442 THE IRISIH GENEALOGIST 1988

sister, the late Countess of Belvedere, were esteemed two of the most beautiful women of the day; nor were her manners and disposition less admired than her person, for she was a perfect gentlewoman.'

1. Elizabeth, m. Thomas Ormsby of Ballinamore, Co. Mayo in June 1762. They had eight sons and several daughters. 115
2. Margaret, m. John Ormsby of Cummin, Co.Sligo in 1763 and died the following year. 116

3. Frances, m. Isidore Blake 110 of Tower Hill, Co. Mayo in July 1767 and had six sons and four daughters. 117

4. Mary. m. William Bermingham of Ross Hill, Co. Galway in 1772 118 and died before 1826. Their children were:

1. Mary, m. 24 July 1800 Nathaniel Clements, 2nd Earl of Leitrim and d. 5 Feb. 1840 and her son, William Sydney, 3rd Earl was murdered in Co. Donegal on 2 April 1878. 119

ii. Ann, m. 9 February 1802 Francis William Caulfield, 2nd Earl of Charlemont and d. 23 Nov. 1876 aged 96. 119

Thomas' wife Mary died at Cornfield in January 1764. 120 and Thomas then had three children by his second wife, Elizabeth Fair. 121 They were;

1 Robert, a lawyer, b.c. 1766. of whom below

.

1 Barbara who m. Joseph Lambert in 1784 and d. before 1790, when Lambert married his second wife. l22

2 Arabella (Bell) who married - Walsh. 123

When Thomas' son Peter married Catherine Bloomfield in 1770 they took up residence at Cornfield and Thomas moved elsewhere. for in that year and in 1773 he is describerd as 'of Ballinrobe', but by September 1776 he was in occupation, for the first time, of the new and more magnificent house, Bloomfield. one mile north-west of Hollymount. 124

But by 1793 Thomas was a very old, sickly and infirm Man near 80 years of Age' and later his second wife is described as 'a very artful and designing Woman' who had total influence over him. 125 This must be the reason why 'Thomas' will. signed 14 March 1797. 126 disinherits all his children by both marriages. with the sole exception of his second son, Robert the lawyer, who got everything and thus became one of the wealthiest men in Co. Mayo. 127 Robert's only surviving sister, Arabella (Bell) was cut out of the will because 'she had lately misconducted herself and

115. BIFR, under Ormsby for Ballinamore. RD. 230.552.152964. Memorials of the dead. iv, p. 107.

116. Ormsby of Ballinamore MSS. item 121. GO. Obituaries M-R.

117. The Blake Family Records, 1300-1600, Martin J. Blake, London, 1902.

118. Dublin Hibernian Journal, 14 August 1772. p. 391. RD. 294.623.195960.

119. GEC, Complete Peerage, iii, p. 138; vii, p. 581. Footnotes say `Lady Morgan writes in 1799 of her and her better known sister. Lady Charlemont - I never saw two such beautiful creatures, the youngest (Lady Charlemont) the lovlier of the two.' and Countess Granville in 1814 'Lady Charlemont is here in great beauty, but not making much sensation as she has no "coquetterie" nor even "desir de plaire" which repels a Frenchman just as much as a humpback." Lord Glenbervie recorded in 1811 that she 'seems to love her husband more than any of the wits and literates . . . who daily offer their frigid incense and pedantic vows at her shrine.'

120. Freeman's journal, 21 Jan. 1764.

121. RD. 352.228.237715: Shannon MSS. Ruttledge pedigree.

122. RD. 364.111.243337; BLG. 1846. Lambert of Brookhill.

123. PROI. T. 12539: will of Harriet Jennings.

124. RD. 293.368.195800 (see original memorial. not transcription) 313.545.210347.

125. Ormsby of Ballinamore MSS. item 224 dated 23 Feb. 1793. item 235 Case of 'Thomas Rutledge. Esq.

126. ibid. item 150. copy will of Thomas Ruttledge of Bushfield, dated 14 May 1797.

127. Edward Wakefield. Ireland statistical and political. (London, 1812) i, pp. 270-71.