Henry_Bulkeley

Henry Bulkeley

Henry Bulkeley

English courtier and politician (died 1698)

Not to be confused with Henry Daggett Bulkley.

Henry Bulkeley (c. 1641 – 1698) was an English courtier and politician. He was Master of the Household to Charles II and James II of England. He also was Member of parliament for Anglesey from February to August 1679 and for Beaumaris in October 1679 and from 1681 and 1685.

Birth and origins

Henry was born about 1641, a younger son of Thomas Bulkeley and his wife Blanche Coytmore.[1][2]

His father was created Viscount Bulkeley of Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1643. His father's family were the Bulkeleys of Baronhill, Anglesey.[3]

Henry was the 4th of 5 brothers.[2] See Robert and Thomas.

Early life

Bulkeley studied at Gray's Inn, where he was admitted in 1654, and at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1657.[3] In 1664 he became an ensign in the Kings Guards in the Irish Army. From about 1669 to 1678 he was a captain.

Marriage and children

About November 1673 Bulkeley married Sophia Stewart, maid of honour to Queen Catherine of Braganza.[1]

Henry and Sophia had a son:

  1. Francis or François [fr], lieutenant-general[4], who married Marie-Anne O'Mahony, daughter of Daniel O'Mahony (d. 1714) [fr] and Cecilia Weld, and widow of Richard Cantillon.[5]

—and four daughters:

  1. Charlotte; first wife of Charles O'Brien, 5th Viscount Clare,[6][7] and later of Daniel O'Mahony (d. 1714) [fr]
  2. Anne (c. 1675 – 1751), married James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of James II[8][9]
  3. Henrietta, who died unmarried[10]
  4. Laura, who died unmarried[10]

Master of the Household

In 1678 Bulkeley became Master of the Household, a sinecure.[11] He was appointed by Charles II and maintained in office by James II of England at his accession to the throne in 1685.

Member of Parliament

At the time the Isle of Anglesey sent two members of parliament to the Parliament of England, one as knight of the shire for the county, another for the boroughs on the island. This latter seat was called Beaumaris Boroughs, after the town and castle of Beaumaris.

The year 1679 saw two elections. In February Bulkeley was elected for the County of Anglesey in the Habeas Corpus Parliament. In August he was elected MP for Beaumaris Boroughs for the Exclusion Bill Parliament. He was then reelected for the same seat in 1681 for the Oxford Parliament and in 1685 for the Loyal Parliament.[12]

Later life and death

In 1688 at the Glorious Revolution Bulkeley fled with James II to France. He lived at the exile court at Saint Germain-en-Laye until he returned to England in January 1691 as a Jacobite agent.[13]

In 1695 Bulkeley was back in Saint Germain where he quarrelled with Donough MacCarthy, 4th Earl of Clancarty.[14] In 1696, at the attempted assassination of King William, Bulkeley was in England and signed the Association to show his loyalty.[15]

Bulkeley committed suicide in 1698. In his will he told his son to return to England and conform to the established religion.[16]

References

Citations

  1. [1]
    Humphreys & Wynne 2004, p. 579, right column. "Sophia was appointed a maid of honour to Queen Catherine in 1671 and about November 1673 she married ... Henry Bulkeley (c. 1641 – 1689) fifth but third surviving son of Thomas, first viscount Bulkeley ..."
  2. [2]
    Burke 1883, p. 87. Henry was the 4th of 5 brothers enumerated in this source: Richard, Robert, Thomas, Henry, and Edwin
  3. [3]
    Venn & Venn 1922, p. 250, left column. "Bulkeley, Henry, Matric. [Matriculation] Fell.-Com. [Fellow-Commoner] from Queens', Michs. [Michaelmas] 1657. Of Wales, doubtless s. [son] of Thomas of Baronhill, Isle of Anglesey, Esq., adm. [admitted] at Gray's Inn, Apr. 12, 1654."
  4. [4]
    Corp 2004, p. 100, note 48. "After his death in 1698 the apartment was used by his widow, Lady Sophia Bulkeley, and then by his son, Lt. General Francis Bulkeley."
  5. [5]
    Woods 2009, p. . "In February 1722 he married, when in London Mary-Anne, daughter of Daniel, Count O'Mahony (d. 1714), a native of Killarney, Co. Kerry ...", last paragraph, 7th sentence
  6. [6]
    Seccombe & Elliot-Wright 2004, p. 353, left column. "On 9 January 1697 at St Germain-in-Laye he married Charlotte (d. in or after 1714), eldest daughter of Henry Buckeley, master of the household ..."
  7. [7]
    Cokayne 1913, p. 253, line 15. "He [Clare] m. [married], 9 Jan. 1696/7, at St. Germain-en-Laye, Charlotte, 1st da. [daughter] of the Hon. Henry Bulkeley, Master of the Household to Charles II and James II."
  8. [8]
    Humphreys & Wynne 2004, p. 580, left column, line 18. "Ann married James, Duje of Berwick ..."
  9. [9]
    Handley 2004, p. 882, right column. "In Paris on 18 April 1700, he married Anne (1675–1751), daughter of Henry Bulkeley, master of the household ..."
  10. [10]
    Corp 2004, p. 217, line 4. "At the exiled court Hamilton was at particulary good terms with the Duke of Berwick's second wife Anne (née Bulkeley) and her three sisters Charlotte (Viscomtess Clare), Henritee and Laura (both unmarried) ..."
  11. [11]
    Sainty & Bucholz 1997, p. xxviii, line 6. "... master of the household (positions which were, for the most part, sinecures) ..."
  12. [12]
    Henning 1983, p. 742, right column. "Bulkeley, Hon. Henry (c. 1641 – 1698), of Westminster Anglesey 1679 (Mar.) Beaumars 1679 (Oct.), 1681, 1685"
  13. [13]
    Lever 1952, p. 87"Early in January 1691 the busy Jacobite agent, Henry Bulkeley, reappeared in England after a sojourn on the continent whither he had fled at the Revolution."
  14. [14]
    Corp 2004, p. 116. "When Henry Bulkeley (the husband of one of the ladies of the bedchamber) picked a quarrel with Lord Clancarty (a gentleman of the bedchamber) he was ordered by the king to 'beg pardon before the D. of Powis'."
  15. [15]
    Corp 2004, p. 49, line 14. " ...even men who had served as active Jacobite agents abjured their former loyalties: 'Henry Bacely [i.e. Henry Bulkeley] I hear has taken the oaths ...'."
  16. [16]
    Corp 2004, p. 49, note 221. "Bulkeley committed suicide two years later [in 1698], in his will, he recommended that his son renounce his Roman Catholic faith and return to England."

Sources

Further reading

  • Rochester, Dryden, and the Rose-Street Affair; J. Harold Wilson; The Review of English Studies, Vol. 15, No. 59 (Jul., 1939), pp. 294–301
  • The Irish chieftains; or, A struggle for the crown; C.J. Blake Forester; 1872.
More information Parliament of England, Court offices ...
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