Oliver Grace, Chief Remembrancer of the Exchequer of Ireland
Oliver Grace, of Shanganagh, (now Gracefield) was chosen in 1689 as the representative in
Parliament of the borough of
Ballynakill, in the Queen's County,
Ireland.[1]
Political career
Oliver Grace was Chief
Remembrancer of the Irish
Exchequer and a member of the
Privy Council of
King James II.[2]
Although a supporter of Catholic
King James II during the
Williamite War in Ireland, Oliver Grace was trusted and respected by the Protestant Landed Gentry of Queen's County. When the
Jacobites held the upper hand in Ireland, several large Protestant estates were assigned over to him in trust whose proprietors relied solely on his honor for their restoration.[3] When the forces of
William of Orange ultimately triumphed, Irish Protestants prevailed on
King William III to grant Oliver Grace a pardon for his adherence to
James II, which he received on 21 May 1696.[4]
Oliver Grace married Elizabeth, only surviving child of John Bryan, of Bawnmore,
County Kilkenny, and by her had issue:[6]
Michael, his heir, who died on 19 November 1760
Robert
Sheffield, who died in 1699
Lettice, who married John Grace, feudal baron of Courtstown
Anne, married first, to Richard, eldest son of Sir Richard Nagle,
Secretary of State for
Ireland, temp. James II; married secondly, Edmond Butler, 8th
Lord Dunboyne, and was mother of the 9th, 10th, and 12th lords
Ellis, or Alicia, who married Samuel Gale, of the
Ashfield Gales, Queen's County
Oliver Grace died on 8 June 1708 and is buried in the south wing of Arles Church (or Grace's Chapel) of which he was the founder.[7]
Oliver's descendants included the
Grace baronets from 1818 to 1977.
References
^Mason, William Shaw (1819). A Statistical Account, or Parochial Survey of Ireland, Volume 3. Dublin: Faulkner Press, p. 661
^Brewer, James Norris (1826). The Beauties of Ireland: Being Original Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Biographical, of Each County, Volume 2. London: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper, p. 120
^Grace, Sheffield (1823). Memoirs of the Family of Grace. London: Weed and Rider, p. 53
^Brewer, The Beauties of Ireland: Being Original Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Biographical, of Each County, Volume 2, p. 120
^Burke, Sir Bernard (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 1. London: Harrison, Pall Mall, pp. 528-529
^Burke, Sir Bernard (1914). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage. London: Harrison and Sons, p. 878
^Brewer, The Beauties of Ireland: Being Original Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Biographical, of Each County, Volume 2, p. 120
Brewer, James Norris (1826). The Beauties of Ireland: Being Original Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Biographical, of Each County, Volume 2. London: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper.
Burke, Sir Bernard (1914). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage. London: Harrison & Sons.
Burke, Sir Bernard (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 1. London: Harrison, Pall Mall.
Grace, Sheffield (1823). Memoirs of the Family of Grace. London: Weed and Rider.
Mason, William Shaw (1819). A Statistical Account, or Parochial Survey of Ireland, Volume 3. Dublin: Faulkner Press.