(585) Bernard of Castle Bernard, Earls of Bandon

Bernard of Castle Bernard,
Earls of Bandon

The origins of this family are unusually obscure. Bennett's History of Bandon (1869) states that they derived from a family of this name settled at Acorn Bank in Westmorland, but there seems to be no evidence for the existence of such a family. All that can be said for certain is that Francis Bernard (d. 1659), with whom the genealogy below begins, was an English settler who purchased Castle Mahon (Co. Cork) - later renamed Castle Bernard - in 1639. Although his descendants consistently spelled their name as 'Bernard', his will names him as Francis Barnard, and the Visitation of Essex for 1612 has a pedigree for a Barnard family of Margaretting who used the same coat of arms as the Bernards of Castle Bernard, and among whom the forename Francis was in regular use. It is therefore likely that there was a connection between Francis Bernard (d. 1659) and the Barnards of Margaretting, but unfortunately I have failed to demonstrate it since the parish registers for Margaretting do not survive before 1627. Perhaps someone with more time to go through wills, deeds and other records will be able to make the connection.

Francis Bernard's wife is said to have been Elizabeth Freke, and there is long subsequent history of intermarriage between the Bernards of Castle Bernard and the Frekes of Castle Freke, which has led to some confusion about which marriages took place in which generation, and the relationships between the parties. Elizabeth is usually said to have been the daughter of Arthur Freke (b. 1604), but the dating evidence suggests that she was more probably his sister. Francis Bernard had seven daughters before his wife finally produced a son and heir, Francis Bernard (c.1640-90), who married Mary Freke in 1661 and produced two sons and six daughters over the next few years.

At the time of the Jacobite invasion of Ireland, Bandon was a largely Protestant town in an area generally controlled by the Jacobites. Francis Bernard and his two sons were all on the list of Protestant landowners attainted by the 'Patriot' Parliament in 1689, and in 1690 the Jacobites occupied Bandon, rounded up and held captive the male inhabitants, and attacked Castle Mahon. The Bernards and their servants defended the castle and successfully repulsed the attack, but at the expense of the death of Francis Bernard, who was killed during the attack. His elder son, Francis Bernard (1663-1731), who had trained as a lawyer in Dublin and London, soon recovered the family estates, and over the next forty years pursued a successful legal career. He was also active in politics, and held a seat in the Irish parliament for some twenty-five years, but since he was a Tory and therefore out of office for most of his lifetime, his political career was less successful that his legal one, which saw him rise to be Prime Serjeant-at-Law and a justice of the common pleas. In 1697, he married Alice Ludlow, from another Tory family, and they had at least six sons and one daughter. Between 1700 and 1725, his profits from the law enabled him to buy large amounts of land, much of it forfeited by those who had supported James II against William III, like the Earl of Clancarty. His holdings included the town of Macroom, where he obtained the right to hold a market in 1712, and much land in west Cork, but also land at Kinsalebeg (Co. Waterford). About 1715-25 he undertook a major remodelling of the house at Castle Mahon, which was then renamed as Castle Bernard.

Prospect Hall, Kinsalebeg

When Francis died in 1731, he was succeeded at Castle Bernard by his eldest son, Francis Bernard (1698-1783), but Prospect Hall, his seat at Kinsalebeg, passed to his sister, Anne Foulkes (d. 1754) before descending in turn to his younger sons, Stephen Bernard (1701-61) and Arthur Bernard (1706-67), both of whom died without issue. It was then reunited with the main estate held by their elder brother. Francis had became a widower at the age of 30 and soon afterwards moved to England after a dispute with his neighbours over the planting of some trees on common land. In 1745 he bought Bassingbourn Hall in Essex (demolished in the early 19th century and apparently unrecorded), and made his home there, but later in life, he seems to have became mentally ill and obsessed by the idea that he would die in poverty. To save money, he gave up Bassingbourn and took cheap lodgings with an apothecary in Westminster, where he became a recluse. He left a rather strange will that hints at mistrust of his relatives, but which named neither an executor nor a residuary legatee, and the courts seem to have decided that his nearest male relative should inherit his extensive property. This was his nephew, James Bernard (1729-90), the only surviving son of his brother, North Ludlow Bernard (1705-53), who became MP for County Cork in 1781. James had a large family by his first wife, but in 1789 he married a much younger clergyman's daughter, 'to whose tender embraces' as the Gentleman's Magazine delicately put it, 'it is feared, he fell a sacrifice', for he had a severe stroke and died in the summer of 1790.

The ownership of the Bernard estates now descended to his eldest son, Francis Bernard (1755-1830), an ambitious man whose political views were not very consistently held, and who seems to have been something of a tyrant in his household. His chief concern was to secure a peerage, an objective in which he was successful in 1793, when he became Baron Bandon. He was advanced to a viscountcy in 1795 and in 1798 his father-in-law, the 2nd Earl of Shannon, persuaded the Lord Lieutenant to recommend to the government that he should be raised to an earldom, although this did not finally happen until after the passage of the Act of Union, when the newly-minted Earl of Bandon was also made one of the first 28 Irish representative peers entitled to sit in the House of Lords in London. Lord Bandon celebrated his ascent into the nobility by largely rebuilding Castle Bernard to the designs of a Cork architect much influenced by the style of James Wyatt. 

At his death in 1830, the 1st Earl was succeeded by his eldest son, James Bernard (1785-1856), 2nd Earl of Bandon, who had pursued a political career in the House of Commons before coming into the title. He was the owner of the estates during the period of the Great Famine of 1845-49, and was obliged to grant substantial rent reductions in 1849. He introduced the practice of employing gentlemen-agents (including the Rev. Samuel Beamish, the Rev. Joseph Jervois, and the 3rd earl's younger brother, Henry Boyle Bernard (1812-95) of Coolmain Castle) to manage the estates, which amounted by the 1880s to some 41,000 acres, divided into two large groupings known as the Eastern and Western Estates. The agents brought a certain amateurishness to estate management, which may not have served the best interests of the estate at a time when it was facing unprecedented economic challenges. The 2nd Earl married Albinia, daughter of the Archbishop of Cashel, and had three sons and a daughter who survived to adulthood. His second son, the Hon. Charles Brodrick Bernard (1811-90), became bishop of Tuam in 1867, while his eldest son Francis Bernard (1810-77), 3rd Earl of Bandon succeeded to the estates in 1856. 

The 3rd Earl married the daughter of a Shropshire landowner, and produced one son and six daughters. The son, James Francis Bernard (1850-1924), 4th Earl of Bandon, was both politically more astute and more business-minded than his immediate predecessors. He was resident on his estates, and engaged as his land agents Richard Doherty senior and junior, and their business partner George Thomas Jones, and worked with them to reorganise the estate, much of which was sold to tenants under the 1903 Land Act. As a result of their efforts, the 4th Earl seems to have enjoyed a fairly good reputation as a landowner in the late 19th and early 20th century. The scale of the estate insulated it from the most severe economic repercussions of the agricultural depression and rising taxation, and the Earl and Countess continued to entertain generously. During the Civil War, however, Castle Bernard was burned to the ground on 21 June 1921 by an IRA raiding party led by Sean Hales, while the Earl himself was kidnapped and held prisoner for a few weeks before being returned to Bandon and released. The house and many of the contents had been destroyed, and Lord Bandon later settled in England. Although he had been unharmed during his captivity, the stress of the experience seems to have taken a toll on his health, and he died just three years later. Since he had no children, the earldom devolved on a great-great-grandson of the 2nd Earl, Paddy Bernard (1904-79), 5th Earl of Bandon, who was then in training to join the Royal Air Force. He was the first peer to serve in the recently-formed service, and he went on to have a distinguished career, retiring as an Air Chief Marshal. He also inherited the ruins of Castle Bernard, but much of the estate that had not already been sold under the Land Act was left to other relatives. He used the compensation paid for the destruction of Castle Bernard to build a smaller house close to the ruins, which remains in the possession of his descendants, but as he had no male heir, the earldom and associated peerages became extinct on his death.

Castle Bernard, Bandon, Co. Cork

The origins of Castle Bernard lie in a great square tower house of the O'Mahony family on the south bank of the River Bandon, which was known as Castle Mahon. Although much altered, this survives in the west wing of the later house, and retains its original battered base and a pointed window on the north front. It was acquired in 1639 by Francis Bernard but it was only given its present name in the early 18th century, when another Francis Bernard (1663-1731), initiated work on a new house to the designs of Benjamin Crawley, with John Coltsman of Cork as stonemason. Work evidently began around 1715, and was in full swing when the surviving estate ledgers begin in 1719. It involved adding wings to the old tower house, encasing the whole in brick with Corinthian pilasters, quoins and platbands in Portland stone. Around 1725, a formal garden was created by William Fennell, with terraces, a canal, cascades, jets d’eau and statuary. This was no doubt swept away later in the 18th century when it had become unfashionable.  The one visible survival of the 1720s work is a brick-built range west of the house with elliptical first-floor windows.

In 1794 Michael Shanahan of Cork prepared designs for a new house at Castle Bernard for the 1st Earl of Bandon, who was raised to the peerage in 1793 and became an earl seven years later. He no doubt wanted a grander house befitting his new status. Shanahan provided a modest estimate of £9,200 for the total cost. His scheme involved pulling down the additions to the original tower house, and instead erecting a new neo-classical block to its east. with a linking corridor between the two. The new main block was of two storeys over the basement and had a nine-bay entrance front. The garden front was similar but had a substantial full-height bow occupying the three centre bays. The design was influenced by Castle Coole (Co. Fermanagh), built in 1790-97 to the designs of James Wyatt, with whom Shanahan had worked at Downhill (Co. Derry) in the 1780s. The walls of the new block were rendered and the windows were simple voids in the neo-classical manner, with no architraves. Perhaps to save money, a bolection-moulded doorcase was reused from the 1720s house. The block was intended to have a pair of matching wings, but only that to the west was built. 

Castle Bernard: the house from the south-east in the late 19th century, photographed by Robert French. The old tower can be seen in the background. Image: National Library of Ireland.

The plan of the 18th century block closely followed that of Castle Coole. The entrance hall had a screen of Portland stone pilasters and columns, and delicate plasterwork on the walls and ceilings. It originally opened to a central transverse corridor with a cantilevered Portland stone staircase at one end, but an arcaded screen wall was later inserted, presumably to reduce draughts. Either side of the hall were the drawing room and dining room, each 36 x 24 ft and 18 ft high, while across the corridor from the hall was an elegant oval saloon, which projected into the bow on the garden front. These rooms were sparely decorated with plaster friezes in the style of James Wyatt. Work on fitting up the interior was evidently completed in 1802.

Castle Bernard: the house from the north-west in the late 19th century. Image: National Library of Ireland

The neo-classical house had a short life in unaltered form, for between 1836 and 1855 the 2nd Earl of Bandon commissioned an unknown architect to apply a rather half-hearted Gothic dress to the classical body, and to improve the connection between the main block and the old castle. The entrance front was given square turrets at the corners and a battlemented parapet, but this was only taken part of the way around the sides of the house. The west wing, incorporating the old tower house, was enlarged, raised in height, and given tall battlemented parapets and bartizans. To the right of the entrance front, three large Gothic windows were created that suggest the presence of a great hall, but actually only look into an open service court. The garden front was altered less, and no great changes were made to the interior, which retained its classical decoration. Probably at the same time, new offices, stables, and a racquet court were built to the west of the house, further extending what had become a rambling  composition. The final changes to the house were made in the 1870s, when the Georgian sash windows were taken out, and the window openings were given plain architraves and filled with rather heavy Perpendicular-style tracery.

Castle Bernard: the ruins of the house now sit on the edge of Bandon Golf Course.

