In 1788, Richard Grattan the Elder, of Drummin, Kildare, married Elizabeth Biddulph, the eldest daughter of Francis Biddulph of Vicarstown, Queen's County, and of Eliza Harrison.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2012/03/dr-richard-grattan-drummin-house.html
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2013/09/notes-on-family-of-frances-grattan-of.html
The Ancestry of Elizabeth Biddulph:
The Biddulph family had their orgins in Biddulph, Staffordshire. In the 1640's, at the time of the English Civil War, they supported the monarchy, and, following Cromwell's downfall in 1664, the first of the family to come to Ireland, Francis Biddulph, settled at Wexford where it is believed he had been granted land by Charles II as a mark of loyalty to the Crown.
Francis Biddulph of Kilpatrick, Co. Wexford, married Alice and died in 1673; these were the parents of Nicholas Biddulph of Rathrobin, who died on 5 March 1702, having married Charity and having had four children - John, Alice, Jane and Francis. Charity Biddulph, widow of Nicholas Biddulph of Rathrobin, married, secondly, John Newcombe of Aghanvilla, King's Co.
The sons of Nicholas and Charity Biddulph of Rathrobin were Francis Biddulph of Rathrobin and Fortal, and John Biddulph who lived in Stradbally, Co. Laois, and who died around 1740. The oldest son Francis renewed the perpetual lease with Lord Shelbourne in 1722. He had one son, Nicholas, by his wife Mary Jackson. This son, Nicholas Biddulph of Fortal and Rath-Robin, became High Sherriff of Kings County in 1741. He had two daughters, Sarah and Margaret. On Nicholas Biddulph’s death in 1762, the estates devolved to his two daughters – Sarah Nesbitt, and Margaret, Mrs Bernard. Sarah died in 1772, and the final surviving daughter of Nicholas Biddulph, Mrs Bernard of Castle Bernard, died without issue in 1811, leaving Rathrobin to her cousin Lady Margaret Waller.
John Biddulph of Stradbally, the second son of Nicholas and Charity Biddulph of Rathrobin, had Nicholas of Glenkeen, Borrisoleigh, Tipperary; the grandson of this Nicholas Biddulph of Glenkeen was Nicholas Biddulph of Congor, Tipperary, and of Fortal, King's County. Nicholas of Congor and Fortal was born in 1803 and married twice, first to Catherine Lucas of Rathkeney, Cavan, and then to Isabella Digges La Touche, the daughter of James Digges La Touche of Sans Souci, Dublin. Nicholas received Fortal following a legal case concerning the inheritance of the Biddulph family estates taken by his cousin, Francis Harrison Biddulph, the son of Francis Biddulph and Eliza Harrison, who, accordingly, received Rathrobin.
The second son of John Biddulph of Stradbally, was Francis Biddulph (born 1727 - 1806), who lived at Vicarstown and who married Eliza Harrison. (I've been unable to ascertain the parentage of Eliza Harrison, although her son, Francis Harrison Biddulph would later marry Mary Marsh whose family had earlier intermarried with a Harrison family of Lisburn, including a Francis Harrison.)
During the uprising of 1798, The Edinburgh Magazine reported that the house of Francis Biddulph of Vicarstown was attacked by rebels; the family retreated upstairs, and Mr. Biddulph managed to keep them at bay, although a maid servant was wounded, and all the windows and furniture were damaged.
Francis Biddulph and Eliza Harrison had eight children:
1) Francis Harrison Biddulph who married Mary Marsh. See below.
2) Nicholas John, born 23rd August 1778, died 1779.
3) Eliza, born 26th June 1766, married Richard Grattan JP of Drummin, Kildare, on 20th February 1788.
4) Mary Anne, born 9th July 1769, married William Scott of Graiguenaskerry, Queen's Co.
5) Patience, March 1771 - June 1772.
6) Frances Margaret Sarah, June 1772 - 1775.
7) Patience Biddulph, born October 1773, married in 1801, Henry T. Warner of Warner Castle, Meath and of Merrion Square, Dublin. Patience Warner, née Biddulph, died aged 88 at Mount Merrion Avenue, Dublin, on 31st March 1859.
