Edward Waterhouse
Sir Edward Waterhouse (1535–1591) was an English-born administrator in Ireland during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was the first to hold the office of Chief Secretary for Ireland (from 1566 to 1567 and from 1568 to 1569), and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland from 1586 to 1589.[1][2][3] He represented and shared fully in the Protestant complexion of the English government in Ireland, and himself bore arms against the risings in Munster and elsewhere driven by the rivalries of the Butler and FitzGerald families and other factions. He contributed significantly to the successes of the English army in Ireland through his administration, and made important contributions to policy regarding the future of Ireland and its English plantations. A loyal servant of Sir Henry Sidney and friend of his son Sir Philip Sidney, he was on close and trusted terms with Sir Francis Walsingham as friend, agent and intelligencer, and with Walter Devereux, and managed the affairs of Robert Devereux in childhood after his father's death.
Family details
Edward Waterhouse was the fourth-born, but third surviving, of six sons of John Waterhouse (died 1558), of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, Auditor to King Henry VIII, and his wife Margaret Turner (died 1558/59),[4] daughter of Henry Turner of Blunt's Hall, Little Wratting, Suffolk.[5] John's brother Thomas Waterhouse (died 1557), "Gentleman-Priest" to King Henry, had been the rector of Ashridge Priory (the collegiate religious house of Boni Homines) elected 1529, and of Quainton in Buckinghamshire. Thomas the priest asked to be buried near his mother at St Mary's church, Hemel Hempstead:[6][7] his brass is lost, but was figured by Sylvanus Morgan.[8] John entertained King Henry at Hemel, who at his request incorporated the Vill under a Bailiff, granting its seal, weekly markets and annual fair, etc.[9][10]
The family home at that time was The Bury, the capital manorial seat, of Helmstedbury, a former monastic property of Ashridge: a long lease having been granted in 1535 by Thomas Waterhouse, as rector, to his brother John and to Richard Combes, with right to occupy, a subsequent royal grant was made to Combes (who married John's daughter) in 1540.[11] Some footings can be seen in Gadebridge Park at Hemel Hempstead, between the Norman church and the brick mansion of 1790 now called "The Bury".[12] The stated association of John with the manor of Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire near Quainton (as shown in a Harleian pedigree),[13] appertains correctly to his son John Waterhouse (died 1583),[14] Edward's eldest brother, who purchased that manor in 1581 from Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford,[15] and settled it upon his son Thomas.[16][17]
According to Edward's grand-nephew (Fuller's informant), the King met Edward in his boyhood and foretold that "he would be the crown of them all, and a man of great honour and wisdom, fit for the service of princes".[18][1] He was educated at the University of Oxford, to which he was admitted at the age of twelve: there he shone in the arts of oratory and poetry, before his entry into the Court where he devoted himself to politics and statecraft.[19]
Following his parents' deaths in 1558-1559, although it is clear from his mother's will that his father was buried at Watford, beside whom she wished to lie,[4] their memorial was set up in St Peter's church, Berkhamsted.[20] (Soon afterwards the old mediaeval mansion at The Bury was demolished and a new Bury House was built by the kindred Combe family, which stood until 1790.)[12] A corner of Berkhamsted church became the family chapel: Edward's brothers Thomas (died 1600) (and his wife Mary née Kirkby), who lived in that town,[21][22] and John (of Whitchurch), and others of the Waterhouse family, were buried there.[20]
