William Barnard DD

THE RIGHT REV DR WILLIAM BARNARD (1697-1768), younger son of John Barnard, of the Middle Temple, London, and Clapham, Surrey, married Anne Stone, sister of the Archbishop of Armagh, and had issue,

THOMAS, his heir;
Henry (Rev Dr).

Dr Barnard, Vicar of St Bride's, Fleet Street, London, 1729, Prebendary of Westminster, 1732, was appointed Dean of Rochester, 1743, and was consecrated Lord Bishop of Raphoe, 1744, and from thence translated to the bishopric of Derry, 1747.

His lordship was succeeded by his elder son,

THE RIGHT REV DR THOMAS BARNARD (1726-1806), who wedded, in 1758, Anne, daughter of William Browne, and had issue, an only child,

ANDREW BARNARD, his heir.

Dr Barnard, Vicar of Maghera, 1751-60, Archdeacon of Derry, 1761-9, Dean of Derry, 1769-80, was consecrated Lord Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora, 1780, and thence translated to the bishopric of Limerick, 1794, until his death in 1806.

His only son,

ANDREW BARNARD (c1765-1807), Secretary to the Colony of Cape of Good Hope, espoused, in 1793, the Lady Anne Lindsay, daughter of James, 5th Earl of Balcarres, though the marriage was without issue.

*****

Bishop (William) Barnard was buried in the Islip chapel in Westminster Abbey.

A modern stone for him reads:WILLIAM BISHOP OF DERRY 1768.

His white marble memorial tablet is now in the Abbey triforium.

This was originally in a niche above the entry to the chapel of Our Lady of Pew, next door to the Islip chapel, but was removed in the 1930s.

The Latin inscription can be translated:

Here awaits a blessed resurrection the Right Reverend Father in Christ William Barnard, DD, first a pupil of this Collegiate Church, then Prebendary, afterward Dean of Rochester, thence elevated to Bishoprics in Ireland, of Raphoe in 1744, of Derry in 1747, by King George II. 

How great a benevolence he exercised in relieving the poor, in repairing churches, in setting up endowments, that diocese (over which he presided for more than twenty years) will long be aware and acknowledge. 

Returning to England for reasons of ill health, he died in London 10th Jan. 1768 aged 72.

Bishop Barnard was born in Clapham, south London, a son of John Barnard, a lawyer, and his wife Isabella.

After attending Westminster School he went to Trinity College Cambridge.

He then became Rector of Esher in Surrey and chaplain to the Duke of Newcastle.

Later he was chaplain to the King and vicar of St Bride's, Fleet Street.

On October 4th 1732 he was made a prebendary of Westminster and his other preferments followed.

He married Anne Stone, daughter of an eminent London banker and sister of the Archbishop of Armagh.

Bishop Barnard's great-grandson was General Sir Henry William Barnard KCB, son of the Rev William Barnard, Rector of Water Stratford, Buckinghamshire.

The Bishop was possibly related to Sir John Barnard (c1685-1764), of Mincing Lane, London, and Clapham, Surrey, Lord Mayor of London, 1737-8.

Dr Barnard’s successor in the bishopric was FREDERICK AUGUSTUS HERVEY.

First published in March, 2020.

Hugh Boulter DD

On the wall of the west aisle of the north transept in Westminster Abbey is a memorial to the Most Rev and Rt Hon Dr Hugh Boulter, Lord Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, and Metropolitan.

His Grace was buried nearby in the transept on 12th November 1742.

The memorial was designed by Sir Henry Cheere and includes a bust of the archbishop with decorations of a mitre, crozier, lamps, sprays of oak leaves and acorns.

The coat of arms at the base once showed the arms of the See of Armagh impaling Boulter.

The inscription reads:-

DR HUGH BOULTER, late Archbishop of ARMAGH and Primate of all IRELAND.

A prelate so eminent for the accomplishments of his mind, the purity of his heart, and the excellency of his life, that it may be superfluous to specify his titles, recount his virtues, or even erect a monument to his fame:

His titles he not only deserv'd but adorn'd, his virtues he manifest in his good works, which had never dazzled the public eye if they had not been too bright to be conceal'd;

And, as to his fame, who so every has any sense of merit, any reverence for piety, any passion for his country, or any charity for mankind, will assist in preserving it fair and spotless;

That when brass and marble shall mix with the dust they cover, every succeeding age may have the benefit of his illustrious example.

His Grace was born on the 4th January, 1671, was consecrated bishop of BRISTOL, 1718, he was translated to the Archbishopric of ARMAGH, 1723, and from thence to Heaven, Sept. the 27th 1742.

