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| Andrew and Frances Murray Prior’s elder son **Thomas Murray Prior Esq** of Rathdowney m. Catherine Palmer. He was born at Rathdowney in 1773, and 'no doubt' baptised there.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) He was the 7th generation of the family to own Rathdowney, and the last.((Patrick Prior, email to J Godden 14/9/21)). He appears to have been known as Thomas Prior though (see next paragraph) TLM-P appears to suggest he was known as Thomas Murray.\\ | Andrew and Frances Murray Prior’s elder son **Thomas Murray Prior Esq** of Rathdowney m. Catherine Palmer. He was born at Rathdowney in 1773, and 'no doubt' baptised there.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) He was the 7th generation of the family to own Rathdowney, and the last.((Patrick Prior, email to J Godden 14/9/21)). He appears to have been known as Thomas Prior though (see next paragraph) TLM-P appears to suggest he was known as Thomas Murray.\\ |
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| Thomas M-P was High Sherriff of Queen’s County from 1799, and a Member of the Irish Parliament for Lesburne and {{http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/B/Bannow-Bargy-Wexford.php|Bannow}} (remembering that this is still a time when only the wealthier male landowners voted in parliament and they could control multiple seats). He was buried at [[wp>Newry|Newry]], County Down (now in Northern Ireland) under the name of Murray on 5 November 1854.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) His wife Catherine was the elder daughter of Joseph Palmer Esq. of Cuffsborough, Queen’s County; he commanded a militia corps as a Colonel.((John & John B. Burke, //A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z//, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846, p.1076; Bernard Burke, //A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry//, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, p.49; Robert M-P, //The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors//, ms written 1901-05, p.12, NLA; Thomas Bertram M-P, //Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d. p.5, NLA.)) | Thomas M-P was High Sherriff of Queen’s County from 1799, and a Member of the Irish Parliament for Lesburne and {{http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/B/Bannow-Bargy-Wexford.php|Bannow}} (remembering that this is still a time when only the wealthier male landowners voted in parliament and they could control multiple seats). His appointment as High Sherriff was the year after the [[wp>Irish_Rebellion_of_1798]]((thanks to Roy M-P for pointing this out)). It is not known what role he played in the brutal suppression of the rebellion.\\ |
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| | Thomas was buried at [[wp>Newry|Newry]], County Down (now in Northern Ireland) under the name of Murray on 5 November 1854.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) His wife Catherine was the elder daughter of Joseph Palmer Esq. of Cuffsborough, Queen’s County; Joseph Palmer commanded a militia corps as a Colonel.((John & John B. Burke, //A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z//, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846, p.1076; Bernard Burke, //A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry//, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, p.49; Robert M-P, //The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors//, ms written 1901-05, p.12, NLA; Thomas Bertram M-P, //Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d. p.5, NLA; ‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda to the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.)) |
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| Catherine and Thomas married when young, doing so by eloping to [wp>Gretna_Green|Gretna Green]], the famous town in Scotland for runaways who could marry under the more lenient Scottish marriage law. Presumably to quash gossip, the couple had a later, conventional marriage ceremony in Donnybrook, Dublin.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry; Robert M-P, //The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors//, p.12, NLA; Thomas Bertram M-P, //Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d., p.5, NLA.))\\ | Catherine and Thomas married when young, doing so by eloping to [[wp>Gretna_Green|Gretna Green]], the famous town in Scotland for runaways who could marry under the more lenient Scottish marriage law. Presumably to quash gossip, the couple had a later, conventional marriage ceremony in Donnybrook, Dublin.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry; Robert M-P, //The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors//, p.12, NLA; Thomas Bertram M-P, //Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty//, ms, n.d., p.5, NLA.)) Catherine died in Dublin and was buried there in approximately 1802, when her youngest son (Hervey) was three years old.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry.))\\ |
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| They had five children:\\ two daughters who died young, [[Ellen and Catherine]];\\ and three sons ([[thomas_murray-prior|Thomas]], [[Lodge Morres]], and [[Hervey Morres]]).((Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, p.12, NLA.)) \\ | Catherine and Thomas had five children:\\ two daughters, Ellen and Catherine who were educated in Paris and died young in 1824 or 1825, suggesting that they both caught one of the then-lethal infectious diseases of childhood. They were, TLM-P stated, 'born and no doubt baptised at Rathdowney'.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda re Burke's questions for his Colonial Gentry));\\ and three sons [[back_to_england_c.1803-38|Thomas]], [[lodge_morres|Lodge Morres [Murray] Prior and Hervey Morres [Murray] Prior]].((Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, p.12, NLA.)) \\ |
| Their mother Catherine died in Dublin and was buried there in approximately 1802, when her youngest son (Hervey) was three years old.((‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry. Note that My Heritage website says there was another daughter Charlotte, but also claims she was born in 1806, four years after her mother died.))\\ | |