Career
Spending several years in service to the Princess Elizabeth,[3] Edward Waterhouse became attached to the sphere of Sir Henry Sidney (1529-1586). In 1565 he accompanied Sidney to Ireland as private secretary on his first term as Lord Deputy of Ireland, 1565-1571, developing a loyal friendship with him[19] and being employed in many confidential transactions. He was immediately appointed clerk of the Castle Chamber at Dublin (held from 1566 to 1569),[23] and was granted a lease of land in Monasterevin in County Kildare.[24] In 1570 he was instrumental in obtaining a charter for the town of Carrickfergus, of which he was made a freeman.[25]
Having left Ireland in 1570, during the First Desmond Rebellion against the further extension of English government, Waterhouse remained absent at the 1571 succession of Sir William FitzWilliam as Lord Deputy, until in 1573 he assisted Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex in his (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to establish plantation in County Antrim. He urged the reappointment of Sidney,[26] and strongly advocated to Francis Walsingham, the English Secretary of State, that Essex, untainted by the native factional interests, was the right man (given adequate military resources) to complete the conquest of Ireland out of Ulster.[27] This venture, disliked by FitzWilliam, kept Waterhouse busy in Dublin in 1574 arranging army provisions. In that year he advocated that even the most senior ecclesastical appointments should be given to military men, "for here is scarce any sign of religion, nor no room for justice, till the sword hath made a way for the law."[28]
With Sidney's reappointment in 1575, he returned to his position as Secretary and, despite being accused of corruption, was awarded a daily pension of ten shillings in June 1576. He had won the trust of the Earl of Essex, often representing him at Court, and attended the earl's deathbed in September 1576. In his moving account of those events, he tells how the dying earl wept as he said "My good Nedd, thou arte [the] faiethfullest that ever I knewe, and the frendliest and honestest".[29] Waterhouse had some charge of the affairs of Robert Devereux (then aged 10), the future 2nd Earl, and he wrote to Sidney describing the support of the queen and nobles towards the boy.[30][31] The sermon preached at the earl's funeral, published together with various epitaphs, was prefixed by an Epistle by Waterhouse addressed to Robert Devereux holding up to him the example of his father, which epistle was reprinted in full by Raphael Holinshed in the 1577 edition of his Chronicle.[32] The second son of Sir Nicholas White also came into his care.[33]
Waterhouse continued work on Sidney's behalf, often representing causes in London. In 1576-77 he made great efforts to justify the much-resented tax (the "cess") for the upkeep of royal army garrisons within the Pale, but was strongly opposed by envoys of the Anglo-Irish gentry.[34] Through the summer of 1577 in London he followed Sidney's detailed instructions,[35] working with Walsingham over Irish matters. Following his divorce (by her own consent) from his first wife, Elizabeth Villiers, in March 1577/78,[17] he was sent to England again on official business with further instructions in May 1578,[36] before Sidney's removal as Lord Deputy later in the year. Waterhouse continued as secretary and commissioner for the government in Ireland. Over the next two years he accumulated further official appointments, notably as Customs officer for wines in Irish ports in February 1579,[37] and as Receiver of casual profits for the Crown, and Exchequer Commissioner of the army, in June 1579:[38] at the same time his pension was re-granted for life.