The Bernard family remained in residence until June 1921 when the IRA raided the house, took the elderly 4th Earl captive, and set the house on fire. Lady Bandon is said to have stood on the lawn watching the house burn, defiantly singing 'God save the King'. Lord Bandon was held captive for the next three weeks before being released at the gates of the now-ruined Castle Bernard, but he never recovered from the experience and died in 1924. Although some compensation was received by the family, Castle Bernard was not rebuilt, and the 5th Earl, who was a distant cousin of his predecessor, constructed a modest bungalow behind the ruin. The earldom became extinct at his death in 1979, but although members of the family still live on the estate, the land in front of Castle Bernard is now a golf course. The ruins have decayed over the last century in a fairly picturesque way, but are now cordoned off because of the increasing danger of collapsing masonry.

Bernard family of Castle Bernard, Earls of Bandon

Bernard, Francis (d. 1659). Parentage unknown, but it is likely that he was closely related to Francis Barnard of Margaretting (Essex), Gentleman Porter of the Tower of London in the late 16th century, who used the same coat of arms. He married Elizabeth (b. c.1607), perhaps daughter of William and sister of Arthur Freke of Rathbarry Castle (Co. Cork), and had issue:

(1) Elizabeth Bernard (fl. 1657); married Captain James Burrell and had issue one daughter; living in 1657, when she was mentioned in her father's will;

(2) Mary Bernard (fl. 1657); married 1st, Thomas Poole (1615-<1657) of Mayfield, Knockaveale (Co. Cork), and had issue two sons and two daughters; married 2nd, before 1657, Capt. John Freke (fl. 1670) of Garretstown and Knockanameele (Co. Cork), and had further issue six daughters; living in 1657, when she was mentioned in her father's will;

(3) Ellinor Bernard; married Capt. William Holcombe of  Ballinaboe (Co. Cork), and had issue four daughters; apparently survived her husband and received lands in lieu of his arrears of pay for service in the army before 1649;

(4) A daughter; married [forename unknown] Wiltshire, and had issue at least two daughters; probably died before 1657;

(5) Catherine Bernard (d. c.1695); married Francis Beamish (d. 1679) of Kilmalooda (Co Cork), and had issue four sons and three daughters; died about 1695, when administration of her goods was granted;

(6) Alice Bernard; married Lt. John Langton (fl. 1668) of Kilbrogan, son of Ansolme Langton of Gloucestershire, and had issue three sons and three daughters; probably died before 1657;

(7) Anne Bernard (fl. 1657); unmarried in 1657;

(8) Francis Bernard (c.1640-90) (q.v.).

He inherited Castle Mahon from his father.

He died 29 December 1659, and his will was proved in 1660. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bernard, Francis (c.1640-90). Only son of Francis Bernard (d. 1659) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of William? Freke of Rathbarry Castle, born c.1640. High Sheriff of Co. Cork, 1676. He married, 1661 (settlement 5 December), Mary, daughter of Capt Arthur Freke (b. 1604) of Castle Freke, and had issue:

(1) Francis Bernard (1663-1731) (q.v.); 

(2) Maria Bernard; married 1st, 1692, Eusebius Chute (d. by 1716) of Chute Hall, Tulligaron (Co. Kerry), son of Richard Chute, and had issue five sons and one daughter; married 2nd, 1717 (contract 28 October), Francis Brewster of Brewsterfield (Co. Kerry), son of Sir David Brewster;

(3) Arthur Bernard (1666-1735) [for whom see my forthcoming post on the Bernards of Palace Anne]

(4) Anne Bernard (d. 1754); married Robert Foulkes of Youghal, but apparently had no issue; inherited Prospect Hall, Kinsalebeg (Co. Waterford) from her brother Francis in 1731 and bequeathed it to her nephew, Stephen Bernard (1701-61);

(5) Elizabeth Bernard; married Rev. Samuel Wilson (c.1655-1710), rector of Castleisland (Co. Kerry), 1682-1710 and Chancellor of the diocese of Ardfert, 1684-1710, son of Samuel Wilson of Shrewsbury (Shrops.), and had issue at least one son;

(6) Mary Bernard; married Edward Adderley (c.1665-1730) of Innishannon, son of Edward Adderley;

(7) Katherine Bernard; married, 15 October 1703, Col. John Gifford of Atherne, and had issue at least one son;

(8) Dorothy Bernard; married 1688, Thomas Adderley (d. c.1691).

He inherited Castle Mahon from his father in 1659 and came of age in about 1661.

He was killed defending his castle against Jacobite forces, 15 April 1690; his will was proved a few days later and a further grant of administration of his goods was granted 2 May 1691. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bernard, Francis (1663-1731). Eldest son of Francis Bernard (c.1640-90) and his wife Mary, daughter of Capt. Arthur Freke of Castle Freke, born 1663. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1680; BA 1683), Middle Temple (admitted 1683) and King's Inns (admitted 1683). Attainted by the Jacobite 'Patriot' Parliament, 1689, but was restored to his estates by King William III. Recorder of Clonakilty, 1692, and of Kinsale, 1693; Chief justice of the palatinate of Tipperary, 1704; Seneschal of the Liberty of Tipperary, 1704-15; a Trustee of the Linen Manufacture for the Province of Munster, 1711; Solicitor-General of Ireland, 1711-14; Prime Serjeant, 1725-26; and a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, 1726-31. Tory MP for Clonakilty, 1692-93 and for Bandon, 1695-99, 1703-13 and 1715-25 in the Irish parliament. A freemason from 1731. He married, 1697, Alice (1675-1741), reckoned 'a furious Tory if not a degree beyond it' in 1716, daughter of Stephen Ludlow and granddaughter of Sir Henry Ludlow of Maiden Bradley (Wilts), and had issue:

(1) Francis Bernard (1698-1783) (q.v.);

(2) Stephen Bernard (1701-61), born 17 July 1701; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1718; BA 1728), Middle Temple (admitted 1721) and King's Inns, Dublin (called to Irish bar, 1727); barrister-at-law; MP for Bandon, 1727-60; recorder of Kinsale, 1734; inherited Prospect Hall, Kinsalebeg in 1754 from his aunt, Anne Foulkes, 'a handsome seat', where he made 'good improvements'; died unmarried in France, possibly at Tarbes*, 6 September 1761; will proved in Dublin, 1761;

(3) North Ludlow Bernard (1705-68) (q.v.);

(4) Arthur Bernard (1706-67), born 1 September 1706; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1723; BA 1728); inherited Prospect Hall from his elder brother; died May 1767 and was buried at Kinsale;

(5) William Bernard (d. 1774); married, 1736, his first cousin, Henrietta Bernard (b. 1712) of Palace Anne; died 2 December 1774 and was buried at Kinsale;

(6) John Bernard (d. 1768); buried at Bandon, 15 April 1768;

(7) Elizabeth Bernard (1703-43), born 21 February 1703; married 1st, Rt. Hon. James Caulfield (1682-1734), 3rd Viscount Charlemont, and had surviving issue two sons and one daughter; married 2nd, 9 October 1740, Thomas Adderley (c.1713-91) of Innishannon (Co. Cork), MP for Charlemont (Co. Armagh), 1752-60, Bandon, 1761-68 and Clonakilty, 1776-91 (who m2, 1769, Margaretta, only daughter and co-heir of Edmund Bourke of Urrey (Co. Mayo), and had further issue two sons and a daughter; died in childbirth, 30 May 1743.

He recovered possession of Castle Mahon in 1690 and expanded the estate after 1700, chiefly through purchases from the Commissioners for the sale of forfeited estates. He remodelled the house c.1715-25, renaming it Castle Bernard. In 1712 he was granted the privilege of holding a market at Macroom (Co. Cork). In 1724 he bought much of Kinsalebeg near Youghal.

He died suddenly in Dublin, 29/30 June 1731, and was buried in the family vault at Ballymodan, Bandon; his will was proved in Dublin, 1731. His widow died 16 May 1741.

* He is often said to have died at Tarbes in 1757, but I have followed the History of the Irish Parliament which says he was still sitting as an MP in 1759 and gives his date of death as 1761.

Bernard, Francis (1698-1783). Eldest son of Francis Bernard (1663-1731) and his wife Alice, daughter of Stephen Ludlow, born 25/28 September 1698. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1716) and King's Inns, Dublin (member by 1724). MP for Clonakilty, 1725-60 and Bandon, 1766-76, but he moved to England in 1735 and never returned to Ireland. Although he  was repeatedly said to have a 'very large fortune' he came to believe that he would die in poverty, and so became a recluse, taking lodgings in an apothecary's house in the Haymarket, London, 'and never stirs from thence'. He married, 26 March 1722 at St Anne, Dublin, Lady Anne (1700-28), daughter of Henry Fitzmaurice Petty (1675-1751), 1st Earl of Shelburne, but had no surviving issue.

He inherited Castle Bernard from his father in 1731 and Prospect Hall from his brother Arthur in 1767. In 1745 he purchased Bassingbourn Hall, Takeley (Essex). He left his estates to his nephew, James Bernard (1729-90), son of North Ludlow Bernard.

He died in London, 19 March, and is said to have been buried at Takeley (Essex), 21 March 1783, but has a tomb stone at Ballymodan, Bandon; his will was proved in the PCC, 10 April 1783. His wife predeceased her father and husband, and was buried at St Mary, Dublin, 2 February 1727/8.

Maj. North Ludlow Bernard 

Bernard, North Ludlow (1705-53*).  A younger son of Francis Bernard (1663-1731) and his wife Alice, daughter of Stephen Ludlow, born 15 April 1705. An officer in the Dragoons (Lt., 1724; Capt., 1739; Maj. by 1751, when he sold his commission on his second marriage, apparently at the insistence of his wife). His portrait was painted by Johann Zoffany. His second marriage was regarded as something of a mesalliance by the royal family and his wife's aristocratic circle, and was presumably a love match. He married 1st, c.1726, Rose, daughter of John Echlin of Echlinville, Ardquin (Co. Down) and 2nd, 4 September 1751, Mary (1707-69), daughter of Richard Fitzwilliam (c.1677-1743), 5th Viscount Fitzwilliam of Meryon, of Mount Merrion House (Co. Dublin), and widow of Henry Herbert (1688-1750), 9th Earl of Pembroke & Montgomery, and had issue:

(1.1) Charles Bernard (c.1727-63), born about 1727; Provost of Bandon; died about February 1763;

(1.2) James Bernard (1729-90) (q.v.);

(1.3) Alice Bernard (d. 1792); married, 29 September 1751 at Ballymodan, Captain William Beamish RN (c.1714-72) of Willsgrove, Cork, and had issue six sons and two daughters; died in Mallow (Co. Cork) in 1792; her will was proved in Dublin, 1792;

(1.4) Eliza Bernard (fl. 1789); married, 14 January 1766 at Ballymodan, Richard Sealy (d. 1789) of Richmount, Bandon, and had issue at least three sons; living in 1789;

(1.5) Mary Bernard; married, 26 August 1756 at Ballymodan, Isaac Hewitt (d. 1789) of Clancoole, Bandon.

He was buried at Ballymodan on 13 December 1753. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His widow died 13 February 1769; her will was proved in the PCC, 11 March 1769.

* His date of death is often given as 1768, but this seems to be incorrect, as the Dublin press reported his death in December 1753. The entry for his burial in the Ballymodan parish register was, however, incorrectly transcribed as 'Norwich Ludlow Bernard'. His name generally seems to have caused trouble: his widow refers to him as 'Thomas Bernard' in her will and his daughter Alice Beamish's descendants knew him as 'William North Ludlow Bernard', although they reused the names North and Ludlow in that family over several generations.

