(309) Bagenal of Dunleckney Manor and Benekerry

Bagenal of Dunleckney and Benekerry

The Bagenal family first emerge in the historical record as merchants at Newcastle-under-Lyme in north Staffordshire. In about 1539, Nicholas, the second son of John Bagnall (d. 1558) fled to Ireland after killing a man in a brawl at Leek (Staffs) in which his brothers were apparently also involved. He entered the service of the O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone and King of Ulster, who in 1543 obtained a pardon for him from King Henry VIII. Having shown an aptitude for the military life he then joined Henry's service and was sent to France to gain military experience. He returned to Ireland in about 1548 and was quickly made Marshal-General of the King's forces in Ireland (in 1550) and knighted (in 1551). In 1552 he received a large grant of lands at Newry, and in about 1568 he built himself a castle there, and later laid out a walled town. Ejected from office during the reign of Queen Mary I, he recovered his post in 1565 and then held it until a few months before his death in 1591, by which time he will have been well over eighty.

Bagenal's Castle, Newry: drawing of c.1568 showing
Sir Nicholas Bagenal's new house. Crown Copyright.

Sir Nicholas Bagenal was succeeded at Newry, and also in his command as Marshal-General, by his son, Sir Henry Bagenal (1556-98), who seems to have been by some margin less astute and more hot-tempered than his father. His chief political ambition seems to have been to reduce the power and influence of the O'Neills in Ulster, and when the 3rd Earl of Tyrone sought the hand of his youngest sister, Mabel, in 1591 he haughtily rejected the proposal, only to find that the couple eloped together. From this point, a feud began between the two families which was not calmed by Mabel's death in 1595. It culminated in the Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598, at which Sir Henry's army was badly beaten, and he himself was mortally wounded. His widow retired to an estate he had acquired at Plas Newydd on Anglesey, while the Newry estate came into the hands of his son Arthur (c.1584-1643) when he came of age in 1605. Arthur also inherited Plas Newydd on his mother's death, and seems to have ended his days in Wales rather than Ireland. The Bagenals were not quite done with military affairs in Ireland, however, for Sir Henry's illegitimate cousin, Sir Samuel Bagenal, was appointed Marshal-General of Ireland in 1602, although he perhaps did not hold the post for very long. The Newry and Plas Newydd estates descended to Arthur's son, Nicholas Bagenal (1629-1712) and when he died were partitioned between his cousins, Edward Bayly and Robert Needham (whose descendants were later the Marquesses of Anglesey and the Earls of Kilmorey respectively), and passed out of the name and family of Bagenal.

Sir Nicholas Bagenal (d. 1591) had a younger son - christened Dudley in complement to his patron, the Earl of Leicester - for whom his father purchased the barony of Idrone, an extensive territory based on Leighlin Castle in Co. Carlow, in about 1585. This land had been held for many generations by the Kavanagh clan, but in 1568 it was prized from their grasp by Sir Peter Carew, who pursued a dubious claim to the estate dating back several centuries and secured a positive verdict from the courts in Dublin. Having won his case, and gained possession, Sir Peter was wise enough to placate such of the Kavanagh clan as would accept the situation by making grants of land to them on easy terms. Dudley Bagenal was not content to follow this precedent, but took every opportunity to drive the Kavanaghs off his land by force and threats. This rash proceeding quickly stirred up another feud, and Dudley was killed in an ambush at Killymoon Castle in 1587. His son and heir, Nicholas Bagenal (1582-1607), was a child of five, who was despatched to England for education. He returned to Ireland in 1597, and came of age in 1603, but was killed in a duel in Dublin four years later. The barony of Idrone passed to his half-brother, George Bagenal (d. 1625), who built a new house on the estate at Dunleckney in c.1610-12. No illustration of this house has been found, but it was probably a fortified manor house, for Ireland beyond the Pale was still a turbulent place at this time.

George Bagenal was succeeded by his son, Col. Walter Bagenal (1614-52), who was a leading figure in the Catholic Confederation during the wars of the 1640s. In 1646 he was one of the Catholic leaders who negotiated a peace treaty with King Charles I, but he found that his own side was riven by dissent over the acceptability of the terms of the treaty, which was anyway superseded after the execution of the King and the renewal of fighting against the army of Oliver Cromwell. When the Confederation army surrendered to Cromwell's forces at Kilkenny in 1652, he was one of those who remained in Protestant hands as a surety for the performance of the terms of the surrender agreement. While thus being held as a hostage, he was accused of murder in relation to acts alleged to have been carried out on his orders during the first phase of the conflict before 1646, hurriedly tried, and executed. His two brothers were among the Catholic landowners forced into internal exile in Connaught. The barony of Idrone was seized by Parliament and granted to Col. Daniel Axtell, who had been among his accusers at Kilkenny and who was later executed as a regicide. 

Col. Walter Bagenal's eldest son, George, having been killed in a skirmish in 1650, it was left to his next son, Col. Dudley Bagenal (c.1638-1712) to recover the barony of Idrone after the Restoration. This he did relatively easily, partly because Daniel Axtell's execution had brought the property into the Crown's hands and partly because there was genuine respect at Court for the honourable part Walter Bagenal had played in Irish affairs after the peace of 1646 and embarrassment about the circumstances of his trial and execution. The estate was restored to Dudley in 1661. Although he had been brought up by a Protestant guardian after his father's death, Dudley held strongly to his family's Catholic faith, and went abroad for some years during the agitation over the Popish Plot. With the accession of the Catholic King James II his career prospered, and he was made Lord Lieutenant of Co. Carlow. When King James came to Ireland in 1689 in an attempt to recover his kingdom, Dudley rallied to his flag and was colonel of a regiment in the Jacobite forces. After the disastrous Battle of the Boyne in 1690, he and his family followed the King into exile in France, where he gained a post as Gentleman Usher in the court at St. Germains, which provided him with some income. Dudley's life interest in the Dunleckney estate was forfeited to the Crown as a result of his attainder.

The one member of the family who apparently did not join the Jacobite exodus was the eldest son and heir, Walter Bagenal (c.1670-1745), who came of age shortly afterwards. Nothing seems to be known of his career before the Dunleckney/Idrone estate was restored to him by the Crown on his father's death in 1712, but he may have been living in England for part of the intervening years. His sympathies seem to have been with the Jacobite party, but he was not willing to be a martyr for the cause and his chief interest seems to have been in developing and improving the Dunleckney estate. It seems probable that he rebuilt the house, as the earliest known view of the property shows a rather English-looking hipped-roofed house of six or seven bays. He also laid out a new town (Bagenalstown) on his property, in a bid to attract trade. In about 1725 he married for a second time, and took a Protestant wife. Perhaps as a condition of the marriage, he converted at the same time to Protestantism, and his successors thereafter became as strongly of that persuasion as their predecessors had been Catholic. 

When Walter died in 1745, he left a young family by his second wife. His heir, Beauchamp Bagenal (c.1735-1802) inherited some 32,000 acres in Co. Carlow and a smaller property in Co. Armagh. He was brought up in England, and after leaving Cambridge, undertook an extended Grand Tour in such state as to outshine the petty princelings of Germany. He was rich, handsome, well built, violent and amoral; and he rapidly became a skilled and experienced duellist. He cut such a dash across the capitals of Europe as to become a legend in his own lifetime back home in Ireland, but when he returned, he had run up substantial debts. From 1762 onwards he gradually sold off his patrimony to support a lifestyle that involved further Continental travel and a cellar of fine wines, and at his death most of his estates had gone. He had, however, apparently built a modest new house at Bagenalstown in about 1785, perhaps with a view to the possible sale of Dunleckney itself. He also maintained a house in London (presumably leased), which contained a collection of pictures which was sold after his death. His son, Walter Bagenal (1762-1814) inherited Dunleckney and Bagenalstown House, but lived largely in England. When he died, the estate passed under his father's will to his sister Sarah (who may have been illegitimate, although there seems little evidence for this), wife of Col. Philip Newton (1770-1833) of Benekerry, whose grandfather, John Newton (d. 1748) had established the family on their estate near Carlow. The Newtons seem to have lived chiefly at Benekerry, but perhaps also improved Bagenalstown House, where the entrance front has bows of about 1810.

Philip and Sarah Newton had five sons, and their second son, Philip, took the surname Bagenal after his mother's death, in accordance with the wish of his grandfather and mother. It might have been supposed that this would be the prelude to his being left the ancestral Bagenal property at Dunleckney, but this is not what happened. Instead, at his death in 1833, Col. Philip Newton left Dunleckney - which was still the larger of his two estates, despite Beauchamp Bagenal's sales - to his eldest son, Walter Newton; and the second son, Philip Bagenal, was left Benekerry. This had the confusing result that although both properties continued in the family for several generations, the Bagenals henceforward held the Newtons' Benekerry and the Newtons held the Bagenals' Dunleckney.