In October 1579 he was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland, helping to organize the military response to the Second Desmond Rebellion. These appointments coincided with the interim administration of Sir William Pelham as Lord Justice of Ireland, whose ruthless operations held in check the risings in Munster and Meath. In their wake, having served in Munster, Waterhouse was appointed (in perpetuity) Water Bailiff of the River Shannon (from Leitrim down to Limerick) in June 1580[39] - to be overseen from a stronghold at Athlone - and for other headquarters had the lease of lands of Pierston and elsewhere in co. Meath, in 1580, and a grant of the manor and castle of Downasse (near Limerick) in summer 1582.[40]
The favours showered on him aroused the suspicion of the Queen, who summoned him to London in 1582 to give an account of himself. Fortunately, he had influential friends at Court, and his personal charm quickly won Elizabeth over. He suffered no penalty except the loss of the office of bailiff of the Shannon. Irish Catholics have remembered him as the man who tortured Dermot O'Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, by roasting his feet in the fire, attempting to make him renounce the Roman Catholic faith.[41] Shortly afterwards, on 20 June 1584, O'Hurley was hanged: on that same day Waterhouse was knighted by Sir John Perrot inside Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, officially because Waterhouse "dispended yearly more than a thousand marks." (Archbishop O'Hurley was Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992.) He represented Carrickfergus constituency in the Irish Parliament in 1585. In 1586 Waterhouse was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland, handing over to George Clive in October 1589. He was among the mourners at the funeral procession for Sir Philip Sidney in February 1586/1587, and is figured among the fifteen "Knights of the kyndred and frends" in Thomas Lant's contemporary depiction.[42]
Last years and family
Having long complained of his "weak body", he retired to his estate of Woodchurch in Kent, and died there, aged 55, in 1591.[43]
Waterhouse, who had no children of his own, was married three times:
- First, he married Elizabeth (daughter of George Villiers of Brooksby Hall, Leicestershire and Joan Harrington),[44] from whom he was divorced in 1578.[45] According to Lipscomb, she had been very young at the time of her marriage, and consented to the divorce, which was confirmed on March 29 1578 by a Royal Commission appointed to consider an Appeal made against it.[17]
- Secondly, he married Margaret Spilman (c. 1549-1587), daughter of Thomas Spilman of Great Chart, Kent.[46] who died in 1587.[20][9] Margaret was buried in St Peter's chuch in Berkhamsted, where Edward left to his brother Thomas ("whoe hath bounde me from my youthe with contynewall kyndenes") money and instructions for a memorial "to her Christian and faithfull end in the Lord, her good Desertes in the world and her dutifull Love to me".[43] The wall monument included an alabaster figure of a kneeling lady, and showed the Waterhouse and Spilman arms impaled. There is an inscription to the "worthie ladie Dame Margaret Waterhouse", "in memory of whose virtues and his dearest love" Sir Edward has caused it to be erected, showing not only that she died on 5 July 1587 aged 39, but also that he died on 13 October [1591, year omitted], "and lieth buried with his last wife Dame Debora at the Mannor of Woodechurch in Kent".[12] The inscription, at least, ought therefore to be no older than 1611, more than a decade after the death of Thomas Waterhouse.
- His third and last wife was Debora (daughter of Thomas Whetenhall, and widow of Martin Harlakinden (died 1584) of Woodchurch),[47][43] who survived him: she died in 1611. Debora had a daughter, also Debora, by her previous husband, and both are mentioned in the brass memorial to Martin (1584) at Woodchurch, which also names her father Whetenhall. Waterhouse, in his will, gives some armorial plate cups to his step-daughter, and mentions his father-in-law Thomas Whetenhall as yet living. Sir Edward Waterhouse was buried at Woodchurch, among the Harlakenden memorials, where he has an altar-tomb with a restored brass shield and a marginal stone-cut inscription, 1591: according to the Berkhamsted inscription, Dame Debora Waterhouse "lieth buried" with him.[47]
Legacies
By his will, in the first place Waterhouse made over to his widow, for her lifetime, all the lands and livings settled upon her at their marriage, except for those in Thomond, which he had since sold to Sir Thomas Norreys.[43] But she was to have the profit and use arising from a lease of St Sepulchre, Dublin, which he had bought from Messrs. Molyneux and another. Then after her death, lands and tenements granted to him by the late Archbishop of Armagh, at Baltray and (tithes at) Athboy, in County Meath, were to go, while the lease subsisted, to his brother Charles and to his eldest son Charles, as assured by the Earl of Huntingdon: in the same way the lease in the Manor of St Sepulchre was to come to his brother Thomas of Berkhamsted, and to his son, as similarly assured. To his nephews John and Thomas, sons of his late brother John Waterhouse of Whitchurch, were to pass his lands, woods and reservations in County Roscommon: and to Katherine Norton, whom Dame Margaret Waterhouse had brought up adoptively, and to whom he was godfather, should pass his house and land in Athlone near the castle, called Connaught Tower, and all the grounds he bought on the other side of the Shannon, in Westmeath, from the Earl of Clanricarde and from his late brother Lord Burcke of Leitrim.[43] Waterhouse also mentions his lands in Leicestershire and his house in London.
