettice died in January 1699 in Lurgan, County Armagh, Ireland.^[11]

Husbands and children
Lettice married (1) Patrick McCartan junior.

Lettice married (2) Patrick Chamberlain of Nizlerath, in the Parish of Philipstown, Ardee, County Louth, son of Roger Chamberlain.

• Children

1. Arthur b. 1645
2. Philemon
3. Elinor married Capt William Jones
4. Jane married Thomas Clinton

Lettice married (3) Christopher Clinton of Clintonstown

• Children

1. William b. 1654
2. Arthur married Margaret Troy
3. Christopher married Sarah Duneane

Lettice married (4) Captain Alexander Aston of Willistown, County Louth

• Children

1. Unknown Child d. 11 March 1687

Lettice married (5) Mr Beversham

Research notes

Lettice is the subject of one section of a rare journal article on Irish women of her time, Women in County Louth in the Seventeenth Century. ^[1] This extremely useful article cites many interesting sources about Lettice and her husbands and provides much useful information about her. Unfortunately, however, some of the information provided there does not quite fit. In particularly, it states

1. that Lettice's first husband was Patrick Macartan senior, who had died before the rebellion of 1641 and that their son Patrick McCartan was the person found guilty of treason after it and whose lands were forfeit; this seems unlikely as a son of their marriage could not have been more than nine years old at the time and
2. that Lettice's disputes about confiscated lands all related to her 'widow's thirds'; this seems unlikely as her son Arthur Chamberlain/Brownlow later became entitled to all her late husband's lands at Niselrath which were only forfeit for her lifetime in the post-restoration settlement^[3]

We know that Patrick McCartan senior was aged 40 and married when his father died in 1631. ^[12] He was therefore more than 20 years older than Lettice, and it is therefore certainly possible that he had a son born before about 1620 who would have reached the age of majority in 1641.

A record about disputes in the Cromwellian settlement states that the lands of Niselrath had been settled on Lettice the widow of Patrick Chamberlaine for 99 years, if she should so long live, long before the rebellion (perhaps in a marriage settlement). ^[2] This clarifies a) that her second marriage had taken place (and therefore that her first husband had died) well before 1641 and b) that she was interested in more than just widow's thirds, for Niselrath at least.

A footnote in another of O'Sullivan's papers helps solve the problem: Lettice [Brownlow] married Patrick McCartan junior of Loughlin Island county Down ... who died in 1637. She also married Patrick Chamberlain county Louth. ^[13]