Bernard, James (1729-90). Second son of North Ludlow Bernard (1705-68) and his first wife, Rose, daughter of John Echlin of Echlinville, Ardquin (Co. Down), born 8 December 1729. MP for Co. Cork, 1781-90. He married 1st, 1755, Esther (d. 1780), daughter of William Smyth of Headborough (Co. Waterford), granddaughter of Sir Percy Smyth of Ballynatray (Co. Waterford) and widow of Robert Gookin (d. 1752) of Courtmacsherry, and 2nd, 5 September 1789, Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. John Sullivan (d. 1786) of Clonakilty (Co. Cork), and had issue:

(1.1) Francis Bernard (1755-1830), 1st Earl of Bandon (q.v.);

(1.2) Elizabeth Bernard; died young;

(1.3) Rose Bernard (1758-1810), born 8 March 1758; married 1st, 13 November 1773, Rt. Hon. Lt. Col. William Hull (later Tonson) (1724-87), MP for Tuam, 1768-76 and Rathcormack, 1776-83, and later 1st Baron Riversdale, illegitimate son of Richard Tonson MP, and had issue eight sons and two daughters; married 2nd, 18 October 1792 at Rathcormack, apparently as his second wife, Capt. James Millerd (d. 1804), and had further issue one son; died at Lisnegar (Co. Cork), 26 May 1810;

(1.4) Esther Bernard (1759-1824), born 17 March 1759; married, 2 December 1775, Sampson Stawell (1741-1819) of Kilbrittain Castle (Co. Cork), Col. of the Bandon Cavalry, and had issue eight sons and two daughters; died 18 May 1824;

(1.5) Charles Bernard (1760-63), born 12 August 1760; died young and was buried at Ballymodan, 5 February 1763;

(1.6) Mary Bernard (c.1761-1825); married, 1778, Sir Augustus Louis Carré Warren (1754-1821), 2nd bt., of Warrens Court (Co. Cork), MP for the City of Cork, 1783-90, son of Sir Robert Warren, 1st bt., and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 14 November 1825;

(1.7) Charlotte Bernard (1763-1835), baptised at Ballymodan, Bandon, about 1 September 1763; married, 3 September 1785, Hayes St. Leger (1755-1819), 2nd Viscount Doneraile of Doneraile Court (Co. Cork), MP for Doneraile, 1776-87, and had issue one son and two daughters; died 2 September 1835;

(1.8) Elizabeth Bernard (1764-1840), baptised at Ballymodan, Bandon, 25 December 1764; married, 1785, Richard Acklom (1763-1812) of Wiseton Hall (Notts), eldest son of Jonathan Acklom, and had issue one son (who died young) and one daughter (later the Countess Spencer); died at Leamington Spa (Warks) and was buried at Brington (Northants), 25 March 1840; will proved in the PCC, 1 April 1840.

He inherited Castle Bernard, Prospect Hall and Bassingbourn Hall (Essex) from his uncle, Francis Bernard, in 1783, but sold Bassingbourn soon afterwards.

He evidently suffered a stroke before the 1790 election and lost the use of his arms and legs, presenting 'a dismal spectacle' when he took his seat in Parliament, and he died a few weeks later; buried at Ballymodan, Bandon, 25 July 1790; his will was proved 30 July 1790.  His first wife died in 1780. His widow's date of death is unknown.

Bernard, Francis (1755-1830), 1st Earl of Bandon. Eldest son of James Bernard (1729-90) and his first wife, Esther, daughter of William Smyth of Headborough (Co. Waterford) and widow of Robert Gookin, born 26 November 1755. Colonel of Bandon Independent Company of Volunteers, 1782 and an officer in the Bandon Cavalry (Capt., 1796). MP for Ennis, 1776-83 and Bandon Bridge, 1783-90 in the Irish parliament. He was raised to the Irish peerage as 1st Baron Bandon, 30 November 1793, and further promoted to be 1st Viscount Bandon, 6 October 1795 and 1st Earl of Bandon and Viscount Bernard, 29 August 1800. He was one of the initial 28 Irish representative peers in the House of Lords elected after the Act of Union, and sat on the Tory benches, 1801-30. He owed his advancement in the peerage to his political connections (especially his father-in-law) but these 'were not matched by his personal gifts'. He did not pursue a consistent line in politics and was often offensive in his manner and personal conduct, not least to his wife. He married, 12 February 1784, Lady Catherine Henrietta (1768-1815), only daughter of Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Shannon, and had issue:

(1) James Bernard (1785-1856), 2nd Earl of Bandon (q.v.);

(2) Hon. & Very Rev. Richard Boyle Bernard (1787-1850), born 4 September 1787; educated at St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1805; MA 1807; DD, 1821) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1809; called 1812); MP for Bandon Bridge, 1812-15, but resigned to take holy orders; ordained deacon and priest, 1815; rector of Glankeen (Co. Tipperary), 1817-22, Dean of Leighlin (Co. Carlow), 1822-50 and rector of Shankill (Co. Dublin), 1826-33; author of A tour through some parts of France, Switzerland etc. in 1814 (1815); an active promoter of charities and a supporter of the Church Education Society; died unmarried at Leighlin, 2 March 1850;

(3) Hon. Francis Bernard (1789-1813), born 27 February 1789; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1807; Lt., 1808), who served in the Peninsular War; died at Coimbra (Portugal), 24 January 1813;

(4) Lady Henrietta Catherine (aka Catherine Harriet) Bernard (1790-1850), born 7 July 1790; died unmarried, 1 December and was buried at Swindon (Glos), 9 December 1850; administration of goods granted to 4th Earl of Bandon, 10 June 1884 (estate £8,421);

(5) Hon. William Smyth Bernard (1792-1863), born 13 September 1792; an officer in 1st Dragoon Guards (Ensign, 1809; Lt., 1810; Capt., 1815; Br. Maj., 1815; retired on half-pay, 1816; hon. Lt-Col, 1851); High Sheriff of Co. Cork, 1820-21; Provost of Bandon, 1827-28, 1829-30; MP for Bandon, 1832-35, 1857-63; JP for Co. Cork; married, 31 May 1831 at Brinny (Co. Cork), Elizabeth, daughter of Lt-Col. Henry Gillman of Clancoole, Bandon, but had no issue; died 6 February 1863;

(6) Lady Charlotte Esther Bernard (1794-1846), born 28 January 1794; married, 14 June 1816 at Innishannon (Co. Cork), her first cousin, Hayes St. Leger (1786-1854), 3rd Viscount Doneraile, and had issue one son; died at Doneraile House (Co. Cork), 7 February 1846;

(7) Lady Louisa Anne Bernard (1795-1851), born 24 December 1795; died unmarried at Cheltenham (Glos), 26 May and was buried at Swindon (Glos), 31 May 1851; administration of goods granted to 4th Earl of Bandon, 10 June 1884 (estate £8,421);

(8) Hon. Henry Boyle Bernard (1797-1815), born 5 December 1797; an officer in the Horse Guards (Cornet, 1814); killed at the Battle of Waterloo, 26 May 1815;

(9) Hon. Elizabeth Bernard (c.1799-1800); died in infancy and was buried at Ballymodan, 10 January 1800;

(10) Hon. Charles Bernard (b. & d. 1803);

(11) Hon. Charles Ludlow Bernard (1805-61), born 12 April and baptised at Ballymodan, Bandon, 10 May 1805; died unmarried at Thornbury (Co. Cork), 21 January 1861.

He inherited Castle Bernard and Prospect Hall from his father in 1790, and extensively remodelled the house at Castle Bernard. He sold Prospect Hall and his lands at Kinsalebeg in 1825.

He died suddenly on his 75th birthday, 26 November 1830; his will was proved in Dublin, 8 February 1831. His wife died 8 July 1815 and was buried at Ballymodan (Co. Cork).

2nd Earl of Bandon

Bernard, James (1785-1856), 2nd Earl of Bandon. Eldest son of Francis Bernard (1755-1830), 1st Earl of Bandon, and his wife Lady Catherine Henrietta, only daughter of Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Shannon, born 14 June 1785. Educated at St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1805; MA 1806). He was known as Viscount Bernard from 1800 until he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Bandon, 26 November 1830. He was elected Tory MP for Youghal, 1806-07, 1818-20, Co. Cork, 1807-18, and Bandon, 1820-26, 1830, on the interests of his grandfather and uncle, the 2nd and 3rd Earls of Shannon. Lord Lieutenant of Co. Cork, 1842-56; Recorder of Bandon; and an Irish representative peer, 1835-56. President of the Cork Art Union and County Grand Master of the Orange Order. He was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Oxford (DCL, 1832) and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 1845, and is said to have made strenuous efforts during the Great Famine to secure relief for the people of Ireland. He married, 13 March 1809 at Cashel Cathedral (Co. Tipp.), Mary Susan Albinia (1787-1870), daughter of the Hon. & Most Rev. Charles Brodrick, Archbishop of Cashel, and had issue: 

(1) Francis Bernard (1810-77), 3rd Earl of Bandon;

(2) Hon. & Rt. Rev. Charles Brodrick Bernard (1811-90) (q.v.);

(3) Hon. Henry Boyle Bernard (1812-95), of Coolmain Castle (Co. Cork), born 6 February and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 7 February 1812; educated at Eton, Balliol College, Oxford (matriculated 1831) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1834); agent to the Castle Bernard estate; JP for County Cork; Conservative MP for Bandon, 1863-68; an officer in the South Cork Light Infantry militia (later 3rd battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers) (Col., 1854-76; hon. Col., 1876-95); married, 18 January 1848 at St Luke, Cork, Matilda Sophia (c.1827-92), youngest daughter of Lt-Gen. Charles Turner, but had no issue; died 14 March 1895;

(4) Lady Catherine Henrietta Bernard (1813-87), born 11 November and baptised at St James, Paddington, 15 November 1813; lived in London; died unmarried, 20 June, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery, 24 June 1887; will proved in Dublin, 16 October 1893 (effects £21,372);

(5) James Bernard (b. & d. 1815), born 11 June and baptised at St James, Paddington, 27 June 1815; died in infancy, 7 November 1815.

He inherited Castle Bernard from his father in 1830 and remodelled it in the Gothic style.

He died 31 October and was buried at Ballymodan church, Bandon, 7 November 1856, where he was commemorated by a monument. His widow died 23 April and was buried at Bandon, 29 April 1870.

