White (No. 3.) family genealogy

Of Limerick[1]

Arms: Ar. chev. gu. betw. three roses of same. Crest: A cubit arm naked holding in the hand a bunch of roses gu. ppr. Motto: Dans la rose je fleurie.

Richard White is said to have been the first of the family that came from England to Limerick, in A.D. 1418, and acquired great honour and reputation. For his services to the Lancastrian cause in the “Wars of the Roses” he was granted coat armour, as at the heading of this pedigree. Lord Annally has copied closely the arms of this ancient family.

This Richard settled at Ballyneety (called from his name “Whitestown”), in the co. Limerick; and he afterwards acquired the estate of Ballynauty, in the said co. of Limerick. From this Richard White of Bellyneety descended several families of the name. Richard built the castle and church of Ballyneety; and began the building of the church of Ballynauty, which after his death, was finished by his son and heir, who acquired the estate of Tullybrackey, where he also built a church. The descendants of Richard White erected stately burying places in the churches of Ballyneety or Whitestown, Ballynauty, and Tullybrackey, and also in the Cathedral Church of Limerick.—(Ulster King of Arms, 1716.) From this Richard was descended Sir Ignatius White, of Limerick, a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, who was created a Baronet by Charles II., on the 29th June, 1677, with remainder to his nephew. In the year 1636, Sir Dominick Fitz Bw White was Mayor of Limerick; he was brother of the above mentioned Sir Ignatius, and father of the second Bart. Sir Ignatius Maximilian White, Ambassador from the English to the Court of the Emperor at Vienna, and afterwards Envoy of King James II. at the Hague, was, with the leave of the King of England, created by Leopold I., Emperor of Germany, and Archduke of Austria, Marquis d’Albaville. This title he chose as the Latin equivalent of the name of the castle and seat of his ancestors (Ballyneety or Whitestown) in the co. Limerick. The Marquis mar. first, a lady whose Christian name was Mary; and, secondly, a daughter of Patrick FitzThomas, Lord of Kerry. He accompanied King James II. to Ireland from France, in the year 1689, and was the day after his arrival sworn before his Majesty, at the Castle of Dublin, a Member of the Royal Privy Council for Ireland. In King’s State of the Protestants, there is a letter from him to the Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, dated, Dublin Castle, January 2nd, 1689, and signed: Marquis d’Albaville, Principal Secretary of State to his Majesty. He followed the fortunes of the exiled house of Stuart, and retired to the Continent. His estates were forfeited, but it does not appear that he was deprived of any of his titles. He was succeeded by his son the second Marquis d’Albaville, who was a Captain in Lord Kilmallock’s Regiment of Dragoons, in the Irish Brigade. The death of Lord Kilmallock and the Marquis d’Albaville is thus mentioned by the Chevalier de Bellerive in his account of the Battle of Villaviciosa, in Spain: “The Lieutenant-Colonel of this Regiment received a musket-shot through his body while charging the enemy; and the Marquis d’Albaville, one of its brave captains, sabre in hand, lost his life there, all covered with wounds, after having won admiration by many brave and intrepid actions.”

John Warren White, Esq., of Brisbane, Australia, son of the late Thomas Warren White, Esq., of Cahirbloing Abbey, county Clare, Crown Prosecutor for co. Limerick, claimed to be the lineal head, and representative of this old family.

Notes

[1] Limerick: Helenus White, Esq., J.P., Limerick, some time ago possessed a pedigree of the “White” family, on illuminated vellum.

Myles Vernon Bourke, Esq., M.D., of Limerick, also, had an old MS. containing particulars of the families of White, Bourke, Stritch, and Creagh.

For further information respecting the “White” family, see Lenihan’s History and Antiquities of Limerick; Sir Bernard Burke’s Extinct and Dormant Baronetage—under the name “Vitus,” which was changed to White on the arrival of the family in England, temp. the Norman Conquest; O’Callaghan’s History of the Irish Brigade; the “MacKintosh Collection;” Kennet’s History; etc.