The date of his birth is given in Old Style dating on the monument which is now called 1672.

Son of John Boulter, of the parish of St Katharine Cree, City of London, by Bebecca his wife, who administered to her husband's estate 27 Sep. 1709,

He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' school and Oxford and was later a chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

He was Rector of St Olave in Southwark and also Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.

In 1719 he married Elizabeth Savage but they had no children.

She was buried with him on 28th February 1754, aged 60.

The Archbishop was a philanthropist and established a school at Santry in County Dublin.

First published in March, 2020.

George Stone DD

ANDREW STONE (-1711), banker and goldsmith, of Lombard Street, London, married Anne Holbrooke, and had issue,

Andrew (1703-73), MP, his heir;
Richard;
GEORGE, of whom hereafter;
Anne, m Rt Rev William Barnard, Lord Bishop of Derry.

The youngest son,

THE MOST REV AND RT HON DR GEORGE STONE (1708-64), Lord Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan, was buried in the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey on the 28th December, 1764.

He was educated at Westminster School, where he was a King's Scholar, he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford after which he was ordained.

His Grace went to Ireland in 1731 as Chaplain to the Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

In 1733 Stone was appointed Dean of Ferns, and in the following year he exchanged this deanery for that of Derry.

Photo Credit: Christ Church College, Oxford

Dr Stone was consecrated Lord Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin in 1740, translated to the bishopric of Kildare, 1743, and to the see of Derry in 1745.

In 1747, he was translated to the archiepiscopal see of Armagh as Lord Primate, and enthroned five years afterwards, in 1752.

During the two years that he occupied the see of Kildare, Dr Stone he was also Dean of Christ Church, Dublin.

His Grace died unmarried, of gout, at his brother's house in the Privy Garden, Whitehall.

His coffin lay in state in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey prior to interment.

The gravestones to the Stone family were removed, with many others, when the nave floor was re-laid in 1834.

Small lozenge stones with names and dates replaced them but most of these, being worn away, are now covered by a modern stone to William Herschel.

Only George Stone's small stone can now be seen.

The original inscriptions were recorded and the Latin can be translated thus:

Here lies Andrew Stone, treasurer to queen Charlotte. Died 16 December 1773 aged 71. And Thomas Stone his son died 7 February 1761 aged 12. 

Here are also deposited the remains of Hannah, wife of Andrew Stone, died 5 June 1782 aged 73. 

In the same tomb lies buried Sara Mauvillain sister of Hannah Stone died 22 January 1804 aged 91. 

Here lies the body of George Stone, S.T.P. [professor of sacred theology], archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan. Died December 19 1764 aged 57.

First published in December, 2019. 

James Ussher DD

A voluminous pedigree of this family, and all the various branches, compiled by Sir William Betham, Ulster King-of-Arms, commences with ARLAND USSHER, Bailiff of Dublin, 1460-2, Mayor of Dublin, 1469-71, who married firstly, Alsone Taylor, by whom he had a daughter, Margaret, and an only son, Thomas.

Arland Ussher wedded secondly, Anne Berford, and had further issue,

JOHN, of whom we treat;
Robert, dsp;
Philip, dsp;
Christopher, ancestor of USSHER OF EASTWELL.

The eldest son of his second marriage,

JOHN USSHER, Sheriff of Dublin, 1524, espoused, in 1485, Johanna, daughter of William Foster, of Killeigh, and had issue,

Arland;
THOMAS, of whom hereafter.

The younger son,

THOMAS USSHER, married Margery, daughter of Henry Geydon, and had issue,

John;
Henry (Most Rev), Lord Archbishop of Armagh;
ARLAND, of whom hereafter;
Christopher;
Rose; Ales; Katherine.

The third son,

ARLAND USSHER (c1552-98), wedded Margaret, daughter of James Stanihurst, and had issue,

JAMES, his heir;
Ambrose;
Sarah; Ellinor; Margaret; Mabel; Anne.

The eldest son,

THE MOST REV AND RT HON DR JAMES USSHER (1581-1656), Lord Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, espoused, in 1614, Phœbe, daughter of the Rev Luke Challoner, and had issue, an only child, ELIZABETH (1620-93).

At the age of 13 James Ussher entered the newly founded Trinity College in Dublin and had a distinguished academic career.

He was ordained by his uncle, Dr Henry Ussher (Archbishop of Armagh), in 1602.

Dr James Ussher,  Photo Credit: The National Trust

During the Irish rebellion of 1641 most of Archbishop Ussher's property was destroyed.