Bernard, Francis (1810-77), 3rd Earl of Bandon. Eldest son of James Bernard (1785-1856), 2nd Earl of Bandon, and his wife Mary Susan, daughter of the Most Rev. the Hon. Charles Brodrick, Archbishop of Cashel, born in London, 3 January, and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 13 October 1810. Educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1827; BA 1830; MA 1834; hon. DCL, 1864). Conservative MP for Bandon, January-July 1831, 1842-56. He was known as Viscount Bernard from 1830 until he succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Bandon, 31 October 1856. A representative peer for Ireland, 1858-77; Lord Lieutenant of Co. Cork, 1874-77. He married, 16 August 1832, at St Nicholas, Brighton (Sussex), Catherine Mary (1811-73), eldest daughter of Thomas Whitmore MP of Apley Park (Shrops.), and had issue:

(1) Lady Mary Catherine Henrietta Bernard (1837-1920), born in London, 2 August and baptised at St Mary, Paddington (Middx), 3 August and again at St Nicholas, Brighton, 7 October 1837; married, 30 July 1863 at Bandon, Col. Richard William Aldworth (1825-99) of Newmarket Court (Co. Cork), High Sheriff of Co. Cork, eldest son of Richard Oliver Aldworth (1794-1887) of Newmarket Court, but had no issue; died 10 January 1920; administration of her goods granted to 4th Earl of Bandon, 3 June 1920 (estate in England, £1,207);

(2) Lady Louisa Albinia Bernard (1841-1928), baptised in Paddington (Middx), 10 April and baptised at St Mary, Paddington, 12 April 1841; lived with her unmarried sisters at 78 Chester Sq., Westminster; died unmarried in London, 25 September 1928, and was buried at East Finchley Cemetery; will proved 12 November 1928 (estate £5,554);

(3) Lady Charlotte Esther Emily Bernard (1843-1934), born in Kensington (Middx), 5 April and was baptised at St Mary, Paddington, 6 April 1843; lived with her unmarried sisters at 78 Chester Sq., Westminster; died unmarried, 13 July and was buried at St Marylebone Cemetery, 17 July 1934; will proved 19 September 1934 (estate £4,501);

(4) Lady Emma Harriet Bernard (1844-1929), born in August and said to have been baptised 26 October 1844; lived with her unmarried sisters at 78 Chester Sq., Westminster; died unmarried in London, 18 October 1929 and was buried at East Finchley Cemetery; will proved 13 December 1929 (estate £6,251);

(5) Lady Adelaide Mary Lucy Bernard (1846-84), said to have been born in Cork and baptised 2 September 1846; married, 11 November 1873 at Ballymodan church, Bandon, as his first wife, Sir Henry Monson de la Poer Beresford-Peirse (1850-1926), 3rd bt., of Bagnall (Co. Waterford) (who m2, 23 January 1886, Henrietta OBE (d. 1926), only daughter of Sir Matthew Smith-Dodsworth, 4th bt., of Newland Park and Thornton Watlass (Yorks), and had further issue one daughter), son and heir of Henry William de la Poer Beresford-Peirse (1820-59) of Bedale and Hutton Bonville (Yorks), and had issue five sons and two daughters; died 29 September 1884 and was buried at Bedale (Yorks);

(6) James Francis Bernard (1850-1924), 4th Earl of Bandon (q.v.);

(7) Lady Kathleen Frances Bernard (1853-1921), born at Castle Bernard, 14 November 1853; married, 2 June 1885 at St Paul, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge (Middx), Alfred William George Gaussen (1855-1910) of Chelsea, son and heir of Frederick Charles Gaussen, barrister-at-law, and had issue one daughter; died 22 February 1921; administration of goods granted to her daughter, 4 August 1921 (estate £2,362).

He inherited Castle Bernard from his father in 1856 and carried out alterations c.1870.

He died 17 February 1877 and was buried at Bandon; his will was proved at Cork 30 April 1877 (effects under £18,000). His wife died 13 December 1873.

4th Earl of Bandon

Bernard, James Francis (1850-1924), 4th Earl of Bandon. Only son of Francis Bernard (1810-77), 3rd Earl of Bandon, and his wife Catherine Mary, eldest daughter of Thomas Whitmore MP of Apley Park (Shrops.), born 12 September 1850. Educated at Eton. ADC to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1874-76 and State Steward to the Lord Lieutenant, 1876-77; High Sheriff of Co. Cork, 1875; Hon. Col. of the Royal Cork Artillery; Chairman of Bandon Board of Guardians and Bandon Town Commissioners; JP for Co. Cork. He succeeded his father as 4th Earl of Bandon, 17 February 1877, and was an Irish representative peer, 1881-1924, who sat on the Conservative benches. Lord Lieutenant of Co. Cork, 1877-1921. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick, 1900. On 21 June 1921 he was kidnapped by armed men who came to burn Castle Bernard, and held captive for 3 weeks before being released; his agent was shot and wounded in his home a few days later. He had the reputation of being a good landlord, and was one of the first to take advantage of the Irish Land Act 1903 to sell land to his tenants. He was a freemason from 1869 and served as Grand Secretary, 1875-95 and Provincial Grand Master for Munster. He married, 22 June 1876 at St Michael, Chester Sq,, Westminster (Middx), the Hon. Georgiana Dorothea Harriet CBE (1853-1942), only child of George Patrick Percy Evans-Freke, 7th Baron Carbery, of Laxton Hall (Northants), but had no issue.

He inherited Castle Bernard from his father in 1877, but the house was burned to the ground by the IRA in 1921. He also owned Coolkelure, Dunmanway (Co. Cork), which became his widow's Irish home.

He died in London, 18 May, and was buried at Laxton (Northants), 29 May 1924; his will was proved 26 September 1924 (estate £105,760). His widow died 29 June and was buried at Laxton, 3 July 1942; her will was proved 30 November 1942 (estate £13,394).

Rt. Rev. & Hon. C.B. Bernard 

Bernard, Hon. & Rt. Rev. Charles Brodrick (1811-90). Second son of James Bernard (1785-1856), 2nd Earl of Bandon, and his wife Mary Susan, daughter of the Most Rev. the Hon. Charles Brodrick, Archbishop of Cashel, born 4 January 1811. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford (matriculated 1829; BA 1832; MA 1834; BD and DD, 1866). Ordained deacon, 1835 and priest, 1836. Curate of Desertserges (Co. Cork), 1835-40; rector and prebendary of Kilbrogan, 1840-67; Bishop of Tuam (Co. Galway), Killala and Achonry, 1867-90. He married, 25 July 1843 at St John, Paddington (Middx), Hon. Jane Grace Dorothea (c.1810-92), daughter of Percy Evans-Freke and sister of 7th Lord Carbery, and had issue:

(1) Percy Brodrick Bernard (1844-1912) (q.v.);

(2) James Francis William Charles Boyle Bernard (1847-84), born 22 December and baptised at St Swithin, Walcot, Bath (Som.), 25 December 1847; an officer in the South Cork militia (Lt., 1868; Capt.); married, 25 April 1876 at Ballinasloe (Co. Galway), Emily Georgina (d. 1885), third daughter of Maj. Henry Ireland Gascoigne of Mackney, Ballinasloe, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 31 July 1884; administration of goods granted 12 September 1885 (effects £240).

He lived in the bishop's palace at Tuam.

He died at Tuam, 31 January 1890, but was buried at Bandon; his will was proved 26 March 1890 (effects £19,223). His widow died 5 June 1892; administration of her goods was granted 23 September 1892 (effects £6,355).

Bernard, Percy Brodrick (1844-1912). Elder son of Rt. Rev. the Hon. Charles Brodrick Bernard (1811-90), Bishop of Tuam (Co. Galway) and his wife, the Hon. Jane Grace Dorothea, daughter of Percy Evans-Freke, born 17 September 1844. Educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1863; BA 1868). An officer in the South Cork Light Infantry militia (later the 3rd battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers) (Capt. 1866; retired 1882); JP and DL for Co. Galway. Private Secretary to the Duke of Abercorn and Duke of Marlborough as Lords Lieutenant of Ireland, 1874-80; Unionist MP for Bandon, 1880, but resigned two months after his election. He stood for parliament again in the South County Dublin constituency, 1906, but withdrew before the poll in favour of Walter Long, Chief Secretary for Ireland. A director of the Dublin United Tramways Co., the Great Southern & Western Railway Co. and the Grand Canal Co. in Ireland. He was a freemason from 1866. He married 1st, 11 April 1872 at St Paul, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge (Middx), Isabel Emma Beatrice (d. 1876), daughter of John Newton Lane, of Kings Bromley Manor (Staffs); 2nd, 6 February 1880 at Tuam Cathedral (Co. Galway), Mary Lissey (1850-98), only daughter and heiress of Denis Kirwan of Castle Hacket (Co Galway); and 3rd, 2 June 1900 at St Mark, North Audley St., Westminster (Middx), Evangeline (1867-1950), second daughter of Henry Hoare of Iden Park, Staplehurst (Kent), a partner in Hoare's Bank, and had issue:

(1.1) Ronald Percy Hamilton Bernard (1875-1921) (q.v.);

(2.1) Frances Mary Bernard (1880-1970), born 18 November 1880; married 1st, 22 February 1900 (div. 1916 on the grounds of his adultery) at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), George Arthur Paley (1874-1941) of Ampton Hall (Suffk), son of John Paley of Langcliffe (Yorks) and Ampton, and had issue two sons; married 2nd, 28 September 1916 at St Peter, Drogheda (Co. Louth), Major Henry Hastings Brooke (1882-1920) of Ardeen, Shillelagh (Co. Wicklow), younger son of Rt. Hon. Francis Theophilus Brooke; died in London, 3 March 1970; will proved 15 January 1971 (estate £910);

(2.2) Sir Denis John Charles Kirwan Bernard (1882-1956), born 22 October 1882; educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1902; Lt., 1906; Maj., 1916; Lt-Col., 1917; Col., 1923; Brig., 1931; Maj-Gen., 1933; retired as Lt-Gen., 1939), who served in the First World War and was awarded the DSO, 1917; on general staff in India, 1930-34; ADC to King George V, 1932; Director of Recruiting and Organisation, War Office, 1934-36; Col. of Royal Ulster Rifles, 1937-47; Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Bermuda, 1939-41; DL for Co. Galway; appointed CMG 1919 and KCB, 1939; inherited Castle Hacket (Co. Galway) from his half-brother in 1921; died unmarried, 25 August 1956;

(2.3) Mary Winifred Bernard (1886-1960), born 27 October 1886; married, 27 July 1920 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster, Lt-Col. Robert Leach Galloway DSO (1884-1970) of Lough Gur Grange, Kilmallock (Co. Limerick), son of Col. Frank Galloway of Leamington Spa (Warks), but had no issue; died 21 April 1960; will proved in Dublin, 30 January 1961 (estate £1,166);

(2.4) Percy Arthur Ernald Bernard (1889-1922), born 17 February 1889; an officer in the Royal Army Service Corps (2nd Lt.; Lt., 1916; retired as Capt., 1919) who served as an driver with a motor ambulance unit in the First World War; died at Montana (Switzerland), 22 February 1922; will proved 23 May 1922 (estate £2,978);

(3.1) Morogh Wyndham Percy Bernard (1902-77), born 5 February 1902; educated at Wellington College; married, 15 April 1929 at St Baldred, North Berwick (East Lothian), Hon. Diana Pearl (1902-79), second daughter of Henry Charles Clement Dundas (1873-1935), 7th Viscount Melville, and had issue one daughter; lived at The Old Glebe House, Shankhill (Co. Dublin); died 16 February 1977. 

He lived at Castle Hackett (Co Galway), and also had a house called Collegues at Booterstown (Co. Dublin).
He died 18 July 1912 at Booterstown (Co. Dublin) and was buried at Tuam; his will was proved at Tuam, 8 October 1912 (estate £15,905). His first wife died 1 May 1876. His second wife died 1 August 1898; her will was proved at Tuam, 4 October 1898 (effects £9,402). His widow married 2nd, 5 November 1919 at St. Catherine's, nr. Bath (Som.), Hon. Charles Hedley Strutt (1849-1926) of Blunt's Hall, Witham (Essex), second son of John James Strutt (1796-1873), 2nd Baron Rayleigh, lived latterly at Sunningdale (Berks), and died 17 February 1950; her will was proved 29 April 1950 (estate £28,426).