To pursue the Newton and Dunleckney line first, Walter Newton (c.1792-1853) rebuilt Dunleckney Manor in about 1835-40 to the designs of Daniel Robertson. He was succeeded by his son, Philip Jocelyn Newton (1818-95), who may have made minor changes around 1857. He died leaving no sons, so the estate passed to his eldest daughter, Anne Henrietta Newton (c.1845-1927), widow of William Muschamp Vesey (d. 1880). On her death, it passed to her son, S.P.C. Vesey, whose widow sold it in 1942.

As a young man, Philip Bagenal (1796-1855) lived partly at lodgings in Carlow town and partly at Bagenalstown House. He moved to Benekerry at the time of his marriage in 1838, and either just before that or just afterwards (when he was travelling on the Continent), the house was altered and updated. He died leaving a young family and Benekerry passed to his widow (d. 1897) for life. She seems to have made it over to her eldest son, Beauchamp Frederick Bagenal (1846-1930) about the time of his marriage in 1870. His two sons both made careers in the colonies, in Australia and South Africa, and his two daughters both married into other estates. As a result, his eldest son, Beauchamp Walter Bagenal (1873-1952) sold Benekerry in 1936. Bagenalstown House was let in the late 19th and early 20th century, but B.W. Bagenal regained possession shortly after the Second World War and left the house to his nephew, Capt. John Beauchamp Blackett, who later sold it. Remarkably, all three family houses survive at the time of writing, though the future for Bagenalstown House, abandoned and derelict, now looks very bleak.

Dunleckney Manor, Co. Carlow

Nothing seems to be known about the appearance of the first seat of the Bagenals at Dunleckney, which is said to have been built in about 1610-12.  It seems that this original house was replaced by Walter Bagenal (c.1670-1745), probably soon after the estate was restored to him by the Crown in 1712. An early 19th century sketch of the house seems to show a hipped roofed property of six or seven bays and two storeys, which has a rather English air - perhaps not surprising as Bagenal had been living in England for much of the previous twenty years.

Dunleckney Manor: a sketch of the house,
probably built for Walter Bagenal, c.1715.

The house was again rebuilt in about 1835-40 by Daniel Robertson (d. 1849) for Walter Newton, and had apparently been completed by 1844, although graffiti found on roofing slates during the recent restoration suggest that alterations were in progress in 1857. Robertson was an Englishman who appears to have been related to the Adam brothers, and was perhaps trained in their office in the 1790s. After a first career, working largely as a speculative builder and contractor in London with his brother Alexander, came to an end with his bankruptcy in 1817, Daniel Robertson reinvented himself as an architect. He worked largely in Oxford for some years before moving to Ireland in about 1830, where he quickly became established as a designer of Tudor country houses in a similar style to William Vitruvius Morrison.

Dunleckney Manor: entrance front of c.1835-40 by Daniel Robertson

His new house at Dunleckney is faced in smooth granite ashlar and is said to incorporate some elements of the previous building. The entrance front has steep gables and overhanging oriels (reputedly based on the design of those at Oriel College, Oxford, where Robertson had worked ten years earlier). The facade is essentially symmetrical, with a tall central gable over a projecting centre flanked by lower, narrower gables over the bays to either side, but the symmetry is deliberately disrupted by a slender polygonal angle turret at the right hand end.

Dunleckney Manor: staircase of c.1840.

The angle turret and the bow on the garden front are decorated with panels of miniature blind tracery in the English Perpendicular manner. Inside, the house has an elaborately carved Imperial staircase, and there is also said to be some salvaged 17th century woodwork, which perhaps came from the previous house on the site.  By 1989, Dunleckney Manor was in poor condition, and the house has been extensively restored since then for the present owners; it is now available for rent to groups. In the 1840s, a lodge at Shankill Castle was built to a design by Daniel Robertson which it is said was originally intended for use at Dunleckney. 

Descent: Walter Bagenal (1614-52); confiscated by Parliament but restored c.1660 to son, Dudley Bagenal (c.1638-1712); confiscated again c.1690, but restored in 1712 to son, Walter Bagenal (c.1670-1745); to son, Beauchamp Bagenal (c.1735-1802); to son, Walter Bagenal (1762-1814); to sister, Sarah (Westrop) Bagenal (1770-1832), wife of Col. Philip Newton (1770-1833) of Benekerry; to son, Walter Newton (c.1792-1853); to son, Philip Jocelyn Newton (1818-95); to daughter, Anne Henrietta (c.1845-1927), widow of William Muschamp Vesey (d. 1880) of Upton House (Carlow); to son, S.P.C. Vesey; to widow, who sold 1942... Thomas Donnelly; sold c.1958... sold 1989 to Mr & Mrs. Derek Sheane.

Benekerry House, Co. Carlow

Benekerry House, Bagenalstown: entrance front as altered c.1840.
Image: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

A seven-bay, two-storey house, dating originally from the early 18th century, and perhaps built for the Newton family, soon after they first rented the estate from Bishop Vigors in 1702; they later acquired the freehold. In about 1840, a single-storey neo-classical addition was built along the whole length of the entrance front, consisting of an enclosed three-bay granite porch in the centre, with a short open colonnade of Doric columns to either side. The dormers in the roof are a 20th century addition. In 1978 a four bay, single-storey wing was added to one side. Inside, the house has a panelled hall and staircase, and one room has an apsed end with a screen of two Grecian Ionic columns, which sounds as though it may also date from c.1840.

Descent: Rt. Rev. Bartholomew Vigors (1644-1721), who leased it to Bryan Newton...John Newton (d. 1748); to son, Bartholomew Newton (d. 1780); to son, John Newton (d. c.1807); to brother, Col. Philip Newton (1770-1833); to second son, Philip Newton (later Bagenal) (1796-1856); to widow, Georgiana Thomasina Bagenal (c.1814-97); given (c.1870?) to son, Beauchamp Frederick Bagenal (1846-1930); to son, Beauchamp Walter Bagenal (1873-1952); sold 1936 to S. Roche...sold to Andrew Morrissey (d. c.2008)...

Bagenalstown House, Co. Carlow

Bagenalstown House: side elevation of the house c.1910, from an old postcard.

Bagenalstown House is first mentioned in 1766 and the present structure was is believed to have been built for Beauchamp Bagenal (d. 1802) in about 1785. This is probably the date of the five-bay side elevations. The three-bay entrance front with two curved bows must be significantly later, and was probably built in about 1815 for Col. Philip Newton or one of his sons. It is not, in fact, clear to me which of the sons inherited this property, which was occupied at different times by Walter and John Newton and their brother Philip Newton (later Bagenal). A further two-storey addition with exposed rubble stone walls was made at the rear of the house in about 1840, when work was also in progress at the other family houses, Dunleckney Manor and Benekerry. Perhaps at the same time, an elegant three-bay single-storey gate lodge was erected at the end of the drive, with a central canted bow with arched windows and a hipped roof with wide eaves. The lodge has been extended on one side and has unfortunately been given uPVC windows.

Bagenalstown House: the ravaged shell of the house in June 2017. Image: Muinebheag Sentinel

The house was let before 1872 to Walter Blakeney Persse (1831-89), who was presumably responsible for filling in the space between the bows on the entrance front with a lean-to conservatory (since removed). Walter's tenancy was continued by his younger son, John Clarmont Persse (1866-1944), apparently until his death. Thereafter, the house slowly deteriorated, until by 2005, at the height of the 'Celtic Tiger' boom, it was derelict and boarded up, and the surrounding land had planning permission for the building of 160 houses. The estate was then sold for €10 million. The collapse of the Irish housing boom in 2008 meant that development never proceeded and the planning permission lapsed in 2009. By 2012, a fire had damaged the rear of the building, and it was sold for just €250,000. Hopes that the building might be restored or at least made secure by a new owner have not been realised, and there have been continuing problems with squatters, wanton damage and fires, leaving the house stripped and trashed, and it is now hard to see how the house could be rescued as an economic proposition.

Descent: Beauchamp Bagenal (d. 1802); to son, Walter Bagenal (1762-1814); to sister, Sarah (1770-1832), wife of Col. Philip Newton (1770-1833); to son, Philip Newton (later Bagenal) (1796-1855); to son, Beauchamp Frederick Bagenal (1846-1930); to son, Beauchamp Walter Bagenal (1873-1952); to nephew, Capt. John Beauchamp Blackett (b. 1939); sold to John Hedges Becher... sold 2005 to a Northern Ireland developer; sold 2012. The house was leased to Walter Blakeney Persse (1831-89) and then to his son, John Clarmont Persse (1866-1944).

