Nicholas St Lawrence, 9th Baron Howth

Nicholas St. Lawrence, 9th Baron Howth (c.1550–1607) was a leading member of the Anglo-Irish nobility in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Despite openly professing his Roman Catholic faith, he enjoyed the trust of Elizabeth 1 and successive Lord Deputies of Ireland, and was even forgiven for signing a petition against the Penal Laws.

Early life

He was the eldest surviving son of Christopher, 8th Baron Howth and his first wife Elizabeth Plunket. His date of birth is often given as 1555, but was probably some years earlier: Elrington Ball states that he was well into middle age when his father died,^[1] and in 1605 he was described as being "too old to live long".

His early life cannot have been happy: his father was notorious for his cruelty to his wife and children. In 1577 Nicholas's teenage sister Jane died after being severely beaten by her father, and his mother was so ill-treated that the Court of Castle Chamber eventually granted her a judicial separation from her husband, who was fined and briefly imprisoned.^[2]

According to a well-known legend Granuaile, the celebrated Pirate Queen of Galway in about 1575 arrived unannounced at Howth Castle for dinner, only to find the gates barred; in retaliation for the discourtesy she took the youthful heir hostage until the family apologised. Elrington Ball argues that the story may be based on fact^[3]- but if the heir was a child this must refer to Nicholas' eldest son, not Nicholas himself.

Howth Castle

In the 1580s he lived mostly at Platten in Meath where his wife had inherited property from her first husband. He was knighted in 1588 and succeeded his father as baron the following year.

Political career

In Elrington Ball's view Lord Howth "was devoted to the interests of the Pale and did not always find it easy to reconcile that with the requirements of Government"^[4] especially after it became public knoledge that he practiced the Roman Catholic faith. His initial relations with the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir William FitzWilliam, were friendly, and he was appointed guardian of the Pale in the Deputy's absence. Shortly afterwards relations between the two men cooled when Nicholas became involved in the long and bitter feud between the Nugent and Dillon families family, headed by Christopher, Baron Delvin on the one hand and Sir Robert Dillon, the Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas on the other. The Nugent family pursued Dillon relentlessly with charges of corruption for several years until he was eventually cleared in 1593, and Lord Howth was closely associated with the attack.^[5] His motives are unclear; Lord Delvin claimed that Howth had been injured in some way by the Deputy, but Howth himself proclaimed his trust in him. More likely he was influenced by his second wife's father, Sir Nicholas White, another bitter enemy of Dillon, and this would explain his loss of favour with the Crown, since White's loyalty was deeply suspect, and he eventually died a prisoner in the Tower of London.

Howth in time was restored to favour and enjoyed friendly relations with the new Deputy, Lord Russell, whom he entertained at Howth Castle on his arrival in Ireland. The following year he accompanied Russell on his campaign against the O'Byrnes of Wicklow and the Deputy wrote that Howth deserved some words of thanks from the Queen.^[5] In 1598 he was praised highly for being one of the few nobles of the Pale to render useful assistance to Sir Henry Bagenal in his campaign against Hugh O'Neill, although he later complained of the depredations of Bagenal's soldiers in the Pale.^[5]

In 1600 he was again the first man of note to entertain a new Lord Deputy, Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, who formed a very high opinion of him and appointed him to act as Deputy in his absence. In 1601 he went to London to discuss Irish affairs: the Queen who had already met and been impressed by his eldest son, also formed a high opinion of Howth himself.^[6] On his return he was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland.

Religious conflict

Howth's first wife Margaret was a daughter of Sir Christopher Barnewall of Turvey, who while outwardly conforming to the Church of Ireland, had privately adhered to the Roman Catholic faith. Christopher's son Patrick Barnewall emerged in the early 1600s as spokesman for the Catholic nobility. Although they had been on bad terms over a lawsuit in the 1590s, he and Howth later became friendly and Howth, like Barnewall, openly professed his Catholic faith. In December 1605 he was one of the signatories to a petition that the Penal Laws should be modified, rather than extended.^[5] This was a dangerous step, particularly just after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, and Barnewall was sent to the Tower of London as a result, but Howth was left in peace. He enjoyed the confidence of yet another Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, who was said to openly dispute with him the rival merits of the two faiths (this is rather surprising in view of Chichester's generally vigorous enforcement of the Penal Laws). Possibly to forestall any action against Howth, Chichester wrote that he was old and would probably not live long.^[7] This proved to be correct: Howth died in May 1607 and was buried in Howth Abbey.

Family

By his first wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Christopher Barnewall, who died in 1576, he had three children:

• Christopher St Lawrence, 10th Baron Howth
• Thomas
• Mary, who married William Eustace of Castlemartin.

By his second wife Mary White, daughter of Sir Nicholas White, Master of the Rolls in Ireland he had six further children:

• Richard
• Almeric
• Edward
• Margaret, who married firstly Jenico Preston, 5th Viscount Gormanston and secondly Luke Plunkett, 1st Earl of Fingall
• Eleanor
• Alison, who married Thomas Luttrell: their daughter Mary married William FitzWilliam, 3rd Viscount FitzWilliam.

References