Bernard, Ronald Percy Hamilton (1875-1921). Only son of Percy Brodrick Bernard (1844-1912) and his first wife, Isabel Emma Beatrice, daughter of John Newton Lane of Bromley Manor (Staffs), born in Dublin, 18 March 1875 and baptised at Castleknock (Co. Dublin). Educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in the Rifle Brigade (2nd Lt., 1895; Lt., 1898; Capt., 1901; retired 1910; returned to army, 1915; Maj., 1916; retired at Lt-Col.), who served in the Boer War. He married, 5 January 1904 at St Paul, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge (Middx), Lettice Mina (1880-1969), daughter and co-heiress of Capt. Gerald Cecil Stewart Paget (1854-1913) of The Hatch, Bray (Berks), and had issue:

(1) twin, Percy Ronald Gardener Bernard (1904-79), 5th Earl of Bandon (q.v.);

(2) twin, Hon. Charles Brodrick Amyas Bernard (1904-77) of Kelsale (Suffk), born 30 August 1904; educated at Wellington College; granted style and precedence of an earl's son, 1925; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1924; Lt., 1926; Capt., 1935; A/Maj., 1939), who served in the Second World War and was mentioned in despatches, but was cashiered following a court martial, 26 November 1940; married, 13 July 1937, the Hon Ursula Margaret (1910-63), daughter of Odo Richard Vivian (1875-1934), 3rd Baron Swansea, but had no issue; died 28 February 1977 and was buried at Kelsale; will proved 28 April 1977 (estate £423,140);

(3) Lady Cynthia Lettice Margaret Bernard (1905-2000), born 5 December 1905; granted style and precedence of an earl's daughter, 1925; amateur pilot (licence, 1947); married 1st, 21 July 1925 (div. 1936 on the grounds of her adultery with Prof. Archibald M. Low) at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), Major Francis Christisson Darby Tothill RA (1901-92) (who m2, 1936, Muriel Frances Butt (1908-79)), son of Adm. Sir Hugh Tothill of Bradford on Avon (Wilts), and had issue one daughter; married 2nd, 9 December 1947, Air Comm. Lionel Guy Stanhope Payne, CBE, MC (1894-1965), son of Peter George Stanhope Payne, barrister at law; died 15 May 2000; will proved 7 July 2000.

He lived at Bury Green House, Waltham Cross (Essex).

He died 2 February 1921 and was buried at Cheshunt Cemetery (Herts); his will was proved 7 May 1921 (estate £1,991). His widow married 2nd, 27 May 1922, Hon. Charles Christopher Josceline Littleton DSO (1872-1950), of Kelsale (Suffk); she died 6 December 1969 and her will was proved 26 March 1970 (estate £43,461).

5th Earl of Bandon 

Bernard, Percy Ronald Gardener (k/a Paddy) (1904-79), 5th Earl of Bandon. Elder twin son of Ronald Percy Bernard (1875-1921) and his wife Lettice Mina, daughter and co-heiress of Capt. Gerald Cecil Stewart Paget of The Hatch, Bray (Berks), born at Gillingham (Kent), 30 August 1904. Educated at Wellington College, the RAF College, Cranwell, and RAF Staff College (in 1938). He succeeded his kinsman as 5th Earl of Bandon, 18 May 1924. An officer in the Royal Air Force (Pilot Offr, 1924; Flyg Offr, 1926; F/Lt., 1930; Sq-Ldr, 1936; Wing-Cdr., 1940; Gp-Capt., 1941; Air-Comm, 1944; Air Vice-Marshal, 1952; Air Marshal, 1957; Air Chief Marshal, 1959; retired 1964), who served in the Second World War and was awarded the DSO, 1940. Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps, 1945-48; Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Training), 1953-55; Commander-in-Chief, 2nd Tactical Air Force, 1955-57; Commander-in-Chief, Far East Air Forces, 1957-60; Commander of Allied Air Forces in Central Europe, 1961-63. He was appointed CB, 1945; CVO, 1953; KBE, 1957; and GBE, 1960. A man of exceptional leadership skills and moral courage, he came to epitomize the man that young RAF officers wanted their senior leaders to be, but his irreverent and non-conformist attitude and his schoolboy humour often found him in hot water with his superiors. He married 1st, 28 February 1933 (div. 1946) at Nairobi Cathedral (Kenya), Maybel Elizabeth (k/a Betty) (1905-87), daughter of Raymond Playfair of Nairobi, banker and 2nd, 2 October 1946, Lois (d. 1999), daughter of Francis Russell of Victoria (Australia) and formerly wife of Sq-Ldr. Frederick Arthur White, and had issue:

(1.1) Lady Jennifer Jane Bernard (1935-2010), born 30 April 1935; co-heir of Castle Bernard; died unmarried, 3 June 2010;

(1.2) Lady Frances Elizabeth Bernard (b. 1943), born 4 February 1943; co-heir of Castle Bernard; married, 1 April 1967 at Padworth (Berks), Paul Mark Carter (b. 1940) of Hill House, Midgham (Berks), accountant, and had issue one daughter.

He inherited the Castle Bernard estate on the death of his kinsman, the 4th Earl of Bandon, in 1924, but little else. The house was then in ruins following the burning in 1921, and he used the compensation of £123,000 which he received to build a small house behind the ruins.

He died in Cork, 8 February 1979. His first wife married 2nd, 20 October 1965, Sir Reginald Culcheth Holcroft (1899-1978), 2nd bt, of Pulverbatch (Shrops.); she died 8 August 1987. His widow died 16 October 1999.

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 1967, p. 161; G. Bennett, The history of Bandon, and the principal towns in the West Riding of County Cork, 1869; E.M. Johnston-Liik, History of the Irish Parliament, 1692-1800, 2002, vol. 3, pp. 172-78; F. Keohane, The buildings of Ireland: Cork - city and county, 2020, pp. 290-91; 

https://theirishaesthete.com/2019/05/06/bandon/

http://kinsalebeg.com/chapters/houses/houses.html;

https://www.dia.ie/works/view/56267/building/CO.+CORK%2C+CASTLE+BERNARD.

Location of archives

Bernard family, Earls of Bandon: estate ledgers, 1719-1888 [Cork County Archives, U137]

It is likely that most of the family papers were destroyed in the burning of Castle Bernard in 1921. 

Coat of arms

Argent, on a bend azure, three escallops of the field.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide evidence of the relationship between Francis Bernard (d. 1659) and the Barnards of Margaretting?
• Can anyone provide an image of Bassingbourn Hall before its demolition in the 19th century (not the farmhouse which now bears that name)?
• Can anyone provide an image of Michael Shanahan's neo-classical Castle Bernard before it was altered in the mid 19th century?
• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 10 October 2024 and updated 11 October 2024.

(584) Bernard of Abington and Brampton, baronets

Bernard of Abington and Brampton, baronets 

This family traces its descent from the Bernard or Barnard family of Isleham in Cambridgeshire. Robert Bernard (fl. 1384) of Clare (Suffk) married Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Nicholas Lylling (d. 1419), kt., of Abington (Northants) and through his marriage acquired property in Northamptonshire, of which he was High Sheriff in 1384-85. His wife evidently died before her father, for in 1416 Sir Nicholas made her second son, Thomas Bernard (d. 1464), with whom the genealogy below begins, his ultimate heir (the eldest son, John Bernard, being heir to his father's property in Cambridgeshire). The bequest was, however, conditional on the extinction of the life interest of Sir Nicholas's widow. She may have been a second, much younger, wife, for she lived until about 1451, and only then did Thomas come into possession of his estate at Abington. Since Thomas lived, and was buried, at Clare, it may be that he never moved to Northamptonshire, and simply handed the estate on to his son John Bernard (d. 1485), who had made an advantageous marriage to Margaret, the daughter of Henry le Scrope, 4th Lord Scrope of Bolton. When John died in 1485 he left Margaret a life interest in the estate, which she retained until her death in 1496. She was then succeeded by their son, John Bernard (c.1469-1508), and it was probably soon afterwards that he commissioned the building of a new manor house, of which the great hall still survives, albeit in a much altered form.

The Abington estate descended to John's elder son, John Bernard (c.1490-1550), and then to his eldest son, Francis Bernard (c.1526-1602), with whom the genealogy of the family is at last on rather firmer ground. Francis and his wife had a large family, of fourteen children, all but two of whom survived to adulthood. The eldest son, John Bernard, died in his father's lifetime in about 1586, so Abington passed to his second son, Baldwin Bernard (c.1554-1610). He married twice, producing three daughters by his first marriage and two sons and a daughter by his second. After his death, his widow Eleanor (d. 1634) married again, to Sir Edmund Hampden (c.1575-1627), kt., who in 1626 was one of the 70 people imprisoned without trial for refusing to pay the 'forced loan' demanded by King Charles I to finance his war against Spain. The opposition to the the 'forced loan' was one of the early instances of civil disobedience in the power struggle between the king and parliament that was ultimately resolved by the Civil War. Baldwin Bernard's elder son, Sir John Bernard (1604-74), kt., had just come of age at the time of the 'forced loan' dispute, and his political views were no doubt shaped by his stepfather's experience. At the outbreak of the Civil War he certainly supported the Parliamentary side, and he was actively involved as a local sequestration commissioner, although he is not known to have taken up arms. The execution of King Charles I in 1649 was evidently a step too far for his conscience, however, and he largely withdrew from public life during the Commonwealth years, when he was described as 'inclinable to royalism'. After the Restoration, he was knighted in 1661 and became a justice of the peace, and in 1664 he sought to represent the borough of Northampton in parliament, but was unseated on appeal. Sir John was twice married. By his first wife, who died in 1642, he had four sons and four daughters, but all the sons died in infancy, leaving him with no male heir. The turmoil of the Civil War then supervened, and when he married again, in 1649, it was to a widow, Elizabeth Nash (1608-70), who was the granddaughter of William Shakespeare. She gave him no further children, and in 1669 he sold the Abington estate to William Thursby. 

The third son of Francis Bernard (c.1526-1602) was Francis Bernard (c.1558-1630?). He evidently inherited property at Kingsthorpe (Northants) from his father, and settled there. He remains a somewhat shadowy figure, but it is known that he married twice and produced four sons by his second wife. The eldest of these, Sir Robert Bernard (1601-66), 1st bt., was educated at the Middle Temple and became a barrister, and later a serjeant-at-law and a judge. He made his home at Huntingdon, in the Parliamentarian heartland, and was MP for the town in the Short Parliament of 1640, but did not stand again at the second election of that year. His career suggests he was acceptable to both the Parliamentarians and the Royalists - something that few achieved successfully - and he was knighted at the Restoration and raised to a baronetcy two years later. When he died in 1666, he chose to be buried at Abington, then still in the possession of his cousin, but his eldest son, who succeeded him as Sir John Bernard (1630-79), 2nd bt., established a new seat by the purchase in 1653 of Brampton Park, just outside Huntingdon, and the building there of a new house, about which almost nothing is known.

Sir John married twice, having eight children by his first wife, the survivors of whom were all minors when he died in 1679. His widow was left to bring up her stepchildren, and did not marry again until 1688, when they were all grown up. The eldest son, Sir Robert Bernard (1663-1703), 3rd bt., was MP for Huntingdonshire in 1689-90 and High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1691-92. In the latter year he married the daughter of a London mercer, but he died comparatively young, leaving a small family. His widow went on to marry the 1st Lord Trevor and have three more sons, but Brampton passed to his only son, Sir John Bernard (1699-1766), 4th bt. Sir John was the only one of the five baronets in this family not to stand for Parliament, and he seems to have played little part in public affairs. Through his marriage to Mary St John (d. 1793) he acquired estates in Essex as well as Northamptonshire, although there does not seem to have been a significant seat at any of his properties there. Sir John and his wife had nine children, many of whom died young: only his eldest son, Sir Robert Bernard (1739-89), 5th bt., and his eldest daughter, Mary Bernard (1738-93) survived to maturity. Sir Robert was regarded as a wealthy man, and had a keen interest in politics, where his views moved progressively to the radical left. For a time he was an associate of John Wilkes, whose influence secured his election as MP for Westminster, 1770-74, but his career was twice derailed by falling out with his political friends, and his career was eventually cut short by increasingly painful attacks of gout. He was unmarried and at his death the family baronetcy became extinct. His estates passed to his sister's son, Brig-Gen. Robert Bernard Sparrow (d. 1805), whose career will be considered in a future post on that family.

Abington Park (later Abbey), Northamptonshire

Abington has long been swallowed by the suburban expansion of Northampton, and the house (originally Abington Park but known as Abington Abbey since the mid 19th century) has been a museum since 1897. It is a courtyard house with south and east fronts of the 1670s and 1730s, and north and west ranges which were rebuilt in the 19th century as service accommodation.