Bagenal family of Newry

Bagnall, John (c.1484-1558). Son of Ralph Bagenhall of Newcastle-under-Lyme (Staffs) and his wife Elinor Sadler of Nantwich (Cheshire), born about 1484. Mayor of Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1519, 1522, 1526, 1531 and 1533. He married Elinor, daughter of Thomas Whittingham of Middlewich (Cheshire), and had issue including:
(1) Sir Ralph Bagenal (c.1508-80), kt. (q.v.);
(2) Sir Nicholas Bagenal (c.1510-91), kt. (q.v.);
(3) Richard Bagenal (d. 1575); Mayor of Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1559; married and had issue; buried at Newcastle-under-Lyme, 17 October 1575;
(4) A son, 'slain at Boulogne', c.1544-46;
(5) A son, 'slain at Boulogne', c.1544-46;
(6) Mary Bagenal; married Roger Brereton;
(7) Margaret Bagenal; married George Bartram of Barlaston (Staffs).
He lived at Newcastle-under-Lyme.
He died in 1558. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bagenal, Sir Ralph (d. 1580), kt. Eldest son of John Bagnall (fl. 1519-33) and his wife Elinor, daughter of Thomas Whittingham of Middlewich (Cheshire), born by 1508. A soldier in the armies of King Henry VIII and King Edward VI; knighted after the Battle of Musselburgh, 1547; sworn of the Privy Council for Ireland, 1550; Lieutenant of the King's Army in Ireland, 1550-53; surveyor of kerseys at London and Southampton, 1549-53; mayor of Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1554-55; MP for Staffordshire, 1547 and 1559, and for Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1554, 1563-67 and 1571; JP for Staffordshire, 1564; High Sheriff of Staffordshire, 1560-61. An ardent reformer, who alone rejected Catholicism before Cardinal Pole and the House of Commons in 1553 (as commemorated in Tennyson's poem, Queen Mary). He married Elizabeth, third daughter of Robert Whitgreave of Burton Manor (Staffs), and had issue:
(1) Frances Bagenal; married 1st, John Lovatt of Trentham (Staffs) and had two sons and two daughters; married 2nd, Sir Arthur Tyringham of Filgrave (Bucks).
He also had an illegitimate child:
(X1) Sir Samuel Bagenal; knighted at Calais, 1596; Colonel in Queen's Irish Army; Marshal of Ireland, 1602; married Blanche, daughter of Walter Borlase.
He lived at Leek (Staffs), but made most of his property over to his brother, Sir Nicholas Bagenal, during the reign of Queen Mary. From the 1560s onwards he was permanently short of money.
He died early in 1580. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Sir Nicholas Bagenal (c.1510-91)

Bagenal, Sir Nicholas (c.1510-91), kt. Second son of John Bagnall (c.1484-1558) and his wife Elinor, daughter of Thomas Whittingham of Middlewich (Cheshire), born about 1510. He fled England after killing a man in a brawl, c.1539, and became a mercenary under Con Bacagh O'Neill (c.1484-1559), King of Ulster and 1st Earl of Tyrone, in Ireland; in 1543 the Earl obtained a free pardon for him from King Henry VIII and he was then sent by the Irish Privy Council to fight in France, where he gained further military experience. He returned to Ireland with a strong military reputation, and was sworn to the Irish Privy Council in 1550, knighted in 1551, and made Marshal-General of the Army in Ireland in 1550. He served in that office 1550-53, 1565-90, being forced to resign under Queen Mary I, but eventually reinstated by Queen Elizabeth I, only retiring in favour of his son in October 1590, a few months before his death. He was MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1555 and 1559, and MP in the Irish Parliament for Co. Down, 1585. JP for Caernarvonshire and Anglesey, c.1561-73. He married, 31 August 1553, Eleanor (d. 1573), daughter and co-heiress of Edward Griffith of Penrhyn (Wales) and had issue:
(1) Jane Bagenal (b. c.1554); died young;
(2) Edward Bagenal (b. c.1555); died young;
(3) Sir Henry Bagenal (1556-98), kt. (q.v.);
(4) Dudley Bagenal (c.1558-87) (q.v.);
(5) Ambrose Bagenal (b. c.1560); died without issue;
(6) Frances Bagenal (b. c.1561); married, as his first wife, Oliver Plunkett (d. 1607), 4th Baron Louth and had issue three sons and five daughters;
(7) Mary Bagenal (c.1562-1609); married, 1582, Sir Patrick Barnewall (d. 1622), kt., of Grace Dieu and Turvey House, and had issue one son and four daughters; died 10 April 1609;
(8) Ralph Bagenal (b. c.1564); perhaps died young;
(9) Jane Bagenal (b. c.1565); perhaps died young;
(10) Isabel Bagenal (b. c.1566); married Sir Edward Kynaston (d. 1641), kt. of Oteley Hall (Shropshire) and had issue two sons and two daughters;
(11) Margaret Bagenal (b. c.1568); married Sir Christopher Plunket, kt., of Dunsoghly, lawyer, and had issue;
(12) Edward Bagenal (b. c.1569); perhaps died young;
(13) Anne Bagenal (b. c.1570); married 1st, Sir Dudley Loftus (1561-1616), kt., of Rathfarnham, and had issue five children; married 2nd, 1616, Dominick Sarsfield (c.1570-1636), 1st Viscount Sarsfield;
(14) Ursula Bagenal (b. c.1571); perhaps died young;
(15) Mabel Bagenal (c.1572-95); married (following an elopement on 3 August 1591), Hugh O'Neill (c.1540-1616), 3rd Earl of Tyrone and last King of Ulster; died December 1595.
He was granted Newry Castle (Co. Down) and substantial lands in 1552, and built Newry Castle and church and erected a town wall from 1568. In 1585 he bought a barony in Co. Carlow for his second son.
He died at Newry Castle in February 1590/91; no will or inquisition post mortem has been found. His wife died 9 February and was buried at Newry, 21 February 1573.

Bagenal, Sir Henry (1556-98), kt. Eldest son of Sir Nicholas Bagenal (d. 1591) and his wife Eleanor, daughter and co-heiress of Edward Griffith of Penrhyn (Wales), said to have been born at Carlingford, 3 August 1556. Educated at Jesus College, Oxford (matriculated c.1572). Soldier in Ireland from 1573; assistant to his father from 1577, and succeeded his father as Marshal-General of the Army and Chief Commissioner for Ulster, 1590. Knighted 1578. His father sent him to England to report to the Court, 1586-87 and he became MP for Anglesey, 1586-87 at this time. He succeeded his father as Marshal of the Army in Ireland, and was sworn of the Privy Council, 1590. He was a friend and chief political agent in Ireland of Lord Burghley, and sought measures to reduce the power of the O'Neills, which the Privy Council rejected. In 1591, the Great O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone and last King of Ulster, sought the hand in marriage of his sister, and when this was refused they eloped. He was thereafter the bitter enemy of O'Neill, with whom he was 'at open war' from 1593-98, in a conflict in which he was eventually killed. He married, 1577, Eleanor (b.1557), third daughter of Sir John Savage, kt., of Rocksavage (Cheshire), and had issue:
(1) Arthur Bagenal (c.1584-1639?) (q.v.);
(2) Gryffyth Bagenal; died without issue;
(3) John Bagenal; died without issue;
(4) Roger Bagenal; died without issue;
(5) Eleanor Bagenal (d. 1637); married 1st, Sir Robert Salusbury (d. 1599) of Rug, and 2nd, 20 July 1601, Thomas Needham (d. 1624) of Pool Park (Denbighs.), and had issue five sons and one daughter; died 1637;
(6) Mary Bagenal (d. 1606); married Thomas Bodville; died at Pool Park, 27 January 1606;
(7) Elizabeth Bagenal; died without issue;
(8) Jane Bagenal; married, as his first wife, Robert Griffith of Llanfairisgaer (Caernarvons.) and Plas Newydd (Anglesey);
(9) Anne Bagenal (d. 1633); married, as his second wife, Rt. Rev. Lewis Bayly (d. 1631), Puritan chaplain to Henry, Prince of Wales and later to King James I, and Bishop of Bangor 1616-31, and had issue one son and one daughter.
He inherited Newry Castle from his father in 1591. He lent money to the last Welsh owner of Plas Newydd (Anglesey) and later foreclosed on the mortgage. His widow and her second husband lived at Plas Newydd after his death.
He was mortally wounded in action at the Battle of Yellow Ford on the Blackwater, when his army was cut to pieces by the Great O'Neill, 14 August 1598, and was buried by his retreating troops, reputedly in Armagh Cathedral but perhaps more probably at Newry; an inquisition post mortem was held, 42 Elizabeth (1599-1600); his estate was, however, so complicated that the Privy Council looked into it at his widow's request, and appointed her as administrator in 1604. His widow married 2nd, 1602, Admiral Sir Sackville Trevor RN, son of John Trevor of Trevalyn and died after 1608.

