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Sir Mathew de Renzi was born in Cologne, Germany and was a cloth merchant in Antwerp. In 1604, he moved to London, but shortly became bankrupt and fled via Scotland to Ireland where he arrived in Dublin in 1606, penniless. He immediately set about becoming a landowner and made important establishment contacts in Dublin such as Sir Arthur Chichester, then Lord Deputy. A polyglot (fluent in Latin, Italian, English, German, French and Spanish), he also learned colloquial and classical Irish from the Old Irish family of MacBruideadh from the Thomond area of Limerick. This was a strategic move on De Renzi’s part, so intent was he on acquiring land in a Gaelic lordship. Having travelled around Ireland to the port towns of Galway, Limerick and Waterford, he arrived in West Offaly sometime in 1612. The area, known as Delvin MacCoghlan, roughly equating to the barony of Garrycastle, comprised the modern day towns of Ferbane, Banagher, Cloghan and Shannonbridge. He acquired around 100 acres in Clonony, living in Clonony Castle, and in direct opposition to Sir John (Seán Óg) MacCoghlan, the hereditary chieftain of the area. He had many disputes with Seán Óg and dispatched letters to the Lords Deputy in Dublin outlining his various grievances.

De Renzi’s 100 acres in the midlands grew to over 1000 in the following years. He also had properties in Westmeath, Wexford and Dublin. In around 1620, he sold his interest in Clonony, became a government administrator in Dublin and was knighted in 1627. Not much is known of his marriage, but that he had two sons, Mathew (d.1712) and Francis DeRenzy. In 1630, he purchased lands in the vicinity of Tinnycross, County Offaly on behalf of his eldest son. Mathew Jr subsequently sold his interest in these lands in 1704 and title passed to the Cox family of Ferns. Sir Mathew died in 1634 at the age of 57. Mathew Jr commissioned a memorial to him in St Mary’s Church Athlone in 1635. When the church was rebuilt in 1820, this memorial was re-inserted at the rear of the church where it can still be seen today.

Eldest daughter of Francis Berry Homan Mulock, of Ballycumber, King’s County who on 16th October 1900 married Captain Claude Beddington (1868-1940), of South Street, Park Lane, London. Captain later Lieutenant-Colonel Beddington was, at this time serving with the Westmoreland and Cumberland Imperial Yeomanry. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Philharmonic Society of London. In 1929, as Mrs Claude Beddington she published 'Book of reminiscences, All that I have Met'. In later life she resided at 11 Welbeck House, Welbeck Street, London. She died on 19th December 1963. Of the marriage there was issue, two sons and a daughter Guy (1902-25), Sheila (1906) and Niall (1912).

Sheila Beddington was born in 1906 in Hampshire, eldest daughter of Claude Beddington and Frances Ethel Beddington (née Homan Mulock). She married on 28 August 1932, Major the Hon. Mervyn Patrick Wingfield, (1905-1973), great-grandson of the Earl of Leicester and Chief Commissioner for Scouts in Eire. Succeeded his father as 9th Baron Powerscourt, of Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow, and Baron Wingfield, of Wingfield, Co. Wexford. The Baroness was created Chief Commissioner of the Irish Girl Guides. Sheila inherited the estate at Bellair, Offaly from her aunt Hester Nina (Enid) Homan Mulock and sold it in 1963.

Of Ballycumber, King’s County. Fourteenth child of Thomas Homan-Mulock of Bellair, King’s County. Born on the 25th July 1848, educated at the Royal School, Enniskillen, and Trinity College, Dublin. Appointed to the Indian Civil Service in 1869, serving in North Western Provinces as Assistant-Magistrate and Collector, and Joint-Magistrate 1871-1886; on special duty at Imperial assemblage at Delhi, 1876; Assistant-Commissioner, 1886; Joint-Magistrate, Ballia, 1887; Deputy Commissioner at Lucknow, 1889; Magistrate and Collector, 1890; Commissioner at Fyzabad, 1896. Retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1898 and purchased the Ballycumber Estate in King’s County. Served as Justice of the Peace for King’s County and High Sheriff in 1902. On 4th August 1878 he married at Bhavghulpore, Bengal in India Miss Ethel Annie Braddon, daughter of the Right Hon. Sir Edward Braddon, P.C., K.C.M.G., Premier of Tasmania and author of the Australian Constitution. Of this marriage there was issue, one son and two daughters.

The present line of the Earls of Rosse (of the 2nd creation) is descended from Sir Laurence Parsons, one of four sons of James Parsons and Catherine Fenton of Diseworth Grange, Leicestershire, who had moved to Ireland by the late 16th century. The elder brother, William, was the ancestor of the Earls of Rosse of the 1st creation but the line died out in 1764. The younger brother, Sir Laurence lived in Myrtle Grove, Youghal, Co. Cork where he held several Munster-based government positions. He was knighted in 1620, the same year that he moved to Offaly, having exchanged his interest in a property at Leiter Lugna near Cadamstown with Sir Robert Meredith for the latter’s 1000 acres at Birr. In 1677, his descendent, Sir Laurence Parsons was created baronet, and successive generations of the Parsons Baronets have lived at Birr Castle since this time. The earldom of Rosse was inherited by Sir Laurence Parsons, 5th baronet, from his uncle Laurence Harman Parsons, 1st Earl of Rosse, of County Longford, who died in 1807 without male issue.

Sir Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse (1758-1841), was an Irish peer, agitator against the Act of Union, an Irish parliamentarian and later joint postmaster-general of the Irish post office. His son, Sir William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (1800-1867), was an astronomer and in 1845 built the ‘Leviathan of Parsonstown’, the world’s largest telescope until the early twentieth century. Sir Laurence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse (1840-1908) was also an astronomer and a keen photographer like his mother, Mary Rosse. Sir William Edward Parsons, 5th Earl of Rosse (1873-1918), was a solider in the Irish Guards. He fought in the First World War and died in 1918 of injuries received in action two years previously. His son, Sir (Laurence) Michael Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse (1906-1979) was heavily involved in Irish cultural affairs and a keen dendrologist. The present Earl of Rosse, and 10th baronet, Sir (William) Brendan Parsons was an officer in the Irish Guards from 1955–57 and worked for the United Nations from 1963-80. He lives at Birr Castle and has overseen the creation of the Historic Science Centre celebrating the scientific legacy of the Parsons family, and, with the assistance of Dr A. P. W. Malcomson of PRONI, has gathered together the archives of the Parsons family, now published as The Calendar of the Rosse Papers.