Abington Abbey: watercolour of the house in the early 19th century by George Clarke (1790-1868). Image: Northampton Central Library.

Between the south range and the central courtyard, however, there remains an open hall built for John Bernard (c.1469-1508), who inherited the estate on the death of his mother in 1496. The timbers of the roof have been dated to this period, and his arms appear on reset panelling from the room. The hall has lost its screens passage, but the blocked door from the screens into the courtyard is still apparent. Also of the early 16th century is a wing beyond the dais end of the hall which now forms the southern part of the west range, and which contained a ground-floor parlour with a chamber above. The Oak Room at the west end of the 17th century south front has panelling of c.1500 from several sources, including some fine linenfold and a frieze depicting the labours of the months, which was gathered together and reset here in the 19th century.

Abington Abbey: the interior of the great hall, looking west and showing
 the fireplace inserted in the 1730s. Image: Historic England BB82/2382.

Abington Abbey: phased ground plan of the house before 1900.
Image: Crown Copyright.

The early 16th century hall house remained in the Bernard family until 1669, when Sir John Bernard sold it for £13,750 to William Thursby (c.1630-1701), a London lawyer and court official. He settled at Abington and was responsible for modernising the house and enlarging the park. In altering the house, he aimed to create the increasing number of private apartments required by contemporary living. The open hall was obsolete and blocked the circulation round the house at first floor level. About 1670, he therefore built a new block in front of the hall, making the south range a double pile, and providing the grand new rooms he required. The new south front which resulted is a long low composition, with a platband, windows with segmental heads and keystones, and slight projections in the centre and at the ends, which were apparently originally gabled. The central projection has its original doorcase with flanking pilasters, but the upper storey was rebuilt in 1743. Inside, a passage led from the front door to the old hall, which became a central circulation space. Next to the passage but not accessible from it a grand new staircase was provided, which was rather old-fashioned, with turned balusters and finials to the newels.

Abington Abbey: the south front of c.1670, as altered in 1743.

Abington Abbey: the east front, built in 1738.

In 1736 the house passed to William Thursby's niece Mary, wife of John Harvey (c.1711-64), who changed his name to Thursby and came to live here. He too remodelled and enlarged the house, building what now forms the east range (dated 1738) and going on to alter and refenestrate the south range (dated 1743). The design of his work has been attributed on stylistic grounds to Francis Smith of Warwick (who died in 1738) and his son William. This is very plausible, as  Thursby had a portrait of Francis Smith and paid for it to be engraved. His new east front incorporates (as its left-hand four bays) the end of the 17th century south range. The central three bays of the front break forward under a steep pediment. The central doorcase has Doric pilasters carrying a segmental pediment, and the flanking windows have triangular pediments. All the other windows on the south and east sides have rectangular moulded and eared stone architraves with sills supported on corbels. On the south front the original gables were removed and a moulded cornice and parapet was added. The new east wing provided further apartments on the first floor but it is not clear what functions were assigned to which rooms on the ground floor. As part of all these works, the original dais in the hall was removed and the present marble floor was laid.

A generation later, the lobby between the front entrance and the great hall was decorated in the Gothick style, with a plaster vault springing from clustered columns, while the doorway into the hall was set in a screen with similar columns and ogee arches. These Gothick additions are attributed to the Hiorne brothers and dated to c.1760-70.

Abington Abbey: the Oak Room, an interior created in the late 19th century with panelling gathered from around the house and new work.

In 1798 the house passed to John Harvey Thursby (1768-1838), who refitted or altered several rooms before 1803. The main rooms at the east end of the south wing were redecorated as a suite of two drawing rooms, with new chimneypieces, and were connected by a wide opening, while a new staircase was made east of the hall. The east range was replanned as a service block either at this time or a little later. Towards the end of his life, J.H. Thursby was evidently in financial difficulties, for he raised mortgages on the estate and from 1836 let it to a tenant. After his death in 1838, the estate was sold to Lewis Loyd of Overstone (Northants) and leased to Dr. Thomas Prichard as a private lunatic asylum, and the north and west ranges were rebuilt. The house was also renamed Abington Abbey at this time. In 1897 Loyd's granddaughter, Lady Wantage, presented the house and its park to the town of Northampton. The house became a museum and the grounds a public park. The essence of the park still survives, although a busy road now runs through the middle of it. The north part contains a tower, once dated 1678, which housed a dovecote above a well from which water was pumped for the needs of the house by a mechanism designed by Samuel Warren of Weston Favell, who had a reputation for hydraulic inventions.

Descent: Sir Nicholas Lylling (d. 1419); to grandson, Thomas Bernard (d. 1464); to son, John Bernard (d. 1485); to widow, Margaret (d. 1496); to son, John Bernard (c.1469-1508); to son, John Bernard (c.1490-1550); to son, Francis Bernard (c.1526-1602); to son, Baldwin Bernard (c.1554-1610); to son, Sir John Bernard (1604-74), kt., who sold 1669 to William Thursby (c.1630-1701); to nephew, Richard Thursby (1666-1736); to first cousin once removed, John Harvey (later Thursby) (1709-64); to son, John Harvey Thursby (1734-98); to son, John Harvey Thursby (1768-1838); to son, John Harvey Thursby (1793-1860), who sold 1841 to Lewis Loyd (1767-1858), banker; to son, Samuel Jones Loyd (1796-1883), 1st Baron Overstone; to daughter, Harriet Sarah (d. 1920), wife of Robert James Lindsay (later Loyd-Lindsay) (1832-1901), 1st Baron Wantage, who donated the house and park to the borough of Northampton in 1898.

Brampton Park, Huntingdonshire

Brampton Park, which covers about 100 acres south-west of the village of Brampton, can be traced back to the 12th century, when it was a royal hunting ground. The house may have originated as a lodge in the park, but in 1328 was said to be ruinous. An Elizabethan house seems to have been built here, probably by the Throckmortons, which is described as a fair brick house, but nothing more is known of its appearance, for it was incorporated in a house probably built by Sir John Bernard, who purchased the property in 1653. 

The mid 17th-century house, of which I have traced no visual record, was in turn remodelled by Lady Olivia Sparrow who came into possession after her husband died in 1805. In 1806-07 she brought in John Nash, who built service accommodation and made alterations to the house itself, and the gabled and castellated gault brick west end of the present house is presumably his work; one room in the service wing has a shallow saucer dome on squinches which could be his work. Later on, in 1823-25, Lady Olivia employed Thomas Stedman Whitwell (1784-1840) to rebuild the principal block of the house, and J.B. Papworth to carry out internal decoration in the library and dining room. Thomas Hopper also claimed to have worked at Brampton in the late 1820s, although it is not clear what was done to his designs, as a plan of 1824 appears to show the same footprint for the house as it occupied later. The house that resulted from these works was recorded in a number of late 19th century engravings and photographs. Its most striking feature was a large domed conservatory on the south front, flanked by two four-storey towers, while the east front had extensively glazed three-storey projecting bays either side of a centre with a canted central bay on the ground floor. The entrance front on the north side was plainer, but had a single-storey porch with an elaborate achievement of arms over the archway. It may be that on this side, elements of the earlier house were retained and incorporated. Papworth also produced a picturesque design for the grounds, which was probably not followed, although the surviving thatched lodge is in his style. 

Brampton Park: north front before the fire of 1907. Image: Huntingdonshire Archives

Brampton Park: engraving of the south and east fronts of the house in 1852.

Sadly, the main block of the house was gutted in a disastrous fire on 24 January 1907, which is said to have started in a box room at the west end of the main block and spread east, initially through the roof space, although within two hours it had largely gutted the main block. The fire happened at a time of light winds and its rapid spread was put down to the largely timber construction of the internal walls.

Brampton Park: the ruins of the south front after the fire and the collapse of the conservatory, 1907. Image: Huntingdonshire Archives

Brampton Park: east front after the fire, 1907. Image: Huntingdonshire Archives

After the fire, the damaged part of the building was pulled down and replaced by a smaller new house in red brick. Although clashing in colour with the older part of the house, this emulates the style of the Nash wing, which was again restored and remodelled. The rebuilding was commissioned by Viscount Mandeville, but the architect seems not to be recorded. 

Brampton Park: the house in 2018 before its recent conversion to apartments. Image: Derelict Places/Rubex

The house passed into the hands of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, and remained in military use, latterly as the officers' mess for a camp which sprawled across the park, until 2012. A further fire in the early 1980s led to a programme of repairs and remodelling that included significant extensions to the south and west of the house, and the addition of a new porch on the north side of the house. The building was restored and the modern extensions removed after 2019, when it was converted to multiple occupation. Extensive suburban housing has been constructed in the former park since 2015.

Descent: William Foster (d. 1508); to son, John Foster (d. 1526); to son, Gerard Foster (b. c.1524), who sold 1545 to John Newton, who sold 1550 to Simon Throckmorton MP (d. 1585); to son, Robert; to brother Simon Throckmorton (d. 1613); to brother Joseph Throckmorton, who sold 1613 to Sir Thomas Hetley (d. 1637), kt., serjeant-at-law; to son, Francis Hetley (d. 1638); to brother, William Hetley, who sold 1653 to Sir John Bernard (1630-79), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir Robert Bernard (1663-1703), 3rd bt.; to son, Sir John Bernard (1699-1766), 4th bt.; to son, Sir Robert Bernard (1739-89), 5th bt.; to nephew, Brig-Gen. Robert Bernard Sparrow (d. 1805); to widow, Lady Olivia Sparrow (d. 1863); to grandson, William Drogo Montagu (1823-90), 7th Duke of Manchester; to son, George Victor Drogo Montagu (1853-92), 8th Duke of Manchester; to son, William Angus Drogo Montagu (1877-1947), 9th Duke of Manchester. The house was leased to Benjamin Beasley as an institution for the cure of stammering, 1889-1907. He was in the process of giving up his lease at the time of the fire, but though he was uninjured in the blaze he died a fortnight later. The house was used to house German prisoners of war in the First World War. In the Second World War it was first used as an evacuation home for mothers and babies from the East End of London and later taken over by the RAF, which acquired the freehold. It remained in use for military purposes until 2013, when it was closed and redeveloped for large-scale housing.

Bernard family of Abington Abbey, baronets

Bernard, Thomas (d. 1464). Second son of Robert Bernard (fl. 1384) of Isleham (Cambs) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicholas Lylling (d. 1418) of Abington (Northants). Escheator of Rutland and Northamptonshire, 1415. He married Margaret, daughter of John Mantell, and had issue:

(1) John Bernard (d. 1485) (q.v.);

(2) Rev. Thomas Bernard (fl. 1449), vicar of Pattishall (Northants).

He lived at Clare (Suffk), and evidently acquired the manor of Abington on the death of his mother c.1451, but there is no evidence that he lived there.

He died in 1464. His widow married 2nd, William Newenham (c.1435-1504) of Thenford (Northants) and was living in 1467.

Bernard, John (d. 1485). Elder son of Thomas Bernard (d. 1464) and his wife Margaret, daughter of John Mantell. He married Margaret (or Mary), daughter of Henry Scrope, 4th Lord Scrope of Bolton and widow of William Plessington and Hugh Stafford, and had issue:

(1) John Bernard (c.1469-1508) (q.v.);

(2) Francis Bernard;

(3) Rev. Eustace Bernard*; a secular priest at Filgrave (Bucks), Thenford (Northants), Tarporley (Ches) and Maidford (Northants);

(4) Thomas Bernard, of Gloucestershire;

(5) Rev. Robert Bernard (fl. 1510); said to be rector of Cotterstock (Northants) in 1510.

He lived at Reading (Berks) and inherited the manor of Abington from his father in 1464. At his death it passed to his widow for life.