Bagenal, Arthur (c.1584-1639?). Eldest son of Sir Henry Bagenal (1556-98) and his wife Eleanor, third daughter of Sir John Savage, kt., of Rocksavage (Cheshire). After the death of his father he became a ward of his uncle, Sir Patrick Barnewall, kt., of Grace Dieu, and his grandfather, Sir John Savage, kt., of Rocksavage. In 1609 he became an undertaker for the plantation of 3,000 acres in Co. Armagh. He married, by 1611, Magdalen, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir Richard Trevor, kt., of Allington (Denbighs.) and had issue:
(1) Nicholas Bagenal (1629-1712) (q.v.).
He inherited Newry Castle from his father in 1598, and had livery of that estate on coming of age in 1605. He gained possession of Plas Newydd (Anglesey) on his mother's death.
He probably died in 1639; an inquisition post mortem was held 14 Charles I (1638-39). His widow is said to have married 2nd, [forename unknown] Tyringham; her date of death is unknown.

Bagenal, Nicholas (1629-1712) of Plas Newydd. Only son of Arthur Bagenal (c.1584-1639?) of Newry and Plas Newydd (Anglesey), and his wife Magdalen, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir Richard Trevor of Allington (Denbighs.), born 1629. A Protestant in religion; although he held local office in the early years of the Commonwealth, he was arrested in 1655 on a charge of plotting to surprise the garrison of Beaumaris; his confession implicated nobody but his cousin, Nicholas Bayly, and then only after a promise of pardon; in 1658 he was granted a pass to go to France. JP for Anglesey, 1650-53, 1660-88, 1689-1712 and for Caernarvonshire, c.1701-12; DL for Anglesey, 1660-80, 1688-1712; Custos Rotulorum for Anglesey, 1689-90; High Sheriff of Anglesey, 1661-62. MP for Anglesey, 1661-79. Fellow of the Royal Society, 1664. He again obtained leave to travel to France in 1678 and 1684. He married 1st, 8 August 1671, Sydney (d. 1684), daughter of Robert Grosvenor of Eaton Hall (Cheshire) and widow of Robert Hesketh (1632-67), and 2nd, 11 February 1686, Lady Anne Charlotte Bruce* (d. by 1708), sixth daughter of Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin and 1st Earl of Ailesbury, and had issue:
(1.1) Jane Bagenal (b. & d. 1672); died in infancy and was buried at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 4 August 1672;
(1.2) Catherine Bagenal (b. & d. 1673), baptised at St Mary, Shrewsbury, 25 June 1673; died in infancy and was buried in the same church, 22 July 1673;
(1.3) Mary Bagenal (b. 1674);
(2.1) Elizabeth Bagenal (d. 1725); married Rev. Henry Rowlands (1655-1723), rector of Llanidan (Anglesey) and author of Mona Antiqua Restaurata (1723); died 10 November 1725;
(2.2) Nicholas Bagenal (1687-88); died in infancy, 7 March 1688, when he was overlain by his wet-nurse (probably Frances Dobbs of Greenford (Middx), who d. 1692).
He inherited Newry Castle and Plas Newydd, Bangor, from his father. He bequeathed his estates to his cousins, Edward Bayly and Robert Needham, and ultimately to the Marquesses of Anglesey and the Earls of Kilmorey respectively. He also had a house at Isleworth (Middx).
He died in 1712; his will was proved 9 May 1713. His first wife died in 1684. His second wife died between 1692 and 1708.
* Not to be confused with her sister, Lady Anne Bruce (1661-1716), who married Sir William Rich of Sonning (Berks).

Bagenal family of Dunleckney Manor and Benekerry

Bagenal, Dudley (c.1558-87). Second son of Sir Nicholas Bagenal (d. 1591) and his wife Eleanor, daughter and co-heiress of Edward Griffith of Penrhyn (Wales), born about 1558. Constable of Leighlin Castle, 1585-87. A 'headstrong, hot-tempered, violent man', he refused to continue his predecessor's policy of granting freeholds or leaseholds within the estate to members of the Kavanagh clan from whom the barony had been obtained by a highly dubious legal process, and instead took every opportunity to drive them from his lands by force and threats. Not surprisingly, this resulted in a feud, in which he was eventually slain. He married 1st, before 1582, Katherine, daughter of Patrick Nangle, and 2nd, Mabel, daughter of George Fitzgerald of Ticoghran Castle (Meath), and had issue:
(1.1) Nicholas Bagenal (1582-1607) (q.v.);
(2.1) George Bagenal (d. 1625) (q.v.);
(2.2) Adam Bagenal; died without issue;
(2.3) Eleanor Bagenal (d. 1632); married 1st, 1612, as his second wife, Sir Thomas Colclough (1564-1624), kt., of Tintern Abbey (Wexford) and had issue three sons and one daughter; married 2nd, as his third wife, Luke Plunkett (1589-1637), 10th Baron Killeen and 1st Earl of Fingall; died November 1632.
His father bought him a large estate, known as the barony of Idrone in 1585; this consisted of all that part of Co. Carlow from Carlow town in the north to Borris in the south, lying east of the river Barrow, and a smaller area west of the river (West Idrone or the Dullagh).
He was killed in an ambush at Killymoon Castle by the Kavanaghs, 21 March 1587. His first wife died about 1583. His widow's date of death is unknown.

Bagenal, Nicholas (1582-1607). Only child of Dudley Bagenal (c.1558-87) and his first wife, Katherine, daughter of Patrick Nangle, born 1582. He was made a ward of his grandfather, Sir Nicholas Bagenal (d. c.1590). Educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1597). Constable of Leighlin Castle, 1597-1607. He married Anne, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Colclough, kt., of Tintern Abbey (Wexford) and sister of Mrs. Eleanor Kavanagh, and had issue:
(1) Mary Bagenal; married her cousin, Samuel Loftus, son of Sir Dudley Loftus of Rathfarnham.
He inherited the Idrone estate from his father in 1587 and came of age in 1603. He acquired Ballymoon Castle (Carlow). At his death his estates passed to his half-brother, George Bagenal (d. 1625).
He was killed in a duel at Dublin, 1607. His widow married 2nd, 1618 (settlement 3 July), Sir Thomas Butler (d. c.1640), 1st bt., of Cloughgrenan, and had further issue; her date of death is unknown.

Bagenal, George (d. 1625). Elder son of Dudley Bagenal (d. 1587) and his second wife, Mabel, daughter of George Fitzgerald of Ticoghran Castle (Meath). MP for Carlow in the Irish Parliament, 1613. He married 1st, Jane, daughter of Garrett Fitzgerald, of Kilkea (Kildare) and 2nd, Joan, daughter of Sir Walter Butler (later 4th Earl of Ormonde) of Kilcash (Kilkenny), and had issue:
(2.1) Col. Walter Bagenal (1614-52) (q.v.);
(2.2) Lt-Col. Thomas Bagenal of Donganstown (Co. Carlow); an officer in the Earl of Westmeath's regiment of the Leinster Army of Confederated Catholics, 1642-52; deported to Connaught during the Commonwealth; married Jane [surname unknown] and had issue four sons and one daughter; 
(2.3) Henry or Nicholas Bagenal; described as 'afflicted'; deported to Connaught with his brother Thomas; died unmarried and without issue;
(2.4) Mary Bagenal (d. 1656); married [forename unknown] Butler of Ballinakill and had issue including two sons; died 1656.
He inherited the estates of his half-brother, Nicholas, at Idrone and, since he did not succeed to the Constableship of Leighlin Castle, occupied Ballymoon Castle from 1607; his possession was confirmed by letters patent in 1610. He soon afterwards (c.1610-12) built the family house at Dunleckney, which superseded Ballymoon.
He died in 1625. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His second wife's date of death is unknown.

Bagenal, Col. Walter (1614-52). Eldest son of George Bagenal (d. 1625) and his second wife, Joan, daughter of Sir Walter Butler of Kilcash (Kilkenny),, born 27 January 1614/5. Governor of Co. Carlow, 1641. Representative of Co. Carlow in the Legislative Assembly and Leinster Provincial Council of the Catholic Confederation, 1642, and Colonel of a regiment of horse in the Confederation's Leinster army. He was one of the Commissioners on behalf of the Catholic Confederation which negotiated a peace treaty with his cousin, Lord Ormonde, on behalf of King Charles I, 1646, and he continued to support the agreement after the Confederation became divided in its views. On the surrender of the Confederation army at Kilkenny in 1652 he remained in Protestant hands as a surety for the performance of the terms of surrender, but being charged with murder he was put on trial at a hastily convened High Court of Justice at Kilkenny Castle, and sentenced to death. His death was widely seen as an injustice and the both the 1st Duke of Ormonde (as he became in 1660) and his son acknowledged an obligation to the Bagenal family which was repaid by frequent acts of kindness and patronage over the next seventy years. He married Elizabeth (d. 1655), daughter of Christopher Roper (1561-1622), 2nd Baron Teynham and widow of John Plunkett of Dunsloughley (Co. Dublin), and had issue:
(1) George Bagenal (d. 1650); a Captain in the Royalist army in Ireland, killed during a skirmish at Inniscorthy (Galway) in 1650, during the lifetime of his father;
(2) Dudley Bagenal (c.1638-1712) (q.v.);
(3) Henry Bagenal (d. 1673); died without issue, 1673;
(4) Katherine Bagenal (d. 1700); married 1st, John Corbet; married 2nd, Patrick Colclough (d. 1691) of Duffrey Hall (Wexford), elder son of Dudley Colclough of Monart (Wexford), and had issue; died 6 November 1700.
He inherited the Idrone, Ballymoon Castle and Dunleckney Manor estates from his father in 1625, but they were forfeited on his excution. They were leased by the Commonwealth to Col. Daniel Axtell, who was excepted from the general pardon granted by Charles II at the Restoration and executed as a regicide. The Bagenal estates were subsequently recovered by Dudley Bagenal in February 1661.
He was executed at Kilkenny by a firing squad of Commonwealth troops, October 1652. His widow, 'her reason overcome by the troubles of her family and the death of her husband', died in 1655.

