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Questions to be answered
your help is needed... |
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If you have an answer for any of these questions, please Contact Bill |
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STREET NAMES in INDIA & ENGLAND
I have been told an Indian city, probably Bombay (now Mumbai) or Culcutta (now Kolkata), at one time had a street named after a Blennerhassett, although this street may perhaps be renamed.
The street was probably named for William Blennerhassett of Ballyseedy (High Court Judge, Central Provinces, India) or Sir Arthur C.F.B. Blennerhassett, Bart. of Churchtown (Assistant Commissioner, Indian Civil Service - Central Provinces).
What city? What street? Which Blennerhassett?
♦ Hasset Road, Homerton, Hackney, London
♦ Hassett Street, Bedford, Bedfordshire (There were Blennerhassetts in Bedfordshire in the 16th century)
♦ Hassett Close, Preston, Lancashire
Why are these three streets in England so named?
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IRISH LIVERY UNIFORM BUTTON
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UNKNOWN BURIAL PLACES
East African pioneer nurse Sister Rose Blennerhassett (Rosanna A. Blennerhassett, born c1844 France) was co-author of " Adventures in Mashonaland, by two Hospital Nurses, Rose Blennerhassett and Lucy Sleeman". She is believed to have died on 9-Oct-1907. Also known as Sister Aimee, she remained unmarried. No record of her death or burial has been found in England or at Kimberley, South Africa. One possibility is Capetown, South Africa.
Where did she die and where is she buried?
With Rose Blennerhassett in East Africa were two other nurses:
♦ Lucy Anna Louise Sleeman b.1865 d.1907, later Lucy Vines (she married Charles Granville Vines at Kimberley, Dec-1897)
♦ Beryl Welby, later Beryl Lichfield (she married Dr. Lichfield at Umtali, 24-Dec-1891)
Do photographs of Rose Blennerhassett or her companion nurses survive?
He was also known as Joseph "Joe" Benson. His wife was interred at Crickhowell churchyard in 1915.
NOTE: Irvine's brother Rev. Edward Townsend Blennerhassett left the clergy c1902. He served in Royal Army Medical Corps 1907-1911 and again during WWI, signing on 10-Aug-1914 as male nurse for four years with the RAMC Special Reserve. What happened to him after WWI is a mystery, as it is with his brother... As I cannot find E.T. BH's death in England or Wales, it seem reasonable to assume he went abroad after WWI. Interesting that we lose track of the two brothers at about the same time.
Where did Irvine Rowland Bennerhassett (alias Joseph Benson) die and where is he buried?
Where did his brother Edward Townsend Blennerhassett die and where is he buried?
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KNIGHTHOOD
Who was Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, knight?
In 1603, within a three month period, King James I raised funds by conferring knighthoods on 700 landowners, on receipt of payment of £50 from each. Edward Blennerhassett and Thomas Blennerhassett were among those knighted by James on 23-Jul-1603, shortly before his coronation, in the Royal Gardens at the Palace of Whitehall, London. They had responded to a summons made 17-Jul-1603 for all persons that had £40 in lands to come and receive the honour of knighthood. They were two of 300 men dubbed knights on the 23rd & 24th July.
Sir Edward Blennerhassett is known to be Edward Blennerhassett, of:
- Horsford Park, Horning, near Norwich in Co.Norfolk
- Laythes Hall (a.k.a. Hassett's Hall or "Hassetts House") Pockthorpe, Norwich - Co.Fermanagh, where he was granted lands in 1610.
However, the identity of Sir Thomas Blennerhassett is uncertain. [BLOMEFIELD vol.? p.?] describes the new knight as "...Thomas Blennerhassett who also went to Ireland…" but there are two men of appropriate status who fit this description. My difficulty is, having not seen either man anywhere described as "Sir Thomas". The two candidates are:
a) Capt. Thomas Blennerhassett (b.1549 d.1624/5) of Horsford Park, Norwich, Norfolk and of Castle Hassett (now Crevenish Castle) at Hassettstown (now Ederney) near Kesh, Inniskillen, Co.Fermanagh.
Thomas Blennerhassett was a soldier, a puritan, writer on Ireland and poet who wrote in praise of Queen Elizabeth I. He was also the brother of Sir Edward Blennerhassett here mentioned, one of the two Blennerhassetts knighted on the same day, but when these two brothers are found mentioned together, Edward is usually named "Sir Edward" but Thomas is not named "Sir Thomas".
b) Thomas Blennerhassett of Flimby Hall, Co.Cumberland, as an Undertaker or Planter in "the plantation of the Province of Munster", received on 24-Aug-1590 (32 Elizabeth I) from Sir Edward Denny, Knt a grant of forfeited FitzGerald lands in Kerry including the Castle, town & lands of Ballycarty and of Ballyseedy. He travelled to Kerry but did not settle there, returning to his home at Flimby. His son Robert Blennerhassett did settle in Kerry, to become ancestor of all the Kerry & Limerick Blennerhassett families.