He died in October 1485. His widow is said to have died in 1496.

* Probably not the man who was an Augustinian canon at Ravenstone Priory (Bucks) (prior, 1473-85), who would have been at least a generation older.

Bernard, John (c.1469-1508). Eldest son of John Bernard (d. 1485) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Henry Scrope, 4th Lord Bolton and widow of William Plessington and Hugh Stafford, born about 1469. He married Margaret, daughter of Roger Wake* of Blisworth (Northants), and had issue:

(1) John Bernard (c.1490-1550) (q.v.);

(2) Richard Bernard, of Earl's Barton (Northants); married Anne [surname unknown] (who m2, John Mulsoe).

He inherited Abington from his mother in 1496 and built a new manor house.

He died 24 August 1508, and an inquisition post mortem was held at Northampton Castle, 31 March 1509. His wife's date of death is unknown.

* She is generally said to be the daughter and heiress of John Daundelyon, but the particulars given in John Bernard's inquisition post mortem are as above.

Bernard, John (c.1490-1550). Elder son of John Bernard (c.1469-1508) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Roger Wake of Blisworth (Northants), born about 1490 as he was aged 18 at the time of his father's death. He married, 16 January 1507/8 at Earls Barton (Northants), when his bride was probably still a child, Cicely (d. 1557), daughter of John Muscott of Earls Barton, and had issue:

(1) Francis Bernard (c.1526-1602) (q.v.);

(2) John Bernard; married Mary, daughter of John Haslewood, and had issue one son;

(3) Elizabeth Bernard; married 1st, John Covert, and 2nd, William Dixon;

(4) Mary Bernard; married George Purley of Lincs;

(5) Dorothy Bernard, a nun at Delapré Abbey (Northants);

(6) Bridget Bernard; married John Dixon.

He inherited the Abington estate from his father in 1508.

He died 4 February 1549/50 and was commemorated by a memorial brass (now lost) at Abington; an inquisition post mortem was held at Northampton, 3 Edward VI. His widow died 21 September 1557 and was commemorated by a brass (also now lost) at Abington.

Bernard, Francis (c.1526-1602). Elder son of John Bernard (c.1490-1550) and his wife Cicely, daughter of John Muscot of Earls Barton, born about 1526, based on his age at his father's death. He married Alice (d. 1612?), daughter of John Haslewood of Maidwell (Northants), and had issue, with two further daughters who died in infancy:

(1) John Bernard (d. c.1586); married Dorothy (who m2, Richard Neale of Rugby (Warks), daughter of Francis Cave (c.1502-83) of Baggrave (Leics), but died without issue in the lifetime of his father, c.1585/6;

(2) Baldwin Bernard (c.1554-1610) (q.v.);

(3) Francis Bernard (c.1558-1630?) (q.v.);

(4) Thomas Bernard (c.1560-1628) of Reading, born before 1564; ancestor of the Bernards of Nettleham (Lincs), Nether Winchendon (Bucks) and Castle Bernard (Co. Offaly); he is variously said to have married Catherine, daughter of Henry Barnsdale, or Sarah [surname unknown] and had issue at least two sons and three daughters, baptised at Reading*; buried at St Mary, Reading, 14 December 1628;

(5) Richard Bernard (c.1562-1613), of Turvey (Beds) and Great Doddington (Northants), born before 1564; married 1st, Alice (c.1543-1606), daughter of John Chibnell of Astwood (Bucks) and widow of William Adam of Turvey (Beds), but had no issue; married 2nd, Elizabeth (d. 1622), daughter of Anthony Woolhouse of Glasswell (Derbys) and widow of [forename unknown] Morley, and had issue two sons and one daughter; buried at Great Doddington (Northants), 24 April 1613; will proved in the PCC, 16 June 1613;

(6) Katherine Bernard, born before 1564; married Ambrose Agard (d. 1612) (who m2, Anne [surname unknown], and had issue one daughter) of Broughton (Northants) and later of Forrock House, Chipping (Lancs), and had issue at least one son and two daughters; death not traced;

(7) Anne Bernard (d. 1629), born before 1564; married 1st, John Doyley (d. 1593) of Merton (Oxon), son of Robert Doyley (d. 1577) of Merton, and had issue four daughters; married 2nd, 11 December 1600 at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx), Sir James Harington (c.1555-1614), kt. and 1st bt., of Ridlington (Rut.) and married 3rd, c.1615, Sir Henry Poole (1564-1632), kt., of  Kemble (Glos) and Oaksey (Wilts); died 1629 and was buried at Merton;

(8) Magdalen Bernard, born before 1564; married Thomas Danvers of Banbury (Oxon), son of George Danvers;

(9) Elizabeth Bernard, born before 1564; married 1st, Thomas Harrison (1568?-1625) of Gobion's Manor, Northampton, second son of Robert Harrison (d. 1598?) of Stow (Northants), and had issue at least five sons and three daughters; married 2nd, Henry Favell of Coventry;

(10) Jane Bernard (c.1560-1619), born before 1564; married, as his second wife, Richard Saltonstall (d. 1619) of Chipping Warden (Northants) and Groves, South Ockendon (Essex), son and heir of Sir Richard Saltonstall, Lord Mayor of London, and had issue at least three sons and one daughter; died 1619; will proved in the PCC, 4 June 1619;

(11) Dorothy Bernard, born before 1564; married Thomas Charnock of Wellingborough (Northants);

(12) Prudence Bernard (fl. 1619), probably born about 1566; married Richard Winhall of Warks; living in 1619 when she was mentioned in the will of her sister Jane.

He inherited the Abington Park estate from his father in 1550.

He died 21 October 1602. His widow was living in 1610 and is said to have died in 1612.

* The mother's name is unfortunately not given in the parish register.

Bernard, Baldwin (c.1554-1610). Second, but eldest surviving, son of Francis Bernard (c.1526-1602) and his wife Alice, daughter of John Haslewood of Maidwell (Northants), born about 1554. He married 1st, 11 November 1587 at St Clement Danes, Westminster (Middx), Alice, daughter of Thomas Stafford of Tattenhoe (Bucks), and 2nd, 20 July 1603 at Tanworth-in-Arden (Warks)*, Eleanor (d. 1634), daughter and co-heir of John Fulwood of Ford Hall (Warks), and had issue:

(1.1) Elizabeth Bernard (fl. 1610); living in 1610; probably died unmarried;

(1.2) Anne Bernard (fl. 1610); probably died unmarried;

(1.3) Dorothy Bernard (fl. 1610); probably died unmarried;

(2.1) Sir John Bernard (1604-74), kt. (q.v.);

(2.2) William Bernard (b. c.1608) of Ecton (Northants), born about 1608; married, 11 November 1658 in Northampton, Mary, perhaps the daughter of Francis Lane of Abington, but had no issue; probably died before his brother as he is not mentioned in his will;

(2.3) Catherine Bernard, probably died unmarried.

He inherited the Abington Park estate from his father in 1602.

He died 7 September and was buried at Abington, 11 September 1610, where he is commemorated by a monument erected by his elder son in 1634; his will was proved at Northampton, 1610. His first wife died before 1603. His widow married 2nd, c.1615, Sir Edmund Hampden (d. 1627), son of Griffith Hampden of Great Hampden (Bucks), and had further issue four sons and two daughters; she died 27 June 1634, and was buried with her second husband at Abington; her will was proved in the PCC, 18 December 1634.

*Where he appears in the register as 'Baldwin Barneyard'!

Bernard, Sir John (1604-74), kt. Elder son of Baldwin Bernard (c.1554-1610) and his second wife, Eleanor, daughter and co-heir of John Fulwood of Ford Hall, born 23 August 1604. After his father's death he was made a ward of the Crown. Educated at King's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1621) and Grays Inn (admitted 1624). He stood unsuccessfully for parliament in Northampton in 1640 and supported the Parliamentary side during the Civil War, being a local sequestration commissioner in 1643, but after the execution of the king he became increasingly 'inclinable to royalism' and he went out of political life during the Protectorate, returning to public office after the Restoration. He was knighted 24 September 1661 and elected MP for Northampton, 1664, but unseated on appeal; JP for Northamptonshire, 1661-74. He married 1st, Elizabeth (c.1602-42), daughter of Clement Edmondes (1568-1622) of Preston Deanery (Northants) and 2nd, 5 June 1649 at Billesley (Warks), Elizabeth (1608-70), daughter and heir of Dr. John Hall of New Place, Stratford-on-Avon (Warks)* and widow of Thomas Nash (1593-1647) of Welcombe (Warks), and had issue:

(1.1) Elizabeth Bernard (c.1630-66), born before 1631, when she was mentioned in her grandmother's will; 'a person of extraordinary charity and piety', a memoir of whose life was written by her husband; she married, 18 February 1657/8 at Abington, Henry Gilbert (fl. 1662) of Locko (Derbys), and had issue five sons and one daughter; buried at Spondon (Derbys), 16 January 1665/6, where she is commemorated by a monument;

(1.2) Mary Bernard (fl. 1671); married, 7 July 1657 at Abington, Thomas Higgs (d. 1671) of Colesbourne (Glos), second son of Thomas Higgs (d. 1649) of Colesbourne, and had issue at least one child; living in 1671;

(1.3) Eleanor Bernard (b. c.1635), born about 1635; married, 8 September 1659 at Abington, Samuel Cotton (b. c.1632; fl. 1684) of Hinwick Hall (Beds) and later of Dadlington (Leics), High Sheriff of Leicestershire, and had issue at least six children;

(1.4) John Bernard (d. 1645), eldest son; died young and was buried at Abington, 18 January 1644/5;

(1.5) William Bernard (d. 1637); died young and was buried at Abington, 30 March 1637;

(1.6) Charles Bernard (1638-39), baptised at Abington, 8 February 1637/8; died in infancy and was buried at Abington, 5 June 1639;

(1.7) Charles Bernard (1640-51); baptised at Abington, 7 May 1640; died young and was buried at Abington, 25 May 1651;

(1.8) Catherine Bernard (b. & d. 1642), baptised at Abington, 9 March 1641/2; died in infancy and was buried at Abington, 13 March 1641/2.

He inherited the Abington Park estate from his father in 1610, enlarged and modernised the house, but sold it in 1669.

He was buried at Abington, 5 March 1673/4. His first wife was buried at Abington, 30 March 1642. His second wife was buried at Abington, 17 February 1669/70, where she is commemorated by a monument.

* And therefore granddaughter of the poet and playwright, William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

---

Bernard, Francis (c.1558-1630?). Third son of Francis Bernard (c.1530-1602) and his wife Alice, daughter of John Haslewood of Maidwell (Northants), born about 1558. He is said to have married 1st, [name unknown], widow of William Mercer of Oxford, and 2nd, c.1596, Mary, eldest daughter of Anthony Woolhouse of Glasswell (Derbys) and had issue:

(1.1) Francis Bernard; died in the lifetime of his father;

(1.2) Ann Bernard; married Robert Welling of Riscom (Suffk);

(2.1) Sir Robert Bernard (1601-66), 1st bt. (q.v.);

(2.2) John Bernard;

(2.3) James Bernard;

(2.4) William Bernard.

He lived at Kingsthorpe (Northants).

He is said to have died 21 November 1630. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His second wife's date of death is unknown.