Bagenal, Col. Dudley (c.1638-1712). Second, but eldest surviving, son of Col. Walter Bagenal (1614-52) of Dunleckney Manor and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Roper, 2nd Baron Teynham and widow of John Plunkett of Dunsloughley (Dublin), born about 1638. After his father's execution, he came under the guardianship of the Commonwealth Government, which lodged him with a Puritan family in Dublin. Educated at Dublin Free School, St. John's College, Oxford (matriculated 1658) and Middle Temple (admitted 1658). His later upbringing in a Puritan household had little effect on his beliefs or political views, and he claimed in the 1680s that he 'was engaged in several risings... for his late Majesty's restoration'. On leaving Oxford, it is said he was a volunteer in the first Dutch War with Col. James Porter, but the First Dutch War was fought while he was in Dublin, so perhaps this was the Second Dutch War of 1665-67. He was MP for Old Leighlin, 1668 and for Carlow, 1689. During the scare over the Popish Plot (1678-81) he was obliged to live in exile in France with his wife and family. Lord Lieutenant of Co. Carlow, 1685-89. During the war of 1689-91 he was a Colonel in the Jacobite army and fought at the Battle of the Boyne, 1690, and was subsequently attainted and forfeited his estates; Gentleman Usher to King James II in the court in exile at St. Germains. He married 1st, Ann, daughter of Edward Butler of Ballyraggett (Kilkenny) and 2nd, 1668, Ann (c.1645-1725?) (who became an invaluable intriguer for the Jacobite cause in exile and was largely instrumental in recruiting the 2nd Duke of Ormonde), daughter of George Mathew of Thomastown (Tipperary), and had issue:
(2.1) Walter Bagenal (c.1670-1745) (q.v.);
(2.2) George Bagenal; 'a courtier and a man of pleasure'; ADC and companion (codename 'Busbie') to 2nd Duke of Ormonde in exile in Spain, where he married; died without issue in Spain, after 1721;
(2.3) Nicholas Bagenal (d. 1737); died without issue at St. Renard, Flanders, 1737;
(2.4) Dudley Bagenal (d. 1757); died without issue at St. Renard, Flanders, 1757;
(2.5) Mary Bagenal (c.1673-1709); a nun at the Convent of Poor Clares, Gravelines (France) (professed 1691); died 8 June 1709;
(2.6) Helen* Bagenal (d. 1737); married, as his second wife, Sir John Hales (1672-1744), 4th bt. and titular 2nd Earl of Tenterden (a Jacobite title to which he maintained his claim, although he converted to Protestantism in 1718) and had issue three sons; died at Luckley (Berks), November 1737;
(2.7) Catherine Bagenal (c.1674-1736); a nun at the Convent of Poor Clares, Gravelines (professed 1691; Abbess, 1705-36); died 8 April 1736;
(2.8) Ann Bagenal (d. 1734); married 1st, before 1691, Sir Gervase Clifton (1666-1731), 4th bt., of Clifton (Notts) and had issue fifteen sons (of whom ten died unmarried) and one daughter; married 2nd, September 1734; William Blackburne of Ongar (Essex); died at Boulogne, 1734.
The Dunleckney Manor estate was restored to him in February 1661. In 1689, King James II granted him the estate at Newry which had belonged to the descendants of Sir Nicholas Bagenal, but he forfeited both properties after the Battle of the Boyne, 1690, when he fled abroad and was attainted. He subsequently lived in exile at the Jacobite court at St. Germain-en-Laye. As the Dunleckney property had been settled after his marriage, he could only forfeit his life estate in that, and William III rather surprisingly granted his wife a pension of £400 a year out of the estate, equivalent to the jointure she would have received, during her husband's lifetime. After her husband went into exile, she divided her time between London and the continent.
He died at Bruges, 9 August 1712, and was perhaps buried at the church of St. Ann there. His first wife died before 1668. His widow died some years after her husband, aged 80; she was perhaps the Ann Bagnall who was buried at St Giles in the Fields, London, 12 June 1725.
* Some sources give her name erroneously as Margaret.

Bagenal, Walter (c.1670-1745). Eldest son of Col. Dudley Bagenal (c.1638-1712) of Dunleckney Manor and his second wife Ann, daughter of George Mathew of Thomastown (Tipperary), born about 1670. His political sympathies were apparently still Jacobite, and he used his position in the county to illegally influence the outcome of the 1713 parliamentary election in the favour of the Jacobite and Tory candidates, but he conformed to Protestantism in 1725 before his second marriage, which was to a Protestant. His conversion cleared the way for him to stand as a candidate in a bye-election in Co. Carlow in 1725, but he was not elected. He married 1st, 31 March 1701 (post-nuptial settlement 22 March 1704/5), Eleanor (d. by 1723), daughter of James Barnewall of Bremore and Drimnagh Castle (Co. Dublin) and 2nd, c.1725, Eleanor, daughter of John Beauchamp MP of Ballyloughlan Castle (Carlow), and had issue (with two other children by his second wife who died in infancy):
(1.1) Mabel Bagenal; married, 1723 (settlement 22 February), Nicholas Stapleton (d. 1750) of Carlton (Yorks), but died without issue;
(1.2) Mary Bagenal (1709-44), born in London, 8 September 1709; married, as his first wife, Jarrard Stickland (c.1703-91) of Ogleford, second son of Walter Strickland of Sizergh Castle (Westmld), and had issue two daughters; died at York, 9 April 1744;
(2.1) Beauchamp Bagenal (c.1735-1802) (q.v.);
(2.2) Eleanor Bagenal; married James Carroll of Ballymore (Wicklow);
(2.3) Catherine Bagenal; married Maurice Keating of Narraghmore (Kildare).
He recovered the Dunleckney Manor estate after his father's death in 1712, probably rebuilt the house, and laid out Bagenalstown as a new town, in a progressive attempt to establish a profitable trade route through his land. In 1723 he obtained a private Act of Parliament to sell his first wife's property in Co. Dublin and Co. Meath to make provision for their children.
He died in 1745. His first wife was dead by 1723. His second wife's date of death is unknown.

Bagenal, Beauchamp (c.1735*-1802). Only surviving son of Walter Bagenal (c.1670-1745) and his second wife, Eleanor, daughter of John Beauchamp MP of Ballyloughlan Castle (Carlow), born about 1735. Educated at Hillsborough (Yorks) and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (admitted 1753); then undertook a Grand Tour of Europe. High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1759; joint Governor of Co. Carlow, 1767-1800; MP for Enniscorthy, 1761-68, and for Co. Carlow, 1768-76, 1778-83, in the Irish Parliament, although the was frequently absent during the parliamentary sessions, travelling in Europe. In the late 1770s he became enthusiastic volunteer, and was Colonel of the Graigue & Dunkealy Volunteers and of the Dunleckney, Kiladmond and Mount Leinster Volunteers, and a Captain in the Bagenalstown & Kiladmond Infantry, 1796. One of the most colourful characters of 18th century Ireland (which is saying a lot), he was eccentric to be point of being unbalanced, and by 1785 he was considered 'a wild ungovernable man', who 'preferred amusements to business'. In politics he was 'too wealthy and too eccentric to be anything other than independent' and his views seem to have been both nationalist and republican. According to Sir Jonah Barrington:

"He was one of those persons who...made the grand tour of Europe...He had visited every capital of Europe, and had exhibited the native original character of the Irish gentleman at every place he visited. In the splendour of his travelling establishment, he quite eclipsed the petty potentates with whom Germany was garnished. His person was fine - his manners open and generous - his spirit high - and his liberality profuse. During his tour he had performed a variety of feats which were emblazoned in Ireland, and endeared him to his countrymen. He had fought a prince - jilted a princess (Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, later wife of King George III) - intoxicated the Doge of Venice - carried off a duchess from Madrid - scaled the walls of a convent in Italy - narrowly escaped the Inquisition at Lisbon [and] concluded his exploits by a celebrated fencing match at Paris; and he returned to Ireland, with a sovereign contempt for all Continental men and manners, and an inveterate antipathy to all despotic kings and arbitrary governments".