- Edward Waterhouse, author of A Declaration of the State and Affaires of the Colony of Virginia (London 1622),[48] was a son of his brother Thomas Waterhouse of Berkhamsted.[49]
- Edward Waterhouse (FRS) (1619-1670), the heraldic author, was a grandson of his brother Thomas Waterhouse of Berkhamsted.[17]
References
- ^ a b Lee, Sidney, ed. (1899). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 59. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ A. Lyall, 'Waterhouse, Sir Edward (1535-1591), administrator', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP 2004).
- ^ a b T. Clavin, 'Waterhouse (Waterhous), Sir Edward (1535–91)', Dictionary of Irish Biography (2009), read online (www.dib.ie). Clavin cites several modern historical studies in which Waterhouse is discussed.
- ^ a b Will of Margett Waterhouse, widow (PCC February 1558/9, Welles quire).
- ^ 'Wratting: Manor of Blunt's Hall', in W.A. Copinger, The Manors of Suffolk, V: The Hundreds of Lothingland and Mutford, Plomesgate, and Risbridge (Taylor, Garnett, Evans, & Co., Ltd., Manchester 1909), p. 318 (Internet Archive).
- ^ Will of Thomas Waterhouse, Catholic Priest (P.C.C. 1557, Wrastley quire).
- ^ See an abstract of his will in 'Memorable Persons. Thomas Waterhouse, priest', in T. Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England (J.G. W.L. and W.G. for Thomas Williams, London 1662), Hartford-shire, pp. 30-31 (Internet Archive).
- ^ S. Morgan, The Sphere of Gentry, Deduced from the Principles of Nature (William Leybourn, London 1661), Book 2, p. 70 (Internet Archive). This work in entirety has long been attributed to Edward Waterhouse (FRS): a discourse on the descent and arms of Waterhouse is found at pp. 67-69 (Internet Archive).
- ^ a b Pedigree of Waterhouse in 'Dacorum Hundred: Heanhamsted, Hemsted' (i.e., Hemel Hempstead), in H. Chauncy, The Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire (Benjamin Griffin, etc., London 1700), pp. 547-48 (Internet Archive).
- ^ A transcript of the Hemel Charter of 29 December, 31 Henry VIII, is given in R. Clutterbuck, The History and Antiquities of Hertfordshire, 3 vols (Nichols, Son, and Bentley, London 1815-1827), I, Appendix, p. 48.
- ^ '733. Grants in May 1540. 43. Ric. Combes of Hemyll Hampstead', in J. Gairdner and R.H. Brodie (eds), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. XV (HMSO 1896), p. 345 (British History Online). See readable original MS copy, 'Lot 227: Henry VIII Letters Patent, 12 May 1540', in Sale of "Photographs, Autographs and Historic Documents, 22 November 2023" (Dominic Winter), Item Catalogue, Lot 227 (dominicwinter.co.uk).
- ^ a b c 'Hemel Hempstead', in J.E. Cussans, History of Hertfordshire, III: History of the Hundreds of Dacorum and Cashio (Chatto and Windus, London 1879-1881), pp. 149-75, at pp. 156-57 (Google Books).
- ^ 'Additional pedigrees. Waterhouse of Berkhamsted', in W.C. Metcalfe (ed.), The Visitations of Hertfordshire made by Robert Cooke, Clarencieux, in 1572, and Sir Richard St George, Clarencieux, in 1634, with Additional Pedigrees, Harleian Society XXII (London 1886), Appendix I (Pedigrees from Harley MS 6147), pp. 119-20 (Internet Archive).
- ^ Will of John Waterhouse, of Whitchurch (PCC 1585, Rowe quire).
- ^ 'Parishes: Whitchurch. Manors', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Buckingham, Vol. 3 (V.C.H., London 1925), pp. 442-49 (British History Online).