If you know the identity of this Sir Thomas Blennerhassett please get in touch.
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MONUMENT at Ballyseedy in Co.Kerry
In an isolated part of Ballyseedy Wood, Co.Kerry, in what was once the desmene of Ballyseedy Castle, stood a stone monument erected in memory of one or more of the Blennerhassett family of Ballyseedy. By the early 1940s the monument had fallen and by 2004 only three worked stones remained, one with an inscription remembering Arthur Blennerhassett of Ballyseedy who died at Bath in 1815. Local tradition tells us that c1944 there were about a dozen such worked stones, several supposedly carrying inscriptions. There is no indication of what the complete monument looked like, other than one of the surviving stones is a pyramid shaped stone suitable as the point of an obelisk.
Does a photograph, drawing or note exist showing the complete monument or other inscriptions?
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FOUNDATION STONE at Ballyseedy Castle in Co.Kerry
Above the banqueting hall fireplace of Ballyseedy Castle" (formerly "Elm Grove", now Ballyseede Castle hotel), for centuries the seat of the Blennerhassett family in Co.Kerry, is a foundation stone carrying this inscription. On the keystone of a small arch immediately above the inscribed stone is carved a small but romantic "heart within a heart".
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The date 1721 is believed to represent the date of first building the house "Elm Grove" but the meaning of the inscription as a whole is obscure. It has been suggested there may be a masonic connection, but that is speculation.
If this inscription or the initials B R S T I mean something to you, please get in touch.
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| UNRECOGNISED COAT-OF-ARMS
This coat-of-arms, a shield with "chevron reversed between, in chief one lozenge, in base three lozenges" is on a stone set into the east facing exterior wall of a square tower at Ballyseedy Castle, Co.Kerry.
These are unusual in having a reversed chevron (pointing down rather than up). They are not the arms of any family the Ballyseedy Blennerhassetts married into. Robert Noel, Lancaster Herald at the College of Arms in London tells me he can find no trace of these arms and they may perhaps be imaginary, purely decorative.
This square tower was added either during the remodelling by architect Sir William Morrison (completed in 1821) or during the remodelling by architect James Franklin Fuller in the 1880s - I am unsure which.
Whose arms are these? |
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JANE BLENNERHASSETT, first wife of Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, Knight
Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, Knight (b.c1461 d.1531) of Frenze in Norfolk, married est.c1495, as his first wife, a lady named Jane, said to be Jane Sutton . Little is known about her other than:
1. In 1492 she is described as cousin-german to Lady Surrey [SRO HD 1538/297/21 24-Jan-1492]. The term cousin-german derives from cousin-germain, of which the modern definition is 1st cousin but in the 15th century meant simply "closely akin".
NOTE: Lady Surrey at that date was Elizabeth Tilney (d.4-Apr-1497) who married 2ndly to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Surrey from 1483 and 2nd Duke of Norfolk from 1514. She was daughter of Sir Frederick Tylney & Elizabeth Cheney, granddaughter of Sir Philip Tilney (b.bef.1437 d.c1453) & Elizabeth Thorp (d.10-Nov-1435, dau. of Edmund Thorp).
Who was Jane Blennerhassett, perhaps nee Sutton, and what is her relationship to to Lady Surrey?
2. She and her husband were represented on a small brass shield of arms, illustrated here, part of the monumental brass for Sir Thomas Blennerhassett in the Church of St.Andrew the Apostle at Frenze, Co.Norfolk . This brass shield was one of four formerly on the tomb but lost at some date after 1816.
The arms are:
Quarterly: 1st Blennerhassett, 2nd Lowdham, 3rd Orton, 4th Kelvedon (for Sir Thomas Blennerhassett)
impaling two lions passant (for his wife Jane, said to be named Sutton but this is uncertain)
Documentation relating to this brass shield of arms:
1805 - [BLOMEFIELD vol.1 1805 p.143] correctly describes "two lions passant" but does not mention the name "Sutton".