He had a formidable reputation as both a bon viveur and a duellist: it was said that 'He used to keep a brace of pistols loaded upon his dinner-table. When the meal was over the claret being produced in an unbroached cask, he would tap the cask with a bullet from one of his pistols, while he kept the other for any of those who failed to do justice to the wine'. He also had a preference for fighting his duels in a churchyard, so that he could steady himself by leaning against a tombstone.  He was not lacking in education or self-knowledge, and is said to have had a profound respect for the Quaker faith, although he could not govern his tastes or temper sufficiently to join it himself. He also formed a significant collection of pictures, kept at his London house, part of which was sold after his death to the Prince of Wales (later King George IV). He married Maria, widow of Stannard Ryan of Inch (Tipperary) and had issue:
(1) Walter Bagenal (1762-1814) (q.v.);
(2) Emilia Bagenal; married Edward Carroll of Ballynure (Wicklow) and died without issue;
(3) Catherine Bagenal; married at St George, Hanover Square, London, 26 April 1783 (without her father's knowledge or consent), Alexander Bissett (1763-1847) of Lissendrum (Aberdeens.), son of Dr. Alexander Bissett of Lissendrum, and had issue one son;
(4) Sarah Bagenal (1770-1832) (q.v.);
(5) Julian Bagenal.
He inherited his father's lands in Co. Carlow (estimated at 32,000 acres) and 1,430 acres in Co. Armagh in 1745. By 1762 he was in substantial debt, and thereafter he undertook periodic sales. At his death his remaining property, including Dunleckney, passed to his son, and then to his favourite younger daughter and her husband. He also had a house in Soho Square, London.
He died 1 May and was buried 4 May 1802. His wife's date of death is unknown.
*There is some confusion about his date of birth. The age given on his monument and in the Cambridge University admission records place this at about 1735, but the History of the Irish Parliament follows Ryan's History and Antiquities of Co. Carlow (1833) in saying he was born in 1741.

Bagenal, Walter (1762-1814). Only son of Beauchamp Bagenal (d. 1802) of Dunleckney Manor and his wife Maria, widow of Stannard Ryan of Inch (Tipperary), born 1762. Educated at Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1775). An independent Whig in politics, he was elected MP for Carlow in the UK Parliament, 1802-12, with the support of the Kavanaghs of Borris, who as Catholic landowners, approved of his support for Catholic emancipation. He married, 1 March 1786, Elizabeth Jane, daughter of John Black of Bordeaux (France) and Belfast, and widow of [forename unknown] Chambers, and had issue:
(1) Catherine Bagenal; died young;
(2) Maria Bagenal (1788-1842), born 1788; married, 20 June 1815, as his first wife, Sir Ulysses Burgh (later de Burgh) (1788-1863), 2nd Baron Downes, and had issue two daughters; died 20 August 1842.
He lived in England for much of his life, despite inheriting the Dunleckney Manor estate from his father in 1802. At his death, it passed in default of a male heir to his sister, Mrs. Sarah Newton.
He died 18 June 1814. His widow died in 1816.

Bagenal, Sarah (1770-1832)*. Younger daughter of Beauchamp Bagenal (d. 1802) of Dunleckney Manor and his wife Maria, widow of Stannard Ryan of Inch (Tipperary), born 1770. She married, 1785, Col. Philip Newton (1770-1833) of Benekerry (Carlow), and had issue five sons and two daughters [for whom see the entry for her husband, under Newton of Benekerry and Dunleckney Manor below].
She inherited the Dunleckney Manor estate from her brother in 1814. At her death, Dunleckney was left to her eldest son, while her husband's family seat of Benekerry passed to her second son, who took the name Bagenal in lieu of Newton.
She died 17 January 1832. Her husband died 17 October 1833.
* Burke's Irish Family Records states that she was illegitimate, but no other sources concur and I have found no evidence for this.

Newton (later Bagenal), Philip (1796-1855). Second son of Col. Philip Newton (1770-1833) and his wife Sarah, younger daughter of Beauchamp Bagenal of Dunleckney Manor, born 1796. Educated at Eton (admitted 1808) and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1813). He took the name Bagenal in lieu of Newton by royal licence in 1832, in accordance with the express wish of his mother and grandfather. JP for Co. Carlow (to 1838); High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1833. A Conservative in politics. He and his wife spent two years travelling on the Continent, 1840-42. He married, 3 February 1838 at Kilscoran (Wexford), Georgiana Thomasina (c.1814-97), eldest daughter of Maj. James Boyd of Rosslare House (Wexford), and had issue:
(1) Georgina Elizabeth Bagenal (1839-1910), born in Dublin, 15 January 1839; lived in Dublin and latterly in Harrogate (Yorks WR); died unmarried, 17 November 1910; administration of goods granted 30 March 1911 (effects £2,373 in Ireland and £717 in England);
(2) Walter Philip Bagenal (1841-69), born in Brussels (Belgium), 3 May 1841; an officer in the Infantry (Cornet, 1858; Lt., 1859; Capt., 1864); he was unmarried and without issue and died at Bangalore (India), 24 November 1869;
(3) Lucy Isabel Bagenal (1842-45), born 20 December 1842 and baptised at Staplestown, 2 February 1843; died in infancy, February 1845;
(4) Sarah Catherine Bagenal (1844-1913), born 9 December 1844 and baptised at Staplestown, 5 February 1845; lived in Dublin; died unmarried, 30 July 1913; will proved in Dublin, 16 September 1913 (estate £4,746);
(5) Beauchamp Frederick Bagenal (1846-1930) (q.v.);
(6) James Philip Bagenal (1848-69), born at Cheltenham (Glos), 22 June 1848; an official of the Indian Telegraph Staff; died unmarried at Allahabad (India), 4 June 1869; administration of goods granted 11 May 1870 (effects under £450);
(7) Philip Henry Bagenal OBE (1850-1927) (q.v.).
He inherited Benekerry House (Carlow) from his father in 1833. In 1837 he seems to have been living at Carlow and at Bagenalstown House, but he moved to Benekerry on his marriage. The alterations to that house may have been done before he moved in or while he was travelling on the continent in 1840-42. At his death he left Benekerry to his widow, who may have made it over to her son Beauchamp after his marriage in 1870.
He died 23 June 1855 at Boulogne (France). His widow died 1 March 1897; her will was proved 29 June 1897 (effects £1,209 in Ireland and £123 in England).

Bagenal, Beauchamp Frederick (1846-1930). Second son of Philip Newton (later Bagenal) (1796-1855) and his wife Georgiana Thomasina, daughter of Maj. James Boyd of Rosslare House (Wexford), born 10 September and baptised at Staplestown, 21 October 1846. Educated at Cheltenham College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in 45th Regiment (Ensign, 1866; Lt., 1869; retired 1870), who served in the Abyssinian Campaign, 1868, and as a volunteer under Garibaldi; once described as "hard rider, sad smiler". JP and DL for Co. Carlow; High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1871-72. He married, 5 July 1870, Ethel Constance Mary (c.1848-1930), daughter of Robert Westley Hall-Dare of FitzWalters (Essex), and had issue:
(1) Mary Verena Bagenal (1871-89), born 4 April 1871; died unmarried, 13 February 1889;
(2) Beauchamp Walter Bagenal (1873-1952) (q.v.);
(3) Maj. Charles James Bagenal OBE (1877-1955), born 22 March 1877; educated at St Mark's School, Windsor (Berks) and Camborne School of Mines (Cornw.); served in Imperial Yeomanry in Boer War, 1900-02, and seems to have stayed in South Africa thereafter; he served in First World War with the South African Horse (Maj.), 1914-17; served with Colonial Service in Tanganyika, 1917-31 (Provincial Commissioner, 1926-31); appointed OBE, 1919; married, 29 December 1904, Ethel (c.1877-1973), daughter of H. Burrill of Durban, Natal (South Africa) and had issue one son (who died in infancy) and one daughter; lived in South Africa after retirement; died 21 January 1955;
(4) Violet Ethel Bagenal (1882-1962), born 24 August 1882; married, 1920, Col. William Hovenden Ffolliott (1872-1930) of Tierernane Lodge, Ballickmoyler (Co. Leix), but had no issue; died 20 December 1962;
(5) Kathleen Prudence Eirene Bagenal (1886-1974), born 28 December 1886; married 1st, 6 April 1907 at Staplestown (Carlow), Capt. William Stewart Burdett Blackett (1873-1914) of Arbigland (Dumfriess), only son of Cmdr. Archibald Campbell Stewart Blackett RN, and had issue two sons; married 2nd, 25 June 1918 at Wimborne Minster (Dorset), as his second wife, Brig-Gen. William Frederick Swiny (d. 1950) of Toronto (Canada); after her second marriage she assumed the surname Blackett-Swiny; built a new dower house, 'The House on the Shore' at Arbigland, 1934-36; died 26 March 1974.
He may have taken over Benekerry House from his mother after his marriage in 1870.
He died 5 January 1930; his will was proved 1 April 1930 (effects in Ireland, £7,987; in England, £24 and in Northern Ireland, £50). His widow died 27 December 1930; will proved in Dublin, 14 July 1931 (estate £949).

