Bartholomew Van Homrigh, also Vanhomrigh (d. 29 December 1703) was a Polish-born Irish merchant, estate agent and politician who served as the 33rd Lord Mayor of Dublin and twice MP for Londonderry City in William III's Irish Parliaments. [1] Surviving correspondence between 1691-1700 with Godert de Ginkel, the 1st Earl of Athlone, for whom Van Homrigh served as estate agent after the Williamite War in Ireland, detail later troop movements, and various legal and financial updates. [2]
Born in Gdańsk (Danzig) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth sometime before 1665, Van Homrigh came to Dublin from Amsterdam before 1685, and wrote fluent Dutch. On arriving in Dublin Van Homrigh worked as a merchant and was bestowed the Freedom of the City in 1685. [1] He was subsequently one of ten Protestant aldermen and member of the Dublin Corporation by 1687, but was later stricken from the record by Dublin Jacobites for having relocated to Chester during the 1688 Glorious Revolution.
With Sir William Robinson Van Homrigh organised forces for William III of England's invasion of Ireland and served as commissar-general for his armies; he continued logistical work for the King until 1692. Van Homrigh was remade an alderman in 1691 and served as revenue commissioner from 1690-1702 and from 1697-98 the Lord Mayor of Dublin. Whilst Lord Mayor Van Homrigh erected the historic Celbridge Abbey in County Kildare in 1697, where his daughter Esther Vanhomrigh was visited by her lover Jonathan Swift, and received Dublin's modern mayoral chain from William III in 1698. [3] [4]
Van Homrigh represented Londonderry (Derry) in the 1692 and 1695-99 Irish Parliaments, in the later session serving on committees and backing the Tory Lord Chancellor Charles Porter when the latter was accused of corruption and favouring Catholics whilst in office. [5]
On 29 February 1692, William III bestowed the estates of Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick and Christopher Fleming, 17th Baron Slane to the lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of his forces in Ireland, the Dutch commander Godert de Ginkel, whose victory at the 1691 Siege of Limerick ended the War. [2] Already a Dutch baron, Ginkel entrusted oversight of the 26,480 acres to Van Homrigh, which the latter said accrued rents of £5,567 11s 11.75d between 1 November 1693 and 1 May 1695, owing to competent estate management; in a letter from either 1691 or 1692, the combined value of both estates was said to be over £4,000 per annum. For this, he asked to be rented in perpetuity about 326 acres of land in Celbridge, of which only 250 were granted.
His efforts were assiduous: Ginkel was urged to be naturalised, as he could not otherwise own property in Ireland, [1] and Van Homrigh oversaw legal efforts to have Ginkel's possessions confirmed by the great seals of England and of Ireland, done in 1693 and 1695, respectively. [2] On the decline of the Whig Junto by 1698, the Parliament of England began investigating the King's granting of Irish forfeitures. Though Van Homrigh hoped steadfast opposition by the Country Party would prevent the ultimately successful Act of Resumption (1700) from passage, Ginkel pre-emptively sold his properties for over £7,000, of which two-thirds had to be returned by the Act's terms.
56 letters of correspondence between Van Homrigh and Ginkel survive in the private archive of Amerongen Castle, in 1977 entrusted to the Rijksarchief Utrecht.
Van Homrigh married Hester Stone (d. 1714) in December 1686, and had either three or four children. The eldest daughter, Esther, was the longtime lover of Swift, immortalised in his work Cadenus and Vanessa. The name "Vanessa", which gained relative popularity in the twentieth century, was invented by Swift for the poem, the 'Van' from her surname 'Van Homrigh', and 'Essa' a diminutive for Esther. [6]
Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".
The title of Earl of Athlone has been created three times.
Esther Vanhomrigh or Van Homrigh, an Irish woman of Dutch descent, was a longtime lover and correspondent of Jonathan Swift. Swift's letters to her were published after her death. Her fictional name "Vanessa" was created by Swift by taking Van from her surname, Vanhomrigh, and adding Esse, the pet form of her first name, Esther.
The Treaty of Limerick, signed on 3 October 1691, ended the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War. It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commanders of a French expeditionary force and Irish Jacobites loyal to the exiled James II. Baron de Ginkell, leader of government forces in Ireland, signed on behalf of William III and his wife Mary II. It allowed Jacobite units to be transported to France, the diaspora known as the Flight of the Wild Geese.
Celbridge is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Ireland. It is 23 km (14 mi) west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the R403 and R405 regional roads. As of the 2022 census, Celbridge was the third largest town in County Kildare by population, with 20,601 residents.
The Battle of Aughrim was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Jacobite army loyal to James II and the forces of William III on 12 July 1691, near the village of Aughrim, County Galway.
Godard van Reede, 1st Earl of Athlone, Baron van Reede, Lord of Ginkel, born in the Netherlands as Baron Godard van Reede, was a Dutch general who rose to prominence during the Williamite War in Ireland.
William Conolly, also known as Speaker Conolly, was an Irish Whig politician, Commissioner of Revenue, lawyer and landowner. He was an influential figure in Irish politics, serving as Speaker of the Irish House of Commons between 1715 and his death.
Claud Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn PC (Ire) (1659–1691) was a Scottish and Irish peer who fought for the Jacobites in the Williamite War. He went with King James to Derry in 1689 and tried to negotiate the surrender of the town with Adam Murray. He raised a regiment of horse that he led in the defeats of Newtownbutler in 1689 and Aughrim in 1691. He was killed when the ship that should have brought him to France was intercepted by a Dutch privateer.
Events from the year 1697 in Ireland.
Celbridge Abbey is located in Celbridge, County Kildare in Ireland.
Barberstown Castle is a structure originally built in 1288 in Straffan, County Kildare, Ireland, 25 km west of Dublin. It has been operating as a hotel since 1971 and is surrounded by 20 acres (8.1 ha) of gardens. Renovations in 1996 revealed a previously undiscovered tunnel that links the castle to the nearby church in Straffan and is thought to have been used under the Penal Laws.
Colonel Thomas de Burgh, always named in his lifetime as Thomas Burgh, was an Anglo-Irish military engineer, architect, and Member of the Parliament of Ireland who served as Surveyor General of Ireland (1700–1730) and designed a number of the large public buildings of Dublin including the old Custom House (1704–6), Trinity College Library (1712–33), Dr Steevens' Hospital (1719), the Linen Hall (1722), and the Royal Barracks.
Thomas Marlay was an Irish politician and judge, who ended his career as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He is remembered chiefly for beginning the rebuilding of Celbridge Abbey, and as the grandfather of the statesman Henry Grattan.
Richard Marlay was Dean of Ferns from 1769 to 1787; and Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh from 1787 to 1795 when he was translated to Waterford and Lismore. He died in office on 1 July 1802.
Robert Marshall (c.1695–1774) was an Irish judge. He is remembered chiefly as co-executor and legatee of Esther Vanhomrigh, the beloved "Vanessa" of Jonathan Swift, although he was not a close friend of hers; indeed it is possible that they never met.
Thomas Marlay (1719–1784) was an Irish soldier of the eighteenth century.
William Dongan, 1st Earl of Limerick was an Irish Jacobite soldier and peer.
Robert Lindsay (1679-1743) was an Irish barrister, politician and judge in eighteenth-century Ireland. He is best remembered for his close friendship with Jonathan Swift, whom he advised on the legal aspects of the Drapier Letters.
Thomas Christmas was an Irish politician.