- ^ TNA (UK), Chancery Inquisition post mortem of Thomas Waterhouse of Whitchurch, C 142/266/107 (1600); Will of Thomas Waterhouse, Gentleman of Whitchurch (PCC 1600, Wallop quire). Not to be confused with his uncle Thomas who has an inscription at Berkhamsted, also dated 1600.
- ^ a b c d 'Cotteslow Hundred: Whitchurch', with Pedigree of Waterhouse, in G. Lipscombe, The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham, 4 vols (J. & W. Robins, London 1847), III, at pp. 511-13 (Google Books).
- ^ 'Hartford-shire: Statesmen', in T. Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England (J.G., W.L. and W.G., London 1662), at pp. 21-22 (Internet Archive).
- ^ a b 'Observations on the Life of Sir Edward Waterhouse', in D. Lloyd, ed. C. Whitworth, State-Worthies: or, the Statesmen and Favourites of England from the Reformation to the Revolution, New edition, 2 vols (J. Robson, London 1766), I, pp. 422-25 (Internet Archive).
- ^ a b c 'Dacorum Hundred: Berkhamsted St Peters', in H. Chauncy, The Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire (Benjamin Griffin, etc., London 1700), pp. 570-88, at p. 583 (Internet Archive).
- ^ 'Great Berkhamstead', in J.E. Cussans, History of Hertfordshire, III: History of the Hundreds of Dacorum and Cashio (Chatto and Windus, London 1879-1881), pp. 48-85, at pp. 58-61 (Google Books).
- ^ 'Waterhouse', in J.J. Howard and J.L. Chester (eds), The Visitation of London Anno Domini 1633, 1634 and 1635, made by Sir Henry St George, Richmond Herald, 2 vols, Harleian Society XV, XVII (1880, 1883), II, p. 300 (Internet Archive).
- ^ 'Fiants - Elizabeth: 806 (582). Clerk of castle chamber, 1 Feb. viii Eliz.', in Eleventh Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (HMSO, Dublin 1879), Appendix, p. 118; '1423 (991).', p. 213 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ 'Fiants - Elizabeth: 1131 (6036). Surrender. 28 September, ix Eliz.', and '1252 (5570). Licence to alienate. 3 October, ix Eliz./31 January xj Eliz.', in Eleventh Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (HMSO, Dublin 1879), Appendix, p. 169 and pp. 187-88 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ 'Fiants - Elizabeth: 1503. Charter of Knockfergus, 20 March xii Eliz.', in Eleventh Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (HMSO, Dublin 1879), Appendix, pp. 226-27 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ Letter of Waterhouse to Sidney, 17 December 1573, in A. Collins, Letters and Memorials of State, "Sidney Papers", 2 vols (T. Osborne, London 1746), I, pp. 61-63 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ (Letter of Waterhouse to Walsingham, 1 January 1574/75), J.A. Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, Reign of Elizabeth, Volume V (Charles Scribner and Company, New York 1870), p. 201 (Google Books).
- ^ (Letter of Waterhouse to Walsingham, 14 June 1574), W.D. Killen, The Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, from the Earliest Period to the Present Times, 2 vols (Macmillan and Co., London 1875), I, p. 408 (Google Books).
- ^ (E. Waterhouse, Account of the last days of Walter Devereux), in T. Hearne (ed.), Gulielmi Camdeni Annales Rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum, Regnante Elizabetha, 3 vols (1717), I: Editoris Praefatio, Sect. XXVI, at pp. LXXXIX-XCVIII (Google Books).
- ^ L. Aikin, Memoirs of the Court of Elizabeth, Queen of England reprint of 6th edition, revised and corrected (Ward, Lock, and Tyler, London 1872), p. 290 (Google Books).
- ^ P.E.J. Hammer, The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics. The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 1585-1597, Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History (Cambridge University Press 1999), pp. 21-24 (Google Books).