A daughter of Patience Biddulph and Henry Warner was Eliza Warner who married Rev. Edward Nangle, the son of Walter Nangle of Meath; Edward Nangle spearheaded the Achill Mission in Co. Mayo, the primary goal of this being the conversion of Catholics to Protestantism. Edward Nangle and Eliza Warner had two sons, William Nangle and Henry-Beresford Nangle, and three daughters, Frances-Patience Nangle, Henrietta-Catherine Nangle and Matilda Nangle.
On 1st December 1890, a Patience Grace Warner of 5 York Terrace, Cork, died at Achill, Mayo, and her will was proved by a Walter Nangle of 24 Rathgar Road, Dublin, who was the guardian of the universal legatee, the legatee (not named) being a lunatic.
Poet and novelist , Biddulph Warner, was the son of Patience Biddulph and Henry T. Warner of Marvelstown, Meath; there was also a Henry Biddulph Warner of Marvelstown, who was most likely another son of Patience Biddulph and Henry T. Warner.
On 10th September 1859 in St. Anne's, Dublin, Harriet Amelia Warner, the eldest daughter of Biddulph Warner JP of Marvelstown, married Joseph Kirkwood, JP of Killala, Co. Mayo; the officiating clergyman was Rev. J.C. Scott; a witness was a possible sister, Henrietta Maria Warner. Widowed, Harriet Amelia, later married a second time on 22nd August 1874, to Major-General Charles Dawson.
Biddulph Warner of Merrion Square and Marvelston, son of Patience and Henry T. Warner, must have been twice married, since he was known to have a stepdaughter, Agnes Blandford, daughter of Charles Blandford/Blanford.
A daughter of Henry Warner of Merrion Square was Matilda Warner who married an Atkinson, son of William Atkinson of Forgney House, Longford in July 1836. The marriage took place in Castlebar, Mayo - a Matilda Atkinson died in Ballina, Mayo, on 12th May 1876 with probate to a Harriet Scott of Ballina. This will was administered again later, this time they gave an extra address for Matilda Atkinson, Peafield Terrace, Mount Merrion, and the will was administered by a doctor, Thomas H. Scott of Ballina who was the representative of his wife, Harriet Scott.
On 10th April 1832, at Edgbaston, Warwickshire, Henry Biddulph Warner married Amelia, 4th daughter of Dr. Solomon of Liverpool. Amelia was most likely Jewish, and was buried in Mount Jerome, Dublin, when she died 21st December 1847 - "To the memory of Amelia, wife of Henry Biddulph Warner Esq., of Dawson Court, County Meath, by birth and by faith, a daughter of faithful Abraham..." Henry Biddulph Warner may have married a second time to a member of the Lee family, since the name was given to some of his children...
On 23rd March 1865, Biddulph Lee Warner of the 91st Fusiliers, son of Henry Biddulph Warner of Marvelstown, Westmeath, married Harriette-Isabella Hamilton. They had Ernest Henry Lee Warner at Grosvenor Square, Rathmines, on 10th May 1869.
In May 1867 in Salcombe, South Devon, Alice Lee Warner, the youngest daughter of Henry Biddulph Warner of Marvelstown, married Arthur Charles Newman, the son of Rev. W.A.Newman, the late Dean of Cape Town.
In 1869 at Sidmouth, Francis Biddulph Warner, died aged 19, youngest son of the late Henry Biddulph Warner of Marvelstown.
8) Harriett, born 1781, married on 26th January 1799, Rev. Richard Clarke. Richard Clarke had been born to William Clarke in Queen's County in 1777; he entered TCD aged 17 on 6th October 1794, and completed his BA there in 1800. For many years he was the minister of St. Michael's in Portarlington, and was also the sovereign of the town for twenty years. he died there on 3rd November 1838.