Bagenal, Beauchamp Walter (1873-1952). Elder son of Beauchamp Frederick Bagenal (1846-1930) of Benekerry and his wife Ethel Constance Mary, daughter of Robert Westley Hall-Dare of FitzWalters (Essex), born 5 January 1873. He emigrated to Brighton, Victoria (Australia) before the First World War, and worked there as a merchant and company director. He served in the First World War as a private soldier with the Australian Army. He married, 14 May 1903 at Adelaide, South Australia, Marion Cecile (1876-1964), only daughter of Robert Seymour of Killanoolie (Galway), but had no issue.
He inherited Benekerry House and Bagenalstown House from his father in 1930, but sold Benekerry in 1936. Bagenalstown House was let, and at his death passed to his nephew, Capt. John Beauchamp Blackett.
He died 31 March 1952 and was buried at West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, 2 April 1952. His widow died 21 September 1964 and was buried at Centennial Cemetery, Pasadena, Mitcham City, South Australia.

Bagenal, Philip Henry Dudley (1850-1927). Fourth son of Philip Newton (later Bagenal) (1796-1856) of Benekerry and his wife Georgiana Thomasina, daughter of Maj. James Boyd of Rosslare House (Wexford), born 18 June and baptised at Staplestown (Carlow), 14 July 1850. Educated at St. Columba's College; studied law at Lincoln College and St Alban's Hall, Oxford (matriculated 1868; BA 1871) and the Inner Temple (admitted 1870; called to bar, 1881) and Kings Inns, Dublin (called to Irish bar, 1874). Barrister-at-law; Inspector-General of the Local Government Board, 1896-1918; during the First World War he was employed on extra services in the care of Belgian refugees in the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire and in work connected with the establishment of military tribunals. Author of The American Irish and their influence on Irish politics (1882); The priest in politics (1893); Vicissitudes of an Anglo-Irish family, 1530-1800 (1925) and The Annals of the County Carlow Cricket Club (for which he played c.1870), as well as biographical entries for the Dictionary of National Biography. He married, 15 April 1884, his cousin, Harriot Jocelyn (1851-1942), daughter of Walter Hore of Linfield (Limerick), and had issue:
(1) Dudleigh John Bagenal (1886-87), born 28 September 1886; died in infancy, 18 March 1887;
(2) (Philip) Hope Edward Bagenal (1888-1979) (q.v.);
(3) Faith Marion Jane Bagenal (1889-1979), born 6 September 1889; educated at Bedales School and Newnham College, Cambridge; married, 15 October 1915 at Hampstead (Middx), Sir Hubert Douglas Henderson (1890-1952), kt., economist, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, 1934-52 (Warden, 1951-52) and Professor of Political Economy at Oxford, 1945-51, son of John Henderson of Kelvinside, Glasgow, and had issue one son (Sir Nicholas Henderson (1919-2009), later British ambassador to Washington) and two daughters; died 18 May 1979; will proved 24 August 1979 (estate £5,821);
(4) Nicholas Beauchamp Bagenal (1891-1973), born 5 July 1891; educated at Aldenham School and read history at Kings College, Cambridge (BA), where he was a contemporary and friend of several of the Bloomsbury Group; served in First World War with 11th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment and 1st Battalion, Irish Guards (wounded twice and gassed); horticulturalist; author of several works on fruit growing and Thomas Andrew Knight, 1759-1838 (1938); married 1st, 1st February 1918 (div. 1951), Barbara (1891-1984), daughter of Henry Edward Hiles of Sibford Ferris (Oxon) and had issue two sons and one daughter; married 2nd, 29 September 1951, Joan (fl. 1976), daughter of William Harold Williams LRIBA; died 21/23 December 1973; will proved 10 June 1974 (estate £10,890);
(5) Georgina Charis Mabel Bagenal (1894-1973), born 1 September and baptised at St Andrew, West Kensington (Middx), 20 October 1894; died unmarried, 16 February 1973.
He moved to West Kensington (Middx) in 1890, but moved to Ipswich (Suffk) in 1896, York in 1901, and Harrogate (Yorks WR) in 1902 before setting in Wimbledon (London).
He died 7 August 1927; his will was proved 8 October 1927 (estate £5,718). His wife died 26 January 1942; her will was proved 1 June 1942 (estate £601).

Bagenal, (Philip) Hope Edward (1888-1979). Second, but eldest surviving, son of Philip Henry Bagenal (1850-1927) and his wife Harriot Jocelyn, daughter of Walter Hore of Linfield (Limerick), born in Dublin, 11 February 1888. Educated at Uppingham School and Leeds University, where he studied engineering but left without qualifying, disappointed by the intellectual narrowness and lack of stimulation. He entered the architectural profession as a pupil of David Niven and Herbert Wigglesworth of London in 1909, and became an assistant to Edwin Cooper in 1911. After First World War service in the Royal Army Medical Corps (where he was seriously wounded and awarded the DCM, 1916), he became an assistant to A. Dunbar Smith and Cecil Brewer, architects, and then librarian and occasional history lecturer for the Architectural Association, 1919-39; he also edited the AA journal, 1919-25. In 1925 he was Bernard Webb Student at the British School in Rome, and his explorations in Italy influenced the book he produced in 1926 with Robert Atkinson (President of the Architectural Assoc.), Theories and Elements of Architecture, which is an interesting attempt to ground architecture in contemporary theories of regionalism and an anthropological context. Bagenal's main career was as a consultant in architectural acoustics, in which he had an interest from about 1914; in 1931 he published (with the physicist, Alex Wood), Planning for Good Acoustics, which became a standard text on the subject. His architectural output was extremely small, but his belief in the inherent classicism of vernacular buildings evidently influenced the ideas of Raymond Erith, the pioneering classical revivalist, and his philosophical objections to the rise of Modernism, articulated in papers of 1937 and 1955, has found echoes in the thinking of later generations of architects (and especially classical revivalists). He was on the staff of the Building Research Station, 1940-46, and later, as a consultant to the Station, did pioneering work on the comparative weathering of different buildings, which contributed to the modern study of the lifetime cost of buildings. He was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and was elected an honorary member of the Institute of Acoustics, 1975; appointed OBE, 1956. In addition to his professional writing, he published several volumes of poetry, including Fields and Battlefields (1918) and Sonnets in War and Peace (1940); a contribution to local history, Clifford Manor (1914), and slighter works of literary criticism and theology. He could be intimidating and remote: physically tall and gaunt, difficult to know, intolerant of fools, yet generous and loyal in his friendship with those with whom he found an intellectual rapport, like the historian W.G. Hoskins, author of The making of the English landscape, who probably influenced his thinking on geographical determinism in architecture. He married, 26 December 1914 at Hertingfordbury (Herts), Alison Mary (1892-1981), elder daughter of Stuart James Hogg of Leaside, Hertingfordbury, and had issue:
(1) John Stuart Bagenal (1915-2005), born 5 October 1915; educated at Worcester Cathedral Kings' School; served in Second World War with East Surrey Regiment, 1940-43 and King's African Rifles (Lt., 1943); with Department of Agriculture, Kenya, 1947-67; married, 15 January 1955, Patience Mary Joy, daughter of Maj. Richard Francis Geoffrey Burrows of Godalming (Surrey) and had issue one son and two daughters; died 31 December 2005; will proved 25 October 2006;
(2) Beauchamp Bagenal (1918-59), born 22 September 1918 and baptised at Hertingfordbury, 15 January 1919; educated at Worcester Cathedral Kings' School and Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons; served in Second World War with RAF; with Department of Veterinary Services, Kenya, 1946-55; married, 29 May 1943, Joan Elizabeth (1919-94), daughter of Cecil Maxted of Lower Garrington, Littlebourne (Kent) and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 31 January 1959 and was buried at Kitale (Kenya); will proved 10 January 1961 (estate in England, £546);
(3) twin, Philip Bagenal (1920-43), born 6 December 1920 and baptised at Hertingfordbury, 9 January 1936; educated at Worcester Cathedral Kings' School; served in Second World War with Australian Imperial Force, and was unmarried when he was killed in action, 19 January 1943; buried at Port Moresby War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea;
(4) twin, Katherine (k/a Kate) Margaret Bagenal (b. 1920), born 6 December 1920 and baptised at Hertingfordbury, 9 January 1936; married, 10 July 1954, the historian, Michael Ashley Havinden (b. 1929), son of the artist, Ashley Eldrid Havinden of Roxford, Hertingfordbury, and had issue one daughter.
He died 20 May 1979. His widow died in 1981.

