Henry Colley (died 1584)

Sir Henry Colley, or Cowley (died 1584) was an Irish soldier and landowner. He is chiefly remembered as an ancestor of the 1st Duke of Wellington

Biography

Little is known of his early years, except that he was possibly the son of Walter Cowley (c.1500-1548), Principal Solicitor for Ireland, and possibly the grandson of Robert Cowley (c.1470-1546), Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Records and monuments in Glaston Rutland evidence the Colley family as Lords of the Manor since about 1400 and also that a Walter and Robert Colley left Glaston for Ireland in about the time of Henry VII. ^[1]Robert had come to Ireland from Rutland about 1500 ; both he and his son rose to positions of eminence through the patronage of Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell's downfall was disastrous for the Cowleys, who were generally unpopular and mistrusted: both were removed from office and imprisoned in England.^[2]

Walter in his last years was restored to royal favour, and was appointed Surveyor-General for Ireland. He presumably left a comfortable inheritance, since in 1554 Henry was able to lease Carbury Castle, County Kildare for 21 years, and later acquired it permanently.^[3]

Career

Henry's good qualities attracted the attention of Sir Henry Sidney, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, who later recalled him as a young man who was "valiant, fortunate and a good servant". He was knighted in 1560^[4] and given a Commission of Array for Kildare, and power to impose martial law in County Offaly and adjoining territories. He was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland and sat on the Court of Castle Chamber.

His principal duty for many years was keeping the peace in Offaly. Henry Sidney in 1580, recommending him to his successor Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton called him "as good a border-keeper as I have ever met" , a man who had for many years kept the county of Offaly in peace and good obedience, and was personally "a sound and fast friend to me". Sir Nicholas Malby, Lord President of Connaught had written a year earlier that while Colley had kept the peace in Offaly for many years he was now "sorely oppressed by rebels".

In his last years he seems to have gone into a physical and mental decline, and was described as "blind and helpless".^[5] He died in the early autumn of 1584.

Carbury Castle

Family

He married Catherine Cusack, daughter of Sir Thomas Cusack, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, whose mother was a Wellesley, the name the Colleys adopted in the eighteenth century.^[6] After his death she remarried William Eustace and died in 1598. They had five children:^[7]

• Sir Henry Colley (died 1637), who married Elizabeth Peyton, widow of Sir Richard Cooke. They were the ancestors of the Dukes of Wellington
• Sir George Colley of Edenderry
• Jerome
• Mary (died 1654) who married firstly Garett Moore, 1st Viscount Moore of Drogheda and secondly Charles Wilmot, 1st Viscount Wilmot
• Eleanor, who married Robert Talbot.

References