His widow, Harrietta, died later on 20th October 1850 in Portarlington. The children of Rev. Richard Clarke and Harrietta Biddulph were:
a) Elizabeth Clarke, born circa 1800.
b) Mary Clarke,
c) Frances Clarke.
d) Rev. Richard Clarke of Geashill, King's County. He was baptised in Lea, Portarlington, on 12th December 1807, and entered TCD, aged 17, on 1st November 1824. He obtained a BA in 1829, and an MA in 1832. He served parishes in Kildare, Lea, but primarily in Geashill. He died on 16th July 1866 in Geashill, with probate of his will to his brother, Jonathan Clarke of Pembroke Street, Dublin, and to Mary Clarke, widow of Eglinton Park, Kingstown.
The papers recorded the births of some of his children - on 5th March 1849, a daughter was born in Geashill; on 5th February 1855, a son. On 19th May 1859 at 1, Ormond Terrace, Rathmines, the wife of Rev. Richard Clarke of Geashill, gave birth to another son.
An older son, also Rev. Richard Clarke, married in October 1868, Helen Scott, the youngest daughter of the late John Scott.
e) Dr. Francis Clarke was born in Portarlington in about 1808 and died in October 1877. He was the medical superintendant at Blackwatertown, Co. Armagh, and was noted there in 1843. He seems to have had contact with Thomas Grattan, a cousin, who was at that time a surgeon-dentist also in Armagh. In May 1839, Francis Clarke of Blackwatertown, Armagh, was married by Rev. Richard Clarke of Moniver, to Rebecca, the daughter of Jonathan David Clarke of Merrion Square and of La Bergerie, Portarlington. (Note: this older Jonathan David Clarke lived at this time in La Bergerie, Portarlington, and also in Merrion Square, Dublin; he may be another member of this family, possibly the brother of Rev. Richard Clarke of St. Michael's, Portarlington.)
Francis Clarke MD married a second time in Dublin on 11th April 1860, this time to Jane Crozier Magee, the daughter of Charles Magee - in 1860, Francis Clarke was living at Sydney Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. The witness was Jonathan Clarke. When Francis Clarke died on 4th October 1877 at 3, Ormond Road, Dublin, (late of Avon Cottage, Armagh), his widow was named as Jane Crozier Clarke of Ormond Road. She died on 3rd May 1907 at 13 Appian Way, Dublin, with probate to the spinster, Margaret J. Clarke, and to the Venerable Francis Edward Clarke, Archdeacon of Elphin, Co. Roscommon. Rev. Francis Edward Clarke died on 9th March 1910 at Boyle, Co. Roscommon. He had been born in Armagh.
f) A solicitor, Jonathan Clarke, was born 1816 and attended Kings Inns; he died on 28th July 1887 with probate to his widow Emily Clarke. This was probably Emily Minchin, the daughter of Henry Minchin of Holywell House, Hampshire, who married Jonathan Clarke of Portarlington on 13th July 1843 in St. Anne's
Jonathan Clarke and Emily Minchin had two children at 13 Pembroke Street, Dublin - Henry Jonathan Clarke, born 22nd December 1843 and Mary Emily Clarke/Minnie Emily on 13th February 1847. When Jonathan Clarke died in 1877, his primary beneficiaries were his widow, Emily, and his unmarried daughter, Minnie Emily, who were both living at 30 Clarinda Park, Kingstown.
g) Edward John Clarke.
h) Patience Clarke who died in 1860 in Lea, Portarlington.
Francis Harrison Biddulph, son of Francis Biddulph and Eliza Harrison:
Francis Harrison Biddulph, for many years the Registrar of the Court of Exchequer, the son of Francis Biddulph and Eliza Harrison, was born on 26th December 1774 and married in 1797 Mary Marsh, the daughter of the barrister Francis Marsh and descendant of Jeremy Taylor, the Bishop of Down and Connor. Mary Marsh's parents married in Dublin on 9th September 1775, her mother being Anne Vero, the heiress of Neptune Vero of Georges Lane, Dublin. Along with Mary Marsh who married Francis Harrison Biddulph, Francis Marsh and Anne Vero had two sons, Digby Marsh and Rev. Francis Marsh of Ballintober, Queen's Co., whose son, another Francis Marsh, settled at Springmount, Queen's County.
(Notes on the Marsh Family:
Rev. Jeremy Taylor ( 1613-1667), at one time Chaplain in ordinary to Charles I, then Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland, had three daughters: Phoebe who died unmarried; Joanna Taylor who married Edward Harrison of Maralave, Co. Antrim; Mary Taylor who married Rev. Dr. Francis Marsh (1625-1734) who was Archbishop of Dublin, and Dean of Down.