Newton family of Benekerry and Dunleckney Manor

Newton, John (d. 1748). Only son of Bartholomew Newton (d. 1749) of Busherstown (Co. Carlow) and his wife Frances (d. 1754), daughter of Peter Budds of Ganagh (Co. Leix), born about 1710. He married, 1730, Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Lodge of Co. Kilkenny and Dublin, and had issue including:
(1) Bartholomew Newton (d. 1780) (q.v.).
He established the family in residence at Benekerry near Carlow town.
He died in the lifetime of his father, 1748. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Newton, Bartholomew (d. 1780). Eldest son of John Newton (d. 1748) of Benekerry and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Lodge of Co. Kilkenny and Dublin. He married, 1767, Anne, daughter of Philip Bernard, and had issue:
(1) John Newton (fl. 1780-1806); inherited Benekerry from his father in 1780; High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1797; Colonel of the Carlow militia; died unmarried after 1806;
(2) Col. Philip Newton (1770-1833) (q.v.);
(3) Catherine Newton (d. 1833); married Arundel Caulfield of Best Villa (Co. Carlow); died in Dublin, November 1833.
He inherited Benekerry from his father in 1748 and Busherstown from his grandfather in 1749. Through his marriage he acquired considerable further property in Co. Carlow.
He died in 1780. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Newton, Col. Philip (1770-1833). Second son of Bartholomew Newton (d. 1780) of Benekerry and his wife Anne, daughter of Philip Bernard, born 1770. As a young man he served in the Austrian army. JP for Co. Carlow; High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1796. He married, October 1785, Sarah Westrop alias Bagenal (d. 1832), younger daughter and eventual heiress of Beauchamp Bagenal of Dunleckney Manor, and had issue:
(1) Catherine Newton (c.1787-1800); died aged 13, 28 November 1800;
(2) Walter Newton (c.1792-1853) (q.v.); 
(3) Philip Newton (later Bagenal) (1796-1856) [for whom see Bagenal of Dunleckney Manor and Benekerry, above];
(4) Beauchamp Bartholomew Newton (1798-1850) of Rathwade (Carlow), born 5 November 1798; High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1850; married Isabella (d. 1881) (who m2, 1853, James Kearney Aylward (1811-84) of Shankill Castle (Kilkenny), but had no issue; died 21 August 1850;
(5) Henry Newton (1800-63) of Mount Leinster, Borris (Carlow); married, 30 April 1835, Elizabeth Jane (d. 1849), daughter of Rev. Charles William Doyne, rector of Fethard (Tipperary) and had issue one son (from whom descended the Newtons of Mount Leinster) and three daughters; died 30 October 1863;
(6) Elizabeth Newton (d. 1840); died at Bagenalstown House, March 1840;
(7) John Newton (d. 1859) of Bagenalstown House (Carlow); High Sheriff of Carlow, 1856; married, 2 July 1850, Janet Sempill (who m2, 10 November 1863, Thomas Rawson MD), fourth daughter of Alexander Forbes, but had no issue; died 22 October 1859.
He inherited Benekerry from his elder brother after 1806, and Dunleckney Manor in right of his wife in 1814.
He died 17 October 1833. His wife died 17 January 1832.

Newton, Walter (c.1792-1853). Eldest son of Col. Philip Newton (1770-1833) and his wife Sarah, illegitimate daughter of Beauchamp Bagenal of Dunleckney Manor, born about 1792. Educated at Eton (admitted 1808) and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1813). JP for Co. Carlow; High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1826. He married, 22 March 1817 at Ferns Cathedral, Anne (d. 1857), fifth daughter of Hon. George Jocelyn MP and had issue:
(1) Philip Jocelyn Newton (1818-95) (q.v.);
(2) Thomasine Jocelyn Newton; married, 22 November 1853 in London, Marchese Don Odoardo Frederic Francois Raffaele Gadaleta di Martano, second son of the Marchese di Martano, Chamberlain to the King of the Two Sicilies;
(3) Sarah Anne Newton (d. 1835); died young, July 1835.
He inherited Dunleckney Manor from his mother and rebuilt the house there.
He died 23 August 1853 aged 61. His widow died in London, 28 April 1857.

Newton, Philip Jocelyn (1818-95). Only son of Walter Newton (c.1792-1853) and his wife Anne, fifth daughter of Hon. George Jocelyn MP, born in Dublin, 23 March 1818. Educated at Eton. JP and DL for Co. Carlow; High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1846. He married 1st, 18 November 1841 at St Ann, Dublin, Henrietta Maria (d. 1849), elder daughter of John Kennedy of Dunbrody (Wexford) and Cultra (Down); and 2nd, 1 July 1851, Emily (d. 1886), youngest daughter of Sir Daniel Toler Osborne, 12th bt., and had issue:
(1.1) Maria (k/a Minnie) Charlotte Augusta Newton (d. 1888); died unmarried, 3 May 1888;
(1.2) Anne Henrietta Newton (c.1845-1927) (q.v.);
(1.3) Adeline Sarah Newton (d. 1879); married, 17 April 1876, as his second wife, Arthur Newton Forbes-Gordon (d. 1930) of Rayne (Aberdeens.) and had issue; died 21 February 1879;
(2.1) Harriette Philippa Newton (c.1852-1937); author of a memoir of her youth at Dunleckney and her married life at Marlfield; married, 9 January 1873, Richard Bagwell (1840-1918) of Marlfield, Clonmel (Tipperary), barrister-at-law and historian, and had issue one son and three daughters; died 12 February 1937;
(2.2) Emily Georgina Newton (d. 1912); married, 6 December 1882, Fitzgibbon Trant (d. 1933) of Dovea (Tipperary), and had issue; died 12 April 1912.
He inherited Dunleckney Manor from his father in 1853.
He died 20 April 1895. His first wife died 14 December 1849. His second wife died 31 December 1886.

Newton, Anne Henrietta (c.1845-1927). Second but eldest surviving daughter of Philip Jocelyn Newton (1818-95) and his first wife, Henrietta Maria, elder daughter of John Kennedy of Dunbrody (Wexford) and Cultra (Down), born about 1845. She married, 17 October 1871, William Muschamp Vesey JP (d. 1880) of Upton House (Carlow), son of Rev. the Hon. Arthur Vesey, rector of Abbey Leix (Co. Leix) and had issue:
(1) Sidney Philip Charles Vesey (1873-1932), born 9 March 1873; educated at Christ Church, Oxford (MA); JP for Co. Carlow; an officer in the King's Royal Rifle Corps in the First World War (Capt.); appointed CBE, 1918; married, 24 April 1902, Blanche Edith, daughter of Edmund Nicholas Power of Tranmore House (Co. Waterford), but had no issue; died 29 October 1932;
(2) Charles Vesey (1874-1911), born 10 February 1874; died unmarried, 1 November 1911.
She inherited Dunleckney Manor from her father in 1895. At her death it passed to her elder son, whose widow sold it in 1942.
She died 26 February 1927. Her husband died 24 September 1880.

Sources

Burke's Irish Family Records, 1976, pp. 44-48; Sir J. Barrington, Historic memoirs of Ireland, 1833, vol. 2, pp. 26-28; P.H. Bagenal, 'Sir Nicholas Bagenal, Knight Marshal', Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1916, pp. 5-26; P.H. Bagenal, Vicissitudes of an Anglo-Irish family, 1530-1800, 1925; M. Bence-Jones, A guide to Irish country houses, 2nd edn., 1990, pp. 16, 40, 116; E.M. Johnston-Liik, History of the Irish Parliament, 1692-1800, vol. 3, pp. 122-124; A. Powers, 'The classical theory of Hope Bagenal', in F. Salmon (ed.), The persistence of the classical: essays on architecture presented to David Watkin, 2008, pp. 40-55; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article on Hope Bagenal (1888-1979); http://conversations.aaschool.ac.uk/aa-personalities-no-2-hope-bagenal-2/.

Location of archives

No significant accumulation of estate or household papers is known to survive.
Bagenal, Charles James (1877-1955): correspondence, diary and photographs relating to the Boer War, the East African Campaign, Tanganyika, South Africa and Ireland, c.1900-41 [Bodleian Library, Oxford, MSS. Afr. s. 2351]
Bagenal, Philip Hope Edward (1888-1979): correspondence and papers, 1900-77 [Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies]; papers relating to architectural acoustics, c.1920-99 [Southampton University Archives, MS 340].

Coat of arms

Barry of four, ermine and or, a lion rampant, azure.

Can you help?

Here are a few notes about information and images which would help to improve the account above. If you can help with any of these or with other additions or corrections, please use the contact form in the sidebar to get in touch. Can anyone:

• Provide an illustration of the house at Dunleckney which preceded the present building of the 1830s?
• Provide an illustration of the house at Benekerry before the alterations of c.1840?
• Provide any further genealogical information about the earlier generations of the Bagenal family, or any portraits of members of the family whose names appear in bold in this account?

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 31 October 2017 and was revised 4 January and 31 August 2018, 3 January 2020 and 3 October 2021. I am most grateful to Alex Adam for a correction and to 'Liathain' for drawing my attention to the article in Carloviana which includes a view of the old house at Dunleckney now reproduced above.