Francis Aungier, 1st Baron Aungier of Longford explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Aungier of Longford
Office:Master of the Rolls in Ireland
Term Start:1609
Term End:aft. 1625
Office1:Member of House of Lords
Term Start1:1614
Term End1:1614
Office3:Justice of Assize
Birth Date:1558
Birth Place:Cambridge, England
Death Date:1632
Death Place:Dublin, Ireland
Birthname:Francis Aungier
Nationality:English
Occupation:judge
Profession:lawyer

Francis Aungier, 1st Baron Aungier of Longford (1558–1632), also known as Lord Aungier, was the progenitor of the Earldom of Longford, member of the House of Lords, Privy Councillor for Ireland and Master of the Rolls in Ireland under James I and Charles I.[1]

Early life

Francis was born in 1558 in Cambridge, England, the eldest son of Richard Aungier, Esq., and Rose Steward. His father was a barrister and a member of Gray's Inn, as well as a substantial landowner. Francis attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, before entering Gray's Inn in 1577. He became a member of several jurisdictions and was the reader of the Inn in 1602.[2] He was a sufficiently gifted lawyer to earn the praise of Francis Bacon. His father was murdered in his chambers in 1597, soon after his third election as Treasurer of Gray's Inn, and his body thrown into the Thames: the younger brother of Francis, Richard Aungier, was hanged for the crime at Tyburn on 25 January 1598.[3]

Later years

In consequence of his first marriage, Aungier settled at East Clandon, Surrey during the 1590s, where he became a friend of Sir William More of Loseley. In 1609, King James I appointed him to the Irish Privy Council, as well as to the position of Master of the Rolls for Ireland. He was also knighted at Greenwich by the King that same year.[4] He was re-appointed Master of the Rolls for Ireland by King Charles I in 1625.[5]

Aungier attended the House of Lords in 1614 and served as commissioner of the Plantation of Munster in 1616 and of County Longford in 1620. In 1619, he was appointed as a commissioner of the Great Seal of Ireland following the death of Archbishop Thomas Jones. In 1621, he was created Lord Aungier, Baron of Longford by patent, which stated that he descended from the Counts of Aungier.[6] He purchased the lands of the White Friars Monastery in Dublin, where he resided: there, in 1677, Aungier Street was dedicated in honour of his family.

Marriage and issue

Aungier was married three times, and had several children through his marriages.[7]

He married first a Fitzgerald, sister of the 14th Earl of Kildare, and had five children:

He married secondly Anne Barne, daughter of Sir George Barne (died 1593) and Anne Gerrard, and had two children:

He married thirdly Margaret Cave, daughter of Sir Thomas Cave (died 1613) of Stanford Hall and Eleanor St. John.[12] They had no issue.

Notes and References

  1. J.E.M., 'Aungier, Francis (1558-1632), of Gray's Inn, London and East Clandon, Surr.; later of Longford and Dublin, Ireland', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament online.
  2. F.E. Ball, The Judges in Ireland, 1221-1921 (John Murray, London 1926), Vol. I, Book III - 1603 to 1690, pp. 244-46, pp. 322-23 (Google).
  3. 'Aungier, Francis', History of Parliament online. Extended account in C.H. Cooper and T. Cooper, Athenae Cantabrigienses Vol. II, 1586-1609 (Deighton Bell, Cambridge; Macmillan & Co, London, 1861), pp. 229-30.
  4. C.H. Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, Vol. 3 (Warwick & Co (Printers), Cambridge 1845), pp. 255-56 (Google).
  5. "Viscount Leinster", in A. Collins, ed. E. Brydges, Collins's Peerage of England; Genealogical, Biographical and Historical, Greatly Augmented &c., 9 Vols (F.C. and J. Rivington, et al., London 1812), VI, p. 173 (Google).
  6. 'Family of Lord Aungier', in J. Lodge, revised M. Archdall, The Peerage of Ireland: Or, a Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom Vol. III (James Moore, Dublin 1789), pp. 376-78.
  7. B. Burke, 'Aungier - Baron Aungier of Longford', in A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, New Edition (Harrison, London 1866), p. 18 (Google).
  8. "Onslow", in W. Bruce Bannerman (ed.), "The Visitations of the County of Surrey, 1530, 1572 and 1623", Harleian Society Vol. XLIII, pp.154-55 (Internet Archive).
  9. 'Carrell', in W. Bruce Bannerman (ed.), The Visitations of the county of Surrey, Harleian Society XLIII (London 1899), pp. 88-89 (Internet Archive).
  10. 'Family of Cherry', in 'XV: Extracts from the Parish Registers of Camberwell, Surrey', F. Madden and B. Bandinel (eds), Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, Vol. 3 (John Bowyer Nichols & Son, London 1836), pp. 158-59 (Google).
  11. V.C.D. Moseley and R. Sgroi, 'Holcroft, Sir Henry (c.1586-1650), of Long Acre, Westminster and Greenstreet House, East Ham, Essex' in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629 (Cambridge University Press, 2010), History of Parliament online.
  12. Margaret Cave married first, Sir John Wynn (eldest son of Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet), who died 1621, The History of the Gwydir Family written by Sir John Wynn, Knt. and Bart. (Woodall and Venables, Oswestry 1878), Table IV, inter pp. 104, 105.; second Francis Aungier; and third Sir Thomas Wenman. J. Nichols, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester, Vol. 4 Part 1 - Guthlaxton Hundred (John Nichols and Son, London 1807), p. 352.