The Close Baronetcy

RICHARD CLOSE, the first of the family who settled in Ulster, was the younger son of a respectable house in Yorkshire, and held a commission in the Army, sent from England, in the reign of CHARLES I, 1640. Mr Close acquired property in County Monaghan, but after the Restoration fixed himself at Lisnagarvey (Lisburn), County Antrim.

There he lived and died, leaving a son and heir,

RICHARD CLOSE, who inherited the County Monaghan estates, and married Mary, sister of SAMUEL WARING, of Waringstown, MP for Hillsborough.

Mr Close received a grant of lands from Mr Waring, contiguous to Waringstown, on which he built a good house and resided.

Richard Close considerably enlarged the family estate by purchasing a tract of land on the River Bann, between Rathfriland and Castlewellan, County Down, and after the disturbances in 1688, which obliged him to leave his home and join the Protestants, then united at Lisburn, under Lord Conway and Sir Arthur Rawdon, he returned (subsequently to the battle of the Boyne) having suffered great losses during the harassing conflicts of the times. 

He left at his decease five sons and three daughters.

The eldest son,

Richard Close, wedded, in 1708, Rose, daughter of Roger Hall, of NARROW WATER CASTLE, County Down, and had issue, now extinct.

The second son,

THE REV SAMUEL CLOSE, who was presented to the rectory of Stewartstown, County Tyrone, 1721, married Catherine, daughter of Captain James Butler, of Bramblestown, County Kilkenny, by Margaret, Lady Maxwell, widow of Sir Robert Maxwell Bt, and daughter and heiress of Henry Maxwell, of Elm Park, and had, with four daughters, a son and successor,

MAXWELL CLOSE, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1780, who succeeded his grandmother, Lady Maxwell (who died in 1758), in the possession of Elm Park, County Armagh, and the lands settled upon him.

He married, in 1748, Mary, eldest daughter of  Captain Robert Maxwell, of FELLOWS HALL, County Armagh, brother of John, Lord Farnham, and had issue,

SAMUEL, his heir;
Robert, died unmarried;
BARRY, of whom we treat;
Farnham;
Grace; Catherine; Margaret; Mary; Elizabeth.

The third son,

SIR BARRY CLOSE (1756-1813), born at Elm Park, a very distinguished military officer in the East India Company, attained the rank of major-general.

Sir Barry Close, 1st Baronet (Image: Manchester City Gallery)

General Close was created a baronet in December, 1812, designated of Mysore.

Memorial to Sir Barry Close Bt in St Mary's Church, Madras

Sir Barry died, unmarried, four months afterwards, when the title expired.

First published in January, 2014.