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| A record in the Irish National Archives is of a complaint Thomas Prior made about a magistrate in 1829. No further details are given online - a task for anyone who can spend time in the Irish Archives in person!((NAI REFERENCE: CSO/RP/OR/1829/654; File of papers relating to complaint made by Thomas Prior, Rathdowney, against constable Joshua Finlay; SCOPE & CONTENT: Letter from Thomas Prior, Rathdowney, Queen's County [County Laois], to William Gregory, Under Secretary, outlining his complaint against constable Joshua Finlay. Additional letter from William Wood, magistrates’ clerk, Borris in Ossory, to Prior, informing him that his complaint will be investigated. Also letter from magistrates Charles White, R[H] Fitzgerald and William Hamilton, assembled at the Petty Session’s Room, Rathdowney, to Francis Leveson Gower, Chief Secretary, outlining their report in relation to same; EXTENT:3 items; 8pp; DATE(S):3 Jul 1829-17 Aug 1829)) | A record in the Irish National Archives is of a complaint Thomas Prior made about a magistrate in 1829. No further details are given online - a task for anyone who can spend time in the Irish Archives in person!((NAI REFERENCE: CSO/RP/OR/1829/654; File of papers relating to complaint made by Thomas Prior, Rathdowney, against constable Joshua Finlay; SCOPE & CONTENT: Letter from Thomas Prior, Rathdowney, Queen's County [County Laois], to William Gregory, Under Secretary, outlining his complaint against constable Joshua Finlay. Additional letter from William Wood, magistrates’ clerk, Borris in Ossory, to Prior, informing him that his complaint will be investigated. Also letter from magistrates Charles White, R[H] Fitzgerald and William Hamilton, assembled at the Petty Session’s Room, Rathdowney, to Francis Leveson Gower, Chief Secretary, outlining their report in relation to same; EXTENT:3 items; 8pp; DATE(S):3 Jul 1829-17 Aug 1829)) |
| ==== Mary Ann Thompson ==== | ==== Mary Ann Thompson ==== |
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| After his wife Catherine's early death, Thomas Murray Prior had a liaison with a working class woman, Mary Ann Thompson who lived in King's County. Robert M-P((The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, p.32, NLA.)) states that Thomas and Mary Ann were ‘possibly’ married; Thomas Bertram M-P refers to their marriage as a 'rumour'.((Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d. p.6, NLA.)) Mary Ann Thompson later married William Lynch - , ‘perhaps bigamously’, if she was married to Thomas Murray Prior. Thomas and Mary Ann’s daughter Honoria adopted the surname Lynch and married Michael (often called Edward) Hankard. | After his wife Catherine's early death, Thomas Murray Prior had a liaison with a working class woman, Mary Ann Thompson who lived in King's County. Robert M-P((The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, p.32, NLA.)) states that Thomas and Mary Ann were ‘possibly’ married; Thomas Bertram M-P refers to their marriage as a 'rumour'.((Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d. p.6, NLA.)) Mary Ann Thompson later married William Lynch - , ‘perhaps bigamously’, if she was married to Thomas Murray Prior. Thomas and Mary Ann’s daughter Honoria adopted the surname Lynch and married Michael (often called Edward) Hankard. Note that the My Heritage website says that Thomas and his first wife Catherine had a daughter Charlotte, but also claims she was born in 1806, four years after her mother died. It is possible she was Thomas' daughter from a second marriage/liaison. |
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| Honoria and Michael Hankard's elder son, also called Michael, emigrated to NSW in 1881 with his wife Mary (nee Connelly) and their three daughters: presumably today they have numerous descendants in Australia.((The more recent generations feature in Rita Young, //From Royalty to us//, unpublished booklet, 1984.)) Robert M-P believed that another of Honoria and Michael’s sons, Thomas Hankard, threatened to add ‘Murray-Prior’ to his surname ‘but was dissuaded from this course’.((Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, p.34, NLA.)) Effective blackmail? \\ | Honoria and Michael Hankard's elder son, also called Michael, emigrated to NSW in 1881 with his wife Mary (nee Connelly) and their three daughters: presumably today they have numerous descendants in Australia.((The more recent generations feature in Rita Young, //From Royalty to us//, unpublished booklet, 1984.)) Robert M-P believed that another of Honoria and Michael’s sons, Thomas Hankard, threatened to add ‘Murray-Prior’ to his surname ‘but was dissuaded from this course’.((Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, p.34, NLA.)) Effective blackmail? \\ |
| ==== Four more children? ==== | ==== Four more children? ==== |
| Thomas Bertram M-P records that Thomas had four other children before his liaison with Mary Ann Thompson. He gives no information about the children's mother/s, just that one line of descent was 'John and Annie Murray-Prior and their children Bertram and Coralie, of New South Wales.' and that he had 'No space for more details.' ((Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d., p.24, NLA.)) Certainly space would be needed to summarise the career of John: a colourful one to say the least! click on [[John Murray Prior/Bertram Murray]] for more.\\ | Thomas Bertram M-P records that Thomas had four other children before his liaison with Mary Ann Thompson. He gives no information about the children's mother/s, just that one line of descent was 'John and Annie Murray-Prior and their children Bertram and Coralie, of New South Wales.' and that he had 'No space for more details.' ((Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d., p.24, NLA.)) Certainly space would be needed to summarise the career of John: a colourful one to say the least! click on [[John Murray Prior/Bertram Murray]] for more.\\ |
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| **Sources**: The common source for information about Thomas M-P appears to be John & John B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846, p.1076. Robert and Thomas Bertram M-P supplemented their information with family knowledge/gossip. See also TLM-P's //Imperial Family Bible//; Maximilian Genealogy Master Database 2000. | **Sources**: The common source for information about Thomas M-P appears to be John & John B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846, p.1076. Robert and Thomas Bertram M-P supplemented their information with family knowledge/gossip. See also TLM-P's //Imperial Family Bible//; Maximilian Genealogy Master Database 2000. |
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