His Grace later lived in London and Oxford, and with his only daughter Elizabeth (wife of Sir Timothy Tyrrell) in Wales.

For a short time, while the Dean of Westminster was imprisoned in the Tower of London, Dr Ussher used the Deanery at Westminster.

He attended the funeral of CHARLES I at Oxford, but later also found favour with Cromwell.

Oliver Cromwell, in fact, ordered his burial in the Chapel of St Paul in Westminster Abbey, and paid the funeral expenses.

It is thought that this was the only occasion at which the Anglican funeral service was read in the Abbey during the Commonwealth period.

The present Irish marble gravestone in the Abbey, with brass lettering, was erected until 1904, and the Latin inscription was written by Dr Gwynn (Regius Professor at Trinity College) and others.

It can be translated thus:

In pious memory of JAMES USSHER who was born in Dublin in 1581, entered among the first students of Trinity College, promoted to the archiepiscopal see of Armagh, 

Primate of all Ireland, the hundredth heir of St Patrick the apostle of Ireland, historian, critic, theologian, most learned among the holy, most holy among the learned, 

Exiled from his own in this city of Westminster, he fell asleep in Christ in 1656. 

He was expelled from his sacred see and country by those same seditions which went on to grant him burial in this church among the most honoured. 

This stone was placed by George Salmon, Provost of the same college, 1904.

Ussher's coat-of-arms appears at the base of the stone, surmounted by a mitre.

This shows the arms of the See of Armagh impaling Ussher (azure, a chevron ermine between three batons, or).

First published in December, 2019.

James Spottiswood DD

Arms of Dr John Spottiswoode
Archbishop of St Andrews

THE RT REV DR JAMES SPOTTISWOOD, LORD BISHOP OF CLOGHER, 1621-45

The surname of SPOTTISWOOD was assumed by the proprietors of the lands and barony of Spottiswood, in the parish of Gordon, Berwickshire, as soon as surnames became hereditary in Scotland.

The immediate ancestor of the family was

ROBERT DE SPOTTISWOOD, Lord of Spottiswood, who was born in the reign of ALEXANDER III, King of Scotland, and died in that of ROBERT THE BRUCE, leaving a son and heir,

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD, of that ilk, living in the reign of DAVID II, King of Scotland, whose son and heir,

ROBERT SPOTTISWOOD, of that ilk, married a daughter of the ancient family of Lichton, of Ulishaven, Forfarshire, sister of the celebrated Dr Henry de Lichton, first Bishop of Moray, and was father of

HENRY SPOTTISWOOD, of that ilk, who died in the end of the reign of JAMES II, of Scotland, leaving a son and successor,

JAMES SPOTTISWOOD, of that ilk, a staunch loyalist and firm adherent to the interest of JAMES III, for which he was forfeited, but reinstated subsequently, by JAMES IV; soon afterwards he died, leaving by his wife a son and heir,

WILLIAM SPOTTISWOOD, of Spottiswood, who fell at Flodden, in 1513, with JAMES IV.

He had married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Hop Pringle, and had issue (with a daughter and a son, Hugh), two elder sons,

David, his heir;
JOHN, of whom we treat.

The younger son,

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD (1510-85), DD, a man of great learning and piety, espoused Beatrix, daughter of Patrick Crichton, of Lugton and Gilmerton, and had issue (with a daughter), two sons,

John, his heir;
JAMES, of whom hereafter.

Dr Spottiswood's younger son,

THE RT REV DR JAMES SPOTTISWOOD (1567-1645), Lord Bishop of Clogher, was born at Calder in Scotland on the 7th September, 1567.

He was admitted to the University of Glasgow in 1579, and in 1581 entered royal service.

He travelled with JAMES VI, King of Scotland, on his voyage to meet his wife, Anne of Denmark, and in 1598 acted as secretary to ambassadors to Denmark and Germany.

After JAMES VI became also JAMES I of England, Spottiswood was ordained in the Church of England, 1603, and became Rector of Wells in Norfolk.

Dr Spottiswood remained there until 1616, when he was involved in a visitation of the University of St Andrews, from where he graduated Doctor of Divinity.

In 1621 Spottiswood accepted the bishopric of Clogher in Ulster, but fled to England when the Irish rebellion broke out in 1641.

He died at Westminster in 1645, and was buried in St Benedict's chapel in Westminster Abbey on the 31 March.

No record survives of his grave or of any inscription which may once have been on it.

Spottiswood had married before his ordination and left a son, Sir Henry Spottiswood, and a daughter Mary.

The latter married Abraham Crichton, ancestor of the Earls of Erne.

First published in December, 2019.