Therefore it seems likely that Lettice married Patrick McCartan junior, whose age would have been compatible with hers, that her husband died and that she remarried before the rebellion and that it was her father-in-law who was involved in the rebellion.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} O’Sullivan, Harold. 'Women in County Louth in the Seventeenth Century'. Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society, vol. 23, no. 3, 1995, pp. 344–74. (p353) (JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/27729780 : Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.)
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Appendix to 15th report, An account of the particular savings contained in patents under the Acts of Settlement and Explantion, starting p 281. (Savings in Louth from John Swift to Arthur Chamberlaine als Brownlow, p 305) The lands of Niselrath had been settled on Lettice the widow of Patrick Chamberlaine for 99 years, if she should so long live, long before the rebellion
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Appendix to 15th report, Abstracts of Grants of Lands and other hereditaments under the Acts of Settlement and Explantion A. D. 1666-1684 starting p 45. (Award in of Niselrath, Louth to John Swift to hold during ye life of Lettice, widow of Patrick Chamberlaine (whose son was Arthur Chamb. als Brownlow esq.), p 170)
4. ↑ O’Sullivan, Harold. “The Plantation of the Cromwellian Soldiers in the Barony of Ardee, 1652-1656.” Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society, vol. 21, no. 4, 1988, pp. 415–52 (p 416). JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/27729656. Accessed 12 Mar. 2023.
5. ↑ "Ireland, Court Of Chancery Bill Books 1627-1884"
   Archive: National Archives of Ireland; Volume: 3; Page: 158
   FindMyPast Image - FindMyPast Transcription (accessed 12 March 2023)
   Lettice Clinton plaintiff , John Thomas & Gilbert Jones defendants, Date: 21/05/1658; Place: Dublin; County: Dublin; Country: Ireland; Bill book: Court of Chancery Bill Books 1655-1659; Volume: 3.
6. ↑ Appendix to 19th report p 55, item 283 (https://archive.org/details/op1252110-1001/page/n58/mode/1up?view=theater&q=Innocents : accessed 12 March 2023) Decree dated 26 May 1663 in favour of Alexander Aston and Lettice his wife relict of Patrick McCarton and Christopher Chamberlain concerning land in Down and Louth.
7. ↑ Appendix to 19th report p 78, items 724, 778 (https://archive.org/details/op1252110-1001/page/n81/mode/1up?q=Innocents&view=theater : accessed 12 March 2023) Decree dated 13 August 1663 in favour of 'Arthur Chamberlain son and heyre of Patrick.'
8. ↑ Books of Survey and Distribution, Quit Rent Office Copy, National Library of Ireland, barony of Ardee, county Louth, ref NAI QRO 1/1/3/17/16/16 (https://www.virtualtreasury.ie/item?isadgReferenceCode=NAI%20QRO%201%2F1%2F3%2F17%2F16%2F16 : accessed 2 March 2023)
9. ↑ Books of Survey and Distribution, Quit Rent Office Copy, National Library of Ireland, barony of Louth, county Louth, ref NAI QRO 1/1/3/17/14/6 (https://www.virtualtreasury.ie/item?isadgReferenceCode=NAI%20QRO%201%2F1%2F3%2F17%2F14%2F6 : accessed 2 March 2023)
10. ↑ For example, Archive: National Archives of Ireland; Volume: 7; Page: 9
    FindMyPast Image - FindMyPast Transcription (accessed 12 March 2023)
    Lettice Aston als Maccartan plaintiff Sir George Rawdon, Sir William Petty and others defendants Date: 22/02/1672; Place: Dublin; County: Dublin; Country: Ireland; Bill book: Court of Chancery Bill Books 1672-1677; Volume: 7.
11. ↑ Patterson, T. G. F. “The Chamberlains of Nizelrath (Continued).” Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1947), pp. 184. JSTOR https://www.jstor.org/stable/27728679 : accessed 12 March 2023
12. ↑ Royal Commission on the Public Records of Ireland, Inquisitionum in Officio Rotulorum Cancellariae Hiberniae asservatarum Repertorium, (Repertory of Irish Chancery Inquisitions), Vol. II, Ulster, London, 1829, 'Com Down' (County Down), Reign of Charles I, inquisition no 108, 1631. (https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.77919/page/n101/mode/1up?q=Bromloe&view=theater : accessed 27 February 2023) Phelim McCartan died 10 June 1631. His son and heir is Patrick McCartan, aged 40 and married.
13. ↑ O’Sullivan, Harold. “The Restoration Land Settlement in the Diocese of Armagh, 1660 to 1684.” Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, vol. 16, no. 1, 1994, pp. 1–70. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/29742632. Accessed 3 Mar. 2023. Footnote p23 citing Ferguson Decrees (manuscript on decrees of the court of claims held by the National Archives of Ireland)

• Appendix to the Fifteenth Annual Report of the Irish Record Commission dated 1825, (https://archive.org/details/op1244157-1001/page/27/mode/1up?view=theater : accessed 27 February 2023)
• Abstract of decrees of the court of claims for the tryall of innocents, being an appendix to the Ninteenth report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland, HMSO, Dublin,1887.

See also

• Clendinning, Kieran. “The Brownlow Family and the Development of the Town of Lurgan in the 17th Century: Part II William Brownlow and the Formation of the Manor of Brownlowsderry.” Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, vol. 20, no. 2, 2005, pp. 106–132. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/29742753. Accessed 27 May 2021.