Dr Francis Marsh and Mary Taylor had two sons, Francis Marsh and Rev. Jeremy Marsh of Kilmore, who married, as his second wife, Elizabeth daughter of Simon Digby of Obertstown, Kildare, Lord Bishop of Elphin.
The son and heir of Rev. Francis Marsh of Kilmore and of Elizabeth Digby was Rev. Jeremy Marsh of Athenry, Galway, who married, Jane French, the daughter of Patrick French of Monivea, Galway - Rev. Francis Marsh of Athenry died at Camira, Queen's County in 1790.
The children of Rev. Jeremy Marsh of Athenry, Galway:
1) Francis Marsh, barrister ...see below.
2) Rev. Henry Marsh of Killyman, Galway, who married Sophia, daughter of William Woolsey, Rector of Tullycorbet, Monaghan.
3) Rev. Digby Marsh of Trinity College, Dublin. Died 3rd November 1791.
4) Rev. Jeremy/Jeremiah Marsh of Rosenallis, or Mountmellick, Queen's County - he married, in August 1788, Rachel Montgomery, whose father, Colonel Montgomery of Dublin, was murdered during the 1798 rebellion. Rachel died in 1837. Their sons were Sir Henry Marsh MD, Digby Marsh of Trinity College, and Jeremy Marsh the father of Rear Admiral Digby Marsh of the Royal Navy. In 1794 he was living at Camira Glebe, Rosenallis, Queen's County, which is where his father, Rev. Jeremy Marsh, had died in 1790.
The eldest son of Rev. Francis Marsh of Stradbally, and Jane Franch of Athenry, Galway, was Francis Marsh, barrister-at-law, who married Anne Vero, daughter of Neptune Vero of Gt. George Street, in 1775, and who was the father of Mary Marsh, the wife of Francis Harrison Biddulph. Anne Vero's sister, Eliza Vero, married a Norcutt Pidder on 9th September 1775, the same day as Anne Vero married Francis Marsh.
The children of Francis Marsh, barrister-at-law, The Abbey, Stradbally, Queen's County, and Anne Vero:
1) Rev.Jeremy Marsh of Ballintobber, Queen's County, who married Sarah, daughter of Richard Connell in 1815. His son was Francis Marsh of Springmount, Mountrath, Queen's, who married Anna Maria Maxwell.
2) Digby Marsh who married Elizabeth Garstin of Braganstown, Louth.
3) Mary Marsh who married Francis Harrison Bidduulph.
4) Jane Marsh who married William Walker of Dublin - their daughter, Frances Walker married, firstly, Hugh O'Reilly of Meath, then Rev. William Maziere Brady.
5) Elizabeth Marsh who married Pierce Moore.
6) Anne Marsh, who married William Marsh.
7) Sarah, wife of John North.
8) Frances Marsh, wife of James Geraghty.)
Francis Harrsison Biddulph and Mary Marsh settled at Vicarstown, where Francis died in July 1827; his widow, Mary Marsh, died later on 9th August 1861 at 3 Kingstown Parade, Kingstown, Co. Dublin. Her will was proved by three of her unmarried daughters who had been living with her in Kingstown, Elizabeth, Mary and Caroline Biddulph.
From 1805 Francis Harrison Biddulph worked, as already mentioned, as Register of the Court of Exchequer in Dublin, which was notorious for its inefficiency and slowness. His duties were to be: “...to attend the sitting of the Court of Exchequer; to take down notes of the decrees, rules and orders, in Equity causes pronounced by the said Court, which he does in a rough book kept by him for that purpose; to see that such rules, orders and decrees, as are made and pronounced, are properly posted from such rough book, in the rule books and books of hearings, which books are kept as records of the office; (these rules and decrees he compares); to receive and file notices, and list of Equity motions; to peruse and examine all drafts of decrees, to see that they contain the proper recitals; to amend such drafts, conformable to the notes of hearings, and to the decrees pronounced by the Court previous to such decrees being signed and settled by the Chief Remembrance;r and to inrol all final decrees.”