1816 - [COTMAN - “Sepulchral Brasses of Norfolk & Suffolk” by John Sell Cotman, 1839 (vol.1 Norfolk, vol.2 Suffolk) vol.1, frontpiece pl.63, illustration dated 1816] illustrates "two lions passant", the illustration shown here.
c18?? - [SPURDENS - "Historical Notes by W.T. Sputdens, NRO Ms.4576 p.241 p.139A, "Diss", "Family Tree of Blennerhassett Family" p.252]. He has Sir Thomas married "...1st wife Jane, daughter of Sutton...". Some information on this page is similar to that f.353 of the [DAVY] Ms. and this may perhaps be a source used by [DAVY].
c1840 - [DAVY - Ms. notes on the Blennerhassett family by Suffolk antiquarian David Elisha Davy c1840, 37 pages] in the Davy Collection at [BL Add. Ms.19118 f.353]. He has Sir Thomas m. "...Jane, daughter of _____ Sutton...". Some of the information on this page may have come from [SPURDENS].
1919 - [BOK - "The Blennerhassetts of Kerry: Earlier English Stock” by S.M.] in [KAM - “Kerry Archaeological Magazine”, vol.5 No.21 July 1919 p.38] this article is a summary of [DAVY].
This states Sir Thomas "...married 1stly Jane, daughter of Sutton..."
1944 - [MORIARTY/1 -“Genealogical Research in England - East Anglian Blennerhassets” by G.Andrews Moriarty pub. in [NEHGR] vol.98 No.1 Jan.1944, pp.67-73; vol.98 No.3 July 1944, p.277]
states Sir Thomas "...married first Jane Sutton..." but wrongly describes these arms as "...2 lions rampant (probably Sutton)..."
1976 - [BIFR -"Burke's Irish Family Records" 1976, republished 2007, p.133] describes the first wife of Sir Thomas as "...Jane Sutton (who bore arms similar to those of the Suttons, Barons Dudley - see BURKE'S Dormant and Extinct Peerages)..." but this is not the case, the arms of Sutton, Baron Dudley are a single "lion rampant".
1984 - [VoS - "The Visitation of Suffolk 1561", part II, p.358, as edited by Joan Corder 1984, published by The Harleian Society, New Series, vol.3, 1984] states that Sir Thomas married "1st., Jane, daughter of _____ Sutton" and also describes these arms as "Sutton Barons Dudley" but without illustration.
Was her name really Sutton?
Where did [SPURDENS] find the name Sutton? it does seem not to appear in any of the Visitations.
It could be that the later writers mentioned were misled by [DAVY] and [SPURDENS].
Is there any reference earlier than [SPURDENS] and [DAVY] c1840 to her being named Sutton?
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Were "two lions passant" ever used as Sutton arms or Dudley arms? I cannot find them used as such, anywhere.
Could she perhaps be a Somery, of Dudley Castle, whose arms were "Or two lions passant azure" (see right). Is there a relationship between the name Somery and Lady Surrey? |
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PRESENT LOCATION OF MANUSCRIPTS BY JOHN ANSTIS
Mss. of John Anstis the elder b.1669 d.1744 (Garter Principal King of Arms, Norfolk Herald & writer on heraldry) were sold at auction in 1768 and are now widely dispersed. The [BL Manuscripts Dept] has many of his manuscripts, but not all, and as these Ms. have been acquired at different times and from different sources, they are not kept together as a coherent collection but are scattered throughout the Ms. department.
[BLOMEFIELD - "Essay towards a Topographical History of Norfolk" by Francis Blomefield, 1st edition 1739, 2nd edition 10 vols 1805-1809] occasionally refers in footnotes to Mss. once in the possession of Anstis, using what appear to be Anstis' personal library shelfmarks & folio numbers. He records Anstis references to Blennerhassett related inscriptions at Frenze & Kenninghall as A 23 f.222, G 6 f.39, G 48, E 26 ff.23&29 (add page refs) and it would be helpful to locate the original Mss. for these references. As it is not possible to map these references to present day [BL] Ms. numbers, I do knot know if these documents are in the [BL] collection or elsewhere.
Where are these Anstis Mss.?
It appears that [BLOMEFIELD] did not have access to the original Anstis Ms, instead relying on transcripts originally taken by [LE NEVE], who left a mountain of such transcripts on small slips of paper, organized topographically, and [BLOMEFIELD] used these extensively. Many [LE NEVE] transcripts have been lost but there remain sizable collections of these notes among the [FRERE Ms.] in the [NRO] and for these [PAUL RUTLEDGE] has compiled a calendar.
Where are Peter Le Neve's transcripts of these particular Anstis Mss? |
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...to be continued | |
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