Bernard, Sir Robert (1601-66), 1st bt. Eldest son of Francis Bernard (c.1558-1630?) and his second wife Mary, daughter of Anthony Woolhouse of Glasswell (Derbys), born at Kingsthorpe, 1601. Said to have been educated at Queen's College, Oxford (but does not appear in the Alumni Oxoniensis) and the Middle Temple (admitted 1615; called 1621; bencher 1647). Barrister-at-law; Recorder of Huntingdon 1640-63, Counsel for the University of Cambridge, 1646; Serjeant-at-law, 1648 and 1660; Steward and Judge of the Court of the Isle of Ely, 1649. MP for Huntingdon, 1640. He was knighted in 1660 and raised to a baronetcy, 1 July 1662. He married 1st, 13 April 1625 at Huntingdon, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Tolcarne* (1569-1627), kt., of Ashen Hall (Essex), and 2nd, Elizabeth (c.1601-62), elder daughter of Sir James Altham of Oxhey and widow of Sir Francis Astley (d. 1638) and Robert Digby (c.1599-1642), 1st Baron Digby of Geashill, and had issue, perhaps among others:

(1.1) Lucy Bernard (1626-69), baptised at Huntingdon, 19 January 1625/6; married, 14 January 1641, Sir Nicholas Pedley (1615-85), kt. (who m2, 10 June 1674, Anne, daughter of Richard Dorrington of Stow (Hunts) and widow of Lawrence Torkington (1622-73) of Great Stukeley (Hunts)), of Abbotsley (Hunts), serjeant-at-law and MP for Huntingdon or Huntingdonshire, 1656-60, 1673-79, and had issue eight sons and seven daughters; died 12 May 1669;

(1.2) Mary Bernard (b. c.1628), born about 1628; married, before 1647, Lawrence Torkington (1622-73) (who m2, Anne, daughter of Richard Dorrington of Stow (Hunts)), of Great Stukeley (Hunts);

(1.3) Sir John Bernard (1630-79), 2nd bt. (q.v.);

(1.4) William Bernard (c.1634-98?), born about 1634; said to have been an officer in the Commonwealth army (Col.) and later grocer in London**; a friend of Samuel Pepys; married, 1680, Jane (c.1648-c.1700), daughter of Henry Ireton and widow of Richard Lloyd (d. by 1680); probably the man of this name who was buried at St Giles-in-the-Fields, Holborn (Middx), 2 December 1698 and administration of whose goods was granted to his widow Jane in the PCC, 12 December 1698.

He lived in Huntingdon by 1625, but also maintained chambers in London.

He died at Serjeant's Inn, 18 April 1666, and was buried in the north aisle at Abington, where he is commemorated by a monument. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His second wife died 3 January 1662/3, and was buried at St Paul, Covent Garden, Westminster (Middx), 7 January 1662/3.

* This surname is also spelled Tollakerne, Tallakern, Tolkern, Talkerne etc.

** He was certainly a grocer, but his reputed military career is more doubtful.

Bernard, Sir John (1630-79), 2nd bt. Elder son of Sir Robert Bernard (1601-66), 1st bt. and his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Tolcarne, born November 1630. Educated at Christ's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1645) and the Middle Temple (admitted 1645; called 1649). Barrister-at-law. MP for Huntingdon, 1654-55, 1656-58, 1659, 1660; JP for Huntingdonshire, 1660-70, 1673-79; a commissioner for sewers in Lincolnshire, 1660; a conservator of the Bedford Level, 1669-75. Knighted c.1662 and succeeded his father as 2nd baronet, 18 April 1666. He married 1st, 26 February 1655/6 at Enfield (Middx), Elizabeth (d. 1667), daughter of Sir Oliver St John, 2nd bt., of Bletsoe (Beds), Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas, and 2nd, 1670 (licence 30 August), Grace (1643-1721?), daughter of Sir Richard Shuckburgh (1596-1656), kt., of Shuckburgh Hall (Warks), and had issue:

(1.1) Elizabeth Bernard (d. 1679); died unmarried and was buried at Brampton, 8 April 1679;

(1.2) Anne Bernard (1659-89), baptised at Brampton, 11 October 1659; died unmarried and was buried at Brampton, 5 March 1689;

(1.3) Mary Bernard (1660-1704), born 28/29 November and baptised at Brampton, 4 December 1660; married, 1682 (licence 9 October), as his second wife, Thomas Browne (1640-1713) of Arlesey (Beds), MP for Bedfordshire, 1690-95, and had issue two sons and five daughters; buried at Arlesey, 14 November 1704;

(1.4) Lucy Bernard (1662-1716), baptised at Brampton, 21 February 1661/2; died unmarried and was buried at Brampton, 1 November 1716;

(1.5) Sir Robert Bernard (1663-1703), 3rd bt. (q.v.);

(1.6) Joanna Bernard (1665-1740?), baptised at Brampton, 11 April 1665; married, 4 January 1700/1 at St George's Chapel, Windsor, Ven. Richard Bentley (1662-1742), archdeacon of Ely and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and had issue one son and two daughters; said to have died in 1740;

(1.7) Frances Bernard (b. 1666), baptised at Brampton, 4 August 1666; living in 1679 but died young;

(1.8) Grace Bernard (1667-84), baptised at Brampton, 27 August 1667; died young and was buried at Brampton, 10 December 1684.

He purchased the Brampton Park estate (Hunts) in 1653.

He died 25 June and was buried 26 June 1679 at Brampton, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved 11 January 1679/80. His first wife was buried at Brampton, 5 September 1667. His widow married 2nd, 20 September 1688 at St Benet, Paul's Wharf, London, as his third wife, Thomas Mariett (1631-91) of Whitchurch (Warks) and Alscot Park, Preston-on-Stour (then Glos, now Warks), MP for Warwickshire in 1681, and is said to have died in 1721.

Bernard, Sir Robert (1663-1703), 3rd bt. Only son of Sir John Bernard (1630-79), 2nd bt., and his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Oliver St John, Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas, baptised at Brampton, 15 December 1663. JP and DL for Hunts, 1688-1703; High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, 1688 (but did not act) and 1691-92. Whig MP for Huntingdonshire, 1689-90. He married, 26 May 1692 at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx), Anne (c.1670-1746), daughter of Robert Weldon of London, mercer, and had issue:

(1) Anne Bernard (1693-1765), born before August 1693; died unmarried, 6 November 1765; will proved in the PCC, 27 November 1765;

(2) Mary Bernard (1696-1785), baptised at Brampton, 7 September 1696; died unmarried, 11 March 1785; will proved in the PCC, 26 March 1785; 

(3) Sir John Bernard (1699-1766), 4th bt. (q.v.);

(4) Elizabeth Bernard (d. 1703); born in or before 1702; buried at Brampton, 21 July 1703.

He inherited the Brampton Park estate from his father in 1679 and came of age in 1684.

He is said to have died 26 July and was buried at Brampton, 5 August 1703; his will was proved in the PCC, 16 August 1703. His widow married 2nd, 25 September 1704 at Brampton, as his second wife, the Rt. Hon. Thomas Trevor (1658-1730), 1st Baron Trevor, of Bromham (Beds), Lord Privy Seal, 1726-30 and Lord President of the Council, 1730, and had further issue three sons; she died 5 December and was buried at Bromham, 13 December 1746; her will was proved in 1746.

Bernard, Sir John (1699-1766), 4th bt. Only son of Sir Robert Bernard (1663-1703), 3rd bt., and his wife Anne, daughter of Robert Weldon of London, baptised at Brampton, 23 February 1698/9. He succeeded his father as 4th baronet, 26 July 1703. He married, 22 December 1735 at St Stephen Walbrook, London, Mary (d. 1793), youngest daughter of Sir Francis St. John (c.1680-1756), 1st bt., of Longthorpe (Northants), and had issue*:

(1) Mary Bernard (1738-93), born 26 January 1738/9; married 8 July 1771 at St Marylebone (Middx), Robert Sparrow (1741-1822) of Worlingham Hall (Suffk), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 9 February 1793;

(2) Sir Robert Bernard (1739-89), 5th bt. (q.v.);

(3) Ann Bernard (1740-44), born 17 July and baptised at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx), 28 July 1740; died young and was buried at Brampton, 12 July 1744;

(4) Francis Bernard (1741-57), born and baptised at St Margaret, Westminster, 30 October 1741; said to have died at school in Bishop's Stortford (Herts), and been buried 6 July 1757;

(5) Elizabeth Bernard (c.1743-50), buried at Brampton, 3 March 1749/50;

(6) Richard Bernard (b. & d. 1747), baptised at Brampton, 20 October 1747; died in infancy and was buried at Brampton, 22 October 1747;

(7) Richard Bernard (b. & d. 1749), baptised at Brampton, 5 July 1749; died in infancy and was buried at Brampton, 10 July 1749;

(8) Frances Bernard (1750-70), born 9 August and baptised at St Margaret, Westminster, 29 August 1750; mentioned in her father's will in 1757; died unmarried and was buried at St John, Peterborough, 16 June 1770;

(9) William Bernard (c.1751-66?); mentioned in his maternal grandfather's will in 1755, his father's will of 1757, and his aunt Anne's will of 1765; said to have died at Thorpe Hall (Hunts), 8 February 1766.

He inherited Brampton Park from his father in 1703 and came of age about 1720. His father in law settled the manors of Leigh Hall and Hadleigh as well as lands at Paggleham, Barling and Shopland (all Essex) on him, and bequeathed his estates in Co. Armagh to trustees for his son William.

He died 15 December and was buried at St John, Peterborough (Hunts), 21 December 1766; his will was proved in the PCC, 30 December 1766. His widow died 'at a great age', 21 September 1793, and her will was proved in October 1793.

* Some online sources plausibly mention other children who died young, but I have been unable to find any evidence to support their existence.

Bernard, Sir Robert (1739-89), 5th bt. Eldest son of Sir John Bernard (1699-1766), 4th bt., and his wife Mary, youngest daughter of Sir Francis St. John, 1st bt., of Longthorpe (Northants), born 17 June and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, 2 July 1739. Educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1758). He succeeded his father as 5th baronet, 15 December 1766 and undertook a tour in Spain in 1771 with Col. Barre. Recorder of Bedford, 1771-89. He was initially elected to Parliament on the Duke of Manchester's influence as MP for Huntingdonshire, 1765-68, but quarrelled with his patron in 1766 and became a radical Whig. In 1769 he helped to found the Bill of Rights Society, and was with the help of John Wilkes elected as MP for Westminster, 1770-74, but in 1771 he voted for the the dissolution of the Bill of Rights Society and joined the rival Constitutional Society and broke with Wilkes. On this account he was deselected by the Westminster radicals and made no further attempt to sit in Parliament, although he had a personal interest at Bedford; his obituary suggests he was obliged to abandon politics by 'violent attacks of gout'. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Brampton Park from his father in 1766. At his death, he left his property, valued at £14,000 a year, to his sister's son, Robert Bernard Sparrow.

He died 2 January 1789, when the baronetcy became extinct, and was buried at Brampton, 7 January 1789; his will was proved in the PCC, 21 January 1789.

Principal sources

Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, 2nd ed., 1841, p. 59; J. Bridges, History & Antiquities of Northamptonshire, 1791, vol. 1, p. 400-05; S. Napier-Higgins, The Bernards of Abington and Nether Winchendon: a family history, 1903 (2 vols); VCH Hunts, vol. 3, 1936, pp. 12-20; VCH Northamptonshire, vol. 4, 1937, pp. 65-69; J. Heward & R. Taylor, The country houses of Northamptonshire, 1996, pp. 47-51; B. Bailey, Sir N. Pevsner & B. Cherry, The buildings of England: Northamptonshire, 3rd edn., 2013, pp. 471-72; C. O'Brien & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough, 2nd edn., 2014, pp. 427-28; Brampton Park Heritage Assessment, 2015; History of Parliament biographies of Sir John Bernard, kt. and of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th baronets;

https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/bb4ae/bernard01.php

Location of archives

Bernard and Sparrow families of Brampton: deeds, estate and family papers, 17th-19th cents. [Huntingdonshire Archives, DDM]

Coat of arms

Bernard of Abington and Huntingdon: argent, a bear rampant sable muzzled or.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide photographs or portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 30 September 2024 and was updated 1 and 2 October 2024.