- ^ R. Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, new edition, 6 vols (J. Johnson, F.C. and J. Rivington, etc., London 1807-1808), IV, pp. 337-39 (Internet Archive): from, R. Davies, A funerall sermon preached the xxvi. day of Nouember in the yeare of our Lord M.D.LXXVI (Henry Denham, London 1577), front matter (Umich/eebo).
- ^ 'Letters of Sir Nicholas White to Lord Burghley, 1575 and 1576', in T. Wright (ed.), Queen Elizabeth and her Times, 2 vols (Henry Colburn, London 1838), II, at pp. 25-27 and pp. 34-37; 'Waterhouse to Burghley, 1576', pp. 43-44 (Internet Archive).
- ^ See, e.g., R. Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History, 3 vols (Longmans, Green, and Co., London 1885), II, pp. 327-33, etc. (Google Books).
- ^ 'Instructions and Memorialls given by Sir Henry Sydney, etc., May 1577', in Collins, Letters and Memorials of State (1746), I, pp. 185-89 (Hathi Trust). See also letters, pp. 191-229, passim.
- ^ 'Instruccions geven by Sir Henry Sydney, etc., May 1578', and 'Letter of Waterhouse to Sydney, July 1578', Collins, Letters and Memorials of State (1746), I, pp. 254-56, and pp. 265-66 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ 'Fiants - Elizabeth: 3515 (2812). Customer on wines in Irish ports. 5 Feb., xxi Eliz', in Thirteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (HMSO, Dublin 1881), Appendix, p. 111 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ 'Fiants - Elizabeth: 3563 (2817). Receiver general. 17 July, xxj Eliz.', and '3578 (2829). Receiver of casual profits. 31 March/25 July xxj Eliz.', in Thirteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (HMSO, Dublin 1881), Appendix, p. 119 and p. 121 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ 'Fiants - Elizabeth: 3641 (2867). Overseer and Keeper of the river Shannon. 31 March/17 June, xxij Eliz', in Thirteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (HMSO, Dublin 1881), Appendix, p. 129 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ 'Fiants - Elizabeth: 3731 (3126). Lease of lands in co. Meath. 15 July xxij Eliz.', and 3988 (3196). Grant of Downasse and lands in co. Clare. 26 August, xxiv Eliz.', in Thirteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (HMSO, Dublin 1881), Appendix, p. 141 and p. 177 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ S. Hubert Burke, Historical Portraits of the Tudor Dynasty and the Reformation Period (John Hodges, London 1883), IV, pp. 255-57 (Google Books).
- ^ Thomas Lant, engraved by Derick Theodor de Brij, Procession of the Obsequies of Sir Philip Sidney, 30 Plates (London 1588), Plate 13 (Folger Shakespeare Library). Maximize and right-click to enlarge images.
- ^ a b c d e Will of Sir Edward Waterhous (P.C.C. 1591, Sainberbe quire).
- ^ J. Burke and J.B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland, 2nd Edition (John Russell Smith, London 1844), p. 547 (Google Books).
- ^ 'Fiants - Elizabeth: 3216 (5858). Case of Divorce. 22 March, xx Eliz.', in Thirteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (HMSO, Dublin 1881), Appendix, p. 64 (Hathi Trust).
- ^ 'Letter of Philip Sidney to Edward Waterhouse, April 1578' (edited from Collins), in R. Kuin (ed.), The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney, 2 vols (Oxford University Press 2012), I, p. 835-36 and notes (Google Books).
- ^ a b 'Kent: Woodchurch, nos. IV and V', in M. Stephenson, A List of Monumental Brasses in the British Isles (1926), pp. 265-66 (Internet Archive).
- ^ Read at Internet Archive.
- ^ 'Waterhouse, Edward', in A. Brown (ed.), The Genesis of the United States of America, 2 vols (William Heinemann, London 1890), II, p. 1042, (Google Books).