429 
The following communication by Ricwarp Sarnruitt, Esq., was 
read, with permission of the Council, by Agurrza Saitu, M. D., 
M.R.T. A. 
THE OLD COUNTESS OF DESMOND. AN INQUIRY,—DID SHE SEEK REDRESS AT 
THE COURT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, AS RECORDED IN THE JOURNAL OF 
® ROBERT SYDNEY, EARL OF LEYCESTER? AND DID SHE EVER SIT FOR HER 
PORTRAIT ? 
I was detained in London during the winter of 1829, dancing attendance 
on lawyers, and, but for the reading-room at the British Museum, should 
have had many a weary day. The late Sir Wm. Betham found me there, 
copying, from a Harleian M8., No.1425, a pedigree of the Desmonds; and 
on my explaining to him that I was anxious to ascertain to which of the 
Earls Sir Walter Raleigh’s old lady was Countess, Sir William offered 
to assist me from his own MSS. with a more correct document than the 
Harleian. Official and other avocations interposed, and occasioned a 
considerable delay to his kind intentions; when he sent me the rough 
draft of a very voluminous pedigree (to be corrected at leisure, which 
probably never arrived), with permission to copy, of which I availed 
myself as far as the direct line of the Earls was concerned. Wait- 
ing this document, I worked on, with the aid of the Harleian, in 
which Thomas Fitz James, beheaded at Drogheda, 8th February, 1467, 
is called the ninth earl. In Sir William Betham’s pedigree he ranks as 
eighth earl ; his eldest son and successor (James), in the Harleian, tenth 
earl, is there recorded to have been murdered at Rathkeale, 1487, and 
to have been unmarried. 
Sir Walter Raleigh having stated that his old Countess was mar- 
ried in the reign of Kdward IV., ‘“‘and held her jointure from ail the 
Earls of Desmond since then,” the inference I drew was, that her hus- 
band must have been an earl during Edward IV.’s reign ; and before re- 
ceiving Sir William Betham’s MS., I drew his attention to this; for as 
Edward IV. died in 1483, we seemed to have no choice but Ellen Barty, 
the mother of Karl James. In reply, dated 5th December, 1832, Sir 
William wrote :—‘‘ You are mistaken in supposing James, ninth earl, 
died unmarried; his wife was Margaret, daughter of Thady O’Bryen, 
and is much more likely to have been the lady alluded to. She might 
have danced with the Duke of Gloucester before she was Countess of Des- 
mond, a title she only bore for a few months; for she bécame Dowager 
on the murder of her husband, in 1467, not 1487.’’ And on further 
discussion on this question, in a letter, dated the 9th of January, 1833, 
Sir William wrote :—‘‘I think there is not much doubt that this Mar- 
garet was the raal ould Countess ;’’ and further on, in the same letter, 
“she must have been Countess in the reign of Edward IV. to have enjoyed 
a jointure from that time. James, the ninth earl, died or was killed the 
same year as his father; but I cannot refer to the authority at present, 
it being jumbled up with unarranged documents ;” and, on the Ist Fe- 
bruary, 1833, Sir William adds—‘“‘ the question is, therefore, between 
R. I. A. PROC.—VOL. VII. jj 3P 