His emoluments arise from fees and a salary of 100₤ paid by the Chief Remembrancer. Of the amount of the fees Mr Biddulph has not enabled us to speak with any certainty; he states, that he has kept no regular account of them; but he estimates, rather vaguely, the amount of his net annual emoluments, at from 900 to 1,000₤ per annum after deducting from his receipts 160₤ a year for bursements .
Mr Biddulph appears from his return to execute a great part of the duties in person and for this purpose to give his attendance constantly during the sitting of the Court. He is assisted by a clerk of his own nomination to whom he allows a salary the amount of which is differently stated by him and by the clerk the former representing it to be 100₤ and the latter only 60₤ per annum...' (From an 1818 Government Report of the Commissioners.)
Francis Harrison Biddulph is chiefly remembered for the 18-year lawsuit he waged against his cousin for the control of Rathrobin in Tullamore. He finally got possession of this home and estate in 1824, but Francis doesn’t ever appear to have lived there. After his death in 1827 the family appear to have left Vicarstown. He and his father were buried in Curaclone graveyard near Vicarstown.
The children of Francis Harrison Biddulph and Mary Marsh were....
1) Anne Biddulph, born 15th September 1798, married Captain Simon Biddulph, the son of Sir Theophilus Biddulph and Hannah Prestridge. This was an English branch of the Biddulph family whose seat was in Westcombe Kent. Captain Simon Biddulph died on 25th April 1823, leaving one daughter.
2) Elizabeth, born 10th November 1799 ; died 10th June 1893.
3) Mary, born 10th March 1801; died 10th September 1801.
4) Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph, born April 1802. See below.
5) Mary, born 16th September 1803; died 2nd April 1863.
6) Frances.
7) Nicholas Biddulph, born 20th December 1805, married Miss Steele, died in 1900.
8) William, born 1st March 1809, died young.
9) Harriett, born 8th November 1810; she went to the U.S.
10) Sarah Nesbitt Biddulph, born 11th December 1814; she went to Australia - her descendants are currently researching the Biddulphs. At the height of the Yackandandah goldrush, she married William Day, a New York miner, the son of Landon Day and Hannah Thorpe, on 10 Feb 1856 in - a son, William Day, was born in Yackandandah in 1857, followed by a daughter, Sarah, in 1858 who would later marry Francis Davidson.
11) Charlotte, born 9th December 1815.
12) Patience, born March 1817.
13) Caroline, born 16th May 1819; died 28th May 1874 in Upper Georges St., Kingstown.
The eldest son of Francis Harrison Biddulph, Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph of Rathrobin Castle, Tullamore, (Rathrobin was the ancient seat of the Molloy family; the Biddulph's house was built in 1694) born in April 1802, married in Liverpool in 1845, Lucy Bickerstaffe, the second daughter of the late Robert Bickerstaffe of Preston, Lancashire. He died on 28th March 1868, widow Lucy on 29th August 1896 - her will noted her two addresses as Rathrobin, Tullamore, and Clare House, Tiverton, Devon.
"A Tiverton Will Suit - In the Probate Division yesterday, the President gave judgement in the case of Cadell and another versus Willcocks and others. The suit had reference to the testamentary depositions of the late Lucy Biddulph of Clare House, Tiverton, who died on the 29th August 1896. The plaintiffs claimed probate of three wills, dated 26th of April 1890, 5th of July 1894 and 5th of September 1895. The defendants in the suit were Anne Adela Waller Willcocks (widow of Dublin), Middleton Biddulph (of Annaghmore, Tullamore, King's County), Assheton Biddulph (of Moneygayneen, King's County) and Lucy Biddulph Colclough, who pleaded that the will of 1890 was revoked by the will of 1894, and that was revoked by the will of 1895. His Lordship came to the conclusion that only the will of 1894 was revoked and he accordingly pronounced for the other two wills." (From 'The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette' of 8th December 1897.)
Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph and Lucy Bickerstaffe had:
1) Annie Adela Waller Biddulph, born 25th March 1847 and married, in 1866 in Killoughey, Captain John Willcocks Junior of St. Lawrence, Chapelizod, Dublin, the son of John Willcocks, the late resident magistrate of King's County. The ceremony was carried out by the groom's uncle, Rev. William Willcocks. A daughter, Lucy Annie Willcocks was born on 22nd February 1868 in Tullamore, King's County and married Lionel Lockington Harty in Dublin in 1894. Marion was born 1 Aug 1869 (she married Frederick Francis Ledwich in 1891) and Wilmot Willcocks was born in Tullamore, on 12th November 1870 she married Stafford Cox in 1897. A son was born in Chapelizod in April 1872. Florence Cawlinn Willcocks was born in Dublin on 1877 and married Benjamin Tilly in Dublin in 1897.
Captain John Willcocks Junior proved the 1871 will of his uncle, Rev. William Willcocks of St. Laurence, Chapelizod.
John Willcocks, late of the 3rd Middlesex Militia, died at St. Lawrence, Chapelizod, aged 50, on 31st May 1882. His widow, Annie Biddulph, later married John Ousely Bonsall Murphy, in Dublin in 1898.
2)Francis Biddulph, born 14th August, died 31st August 1848.
3) Colonel Middleton Westenra Biddulph of Rathrobin. (The name 'Westenra' entered the family via the Warner family.) He married Vera Josephine Flower. He died in 1926.
4) Assheton Biddulph of Moneyguyneen, King's County, born 12th October 1850. He married in Warwick, on 17th June 1880, Florence Caroline Cunningham Boothby, the daughter of Rev. Cunningham Boothby of Holwell, Oxfordshire. (She was called Hannah Catherine on the 1901 census.)
Assheton Biddulph, a keen foxhunter, was master of the King's County Hunt.
Assheton Biddulph died 17th January 1916 with probate of his will granted to his brother, the retired Colonel Middleton W. Biddulph and to a member of the Boothby family, Colonel George M. Boothby.
He had a son, Lieutenant /Bertie Assheton Biddulph, who died young in Aldershot in 1917. Daughters were Norah Beatrice, Eithne Patricia, Kathleen Jane (1880 - 1968), Irene, born circa 1882.
Assheton disapproved of the marriage of his daughter Kathleen to Arthur Magan. He decided to cut her off from any inheritance she might get. Asheton’s brother Lt-Colnel Middleton Westenra Biddulph took pity of Kathleen’s son William Magan, naming him as the heir to Rathrobin. Unfortunately, the IRA burned Rathrobin down before he came into his inheritance
5) Franc/Frank Digby Biddulph Colclough, born 22nd April 1853. (The Digby name entered the Biddulph family via Franc's grandmother, Mary Marsh.) Franc married, in September 1885, Louisa Colclough, the wealthy daughter of John Thomas Rossborough Colclough, and heiress of Tintern Abbey, Co. Wexford, at which point Franc assumed the additional name of Colclough. There were rumours he had already been bigamously married in London, however, and, following his marriage to Louisa Colclough at midnight in the ruined Abbey of Tintern, two more ceremonies took place in Dublin in order to reassure Louisa.
son, Caesar Franc Bickerstaff Plantagenet was born on 15 September 1886, and died in infancy; a daughter, Lucy Wilmot Maria Susannah Biddulph/ aka May, was born in 1890. Following May's birth in 1890, her mother, Louisa, suffered a breakdown and was kept confined in a tower by her husband at Tintern for five years; a stout woman, he put her on a strict diet - on 13 July 1895, the day of her husband's death, she was released whereupon proceeded to consume a pound of butter neat. She had the impressive name of Louisa Maria Susanna Colclough Rossborough Biddulph Colclough. When she died on 29th January 1912, her will was proved by Colonel Middleton Biddulph, her brother-in-law.
Their daughter, Lucy Marie Biddulph Colclough/May, lived at Tintern Abbey on the Hook Head peninsula until 1959, when she moved out, eventually bequeathing the Abbey to the state in 1963.
6) Gertrude Louisa Biddulph, born 22nd September 1856; she married twice, first to George Carpenter Anderson, then, in Jan 1893, to Dr. Nevil Pottow Cadell of Farringdon, Berkshire.