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The Hon. Henry Bulkeley (c. 1641 – 1698) was an English courtier and politician. He was Master of the Household to Charles II and James II of England. He also was Member of parliament for Anglesey from February to August 1679 and for Beaumaris in October 1679 and from 1681 and 1685.

Early life

Henry was born about 1641. He was the fourth son of Thomas Bulkeley and his wife Blanche Coytmore. Among his siblings were Robert Bulkeley, 2nd Viscount Bulkeley and Thomas Bulkeley.

His father was created Viscount Bulkeley of Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1643. His father's family were the Bulkeleys of Baronhill, Anglesey.

Bulkeley studied at Gray's Inn, where he was admitted in 1654, and at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1657.

Career

In 1664, he became an ensign in the Kings Guards in the Irish Army. From about 1669 to 1678 he was a captain.

In 1678, Bulkeley became Master of the Household, a sinecure. He was appointed by Charles II and maintained in office by James II of England at his accession to the throne in 1685.

Member of Parliament

At the time the Isle of Anglesey sent two members of parliament to the Parliament of England, one as knight of the shire for the county, another for the boroughs on the island. This latter seat was called Beaumaris Boroughs, after the town and castle of Beaumaris.

The year 1679 saw two elections. In February Bulkeley was elected for the County of Anglesey in the Habeas Corpus Parliament. In August he was elected MP for Beaumaris Boroughs for the Exclusion Bill Parliament. He was then reelected for the same seat in 1681 for the Oxford Parliament and in 1685 for the Loyal Parliament.

Later life

In 1688 at the Glorious Revolution Bulkeley fled with James II to France. He lived at the exile court at Saint Germain-en-Laye until he returned to England in January 1691 as a Jacobite agent.

In 1695 Bulkeley was back in Saint Germain where he quarrelled with Donough MacCarthy, 4th Earl of Clancarty. In 1696, at the attempted assassination of King William, Bulkeley was in England and signed the Association to show his loyalty.

Personal life

Around November 1673 Bulkeley married Sophia Stewart, maid of honour to Queen Catherine of Braganza. A sister of the Duchess of Richmond, Sophie was a daughter of Dr. Walter Stewart and granddaughter of the 1st Lord Blantyre. Together, they were the parents of six children, including:

• Francis Bulkeley [fr] (1686–1756), a lieutenant-general, who married Marie-Anne O'Mahony, daughter of Daniel O'Mahony (d. 1714) [fr] and Cecilia Weld, and widow of Richard Cantillon.
• Anne Bulkeley (c. 1675–1751), who married James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of James II.
• Charlotte Bulkeley (b. c. 1678), who married Charles O'Brien, 5th Viscount Clare. After his death, she married Count Daniel O'Mahony.
• Henrietta Bulkeley, who died unmarried
• Laura Bulkeley, who died unmarried

Bulkeley committed suicide in 1698. In his will he told his son to return to England and conform to the established religion.

References

Citations

1. ^ Humphreys & Wynne 2004, p. 579, right column. "Sophia was appointed a maid of honour to Queen Catherine in 1671 and about November 1673 she married ... Henry Bulkeley (c. 1641 – 1689) fifth but third surviving son of Thomas, first viscount Bulkeley ..."
2. ^ Burke 1883, p. 87. Henry was the 4th of 5 brothers enumerated in this source: Richard, Robert, Thomas, Henry, and Edwin
3. ^ Venn & Venn 1922, p. 250, left column. "Bulkeley, Henry, Matric. Fell.-Com. from Queens', Michs. 1657. Of Wales, doubtless s. of Thomas of Baronhill, Isle of Anglesey, Esq., adm. at Gray's Inn, Apr. 12, 1654."
4. Sainty & Bucholz 1997, p. xxviii, line 6. "... master of the household (positions which were, for the most part, sinecures) ..."
5. Henning 1983, p. 742, right column. "Bulkeley, Hon. Henry (c. 1641 – 1698), of Westminster Anglesey 1679 (Mar.) Beaumars 1679 (Oct.), 1681, 1685"
6. Lever 1952, p. 87"Early in January 1691 the busy Jacobite agent, Henry Bulkeley, reappeared in England after a sojourn on the continent whither he had fled at the Revolution."
7. Corp 2004, p. 116. "When Henry Bulkeley (the husband of one of the ladies of the bedchamber) picked a quarrel with Lord Clancarty (a gentleman of the bedchamber) he was ordered by the king to 'beg pardon before the D. of Powis'."
8. Corp 2004, p. 49, line 14. " ...even men who had served as active Jacobite agents abjured their former loyalties: 'Henry Bacely I hear has taken the oaths ...'."
9. Corp 2004, p. 100, note 48. "After his death in 1698 the apartment was used by his widow, Lady Sophia Bulkeley, and then by his son, Lt. General Francis Bulkeley."
10. Woods 2009, p. . "In February 1722 he married, when in London Mary-Anne, daughter of Daniel, Count O'Mahony (d. 1714), a native of Killarney, Co. Kerry ...", last paragraph, 7th sentence
11. Humphreys & Wynne 2004, p. 580, left column, line 18. "Ann married James, Duje of Berwick ..."
12. Handley 2004, p. 882, right column. "In Paris on 18 April 1700, he married Anne (1675–1751), daughter of Henry Bulkeley, master of the household ..."
13. Elliot-Wright, P. J. C. "O'Brien, Charles". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20442. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
14. Seccombe & Elliot-Wright 2004, p. 353, left column. "On 9 January 1697 at St Germain-in-Laye he married Charlotte (d. in or after 1714), eldest daughter of Henry Buckeley, master of the household ..."
15. Cokayne 1913, p. 253, line 15. "He m. , 9 Jan. 1696/7, at St. Germain-en-Laye, Charlotte, 1st da. of the Hon. Henry Bulkeley, Master of the Household to Charles II and James II."
16. ^ Corp 2004, p. 217, line 4. "At the exiled court Hamilton was at particularly good terms with the Duke of Berwick's second wife Anne (née Bulkeley) and her three sisters Charlotte (Viscomtess Clare), Henritee and Laura (both unmarried) ..."
17. Corp 2004, p. 49, note 221. "Bulkeley committed suicide two years later , in his will, he recommended that his son renounce his Roman Catholic faith and return to England."

Sources

• Burke, Bernard (1883). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 499232768.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1913). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. III (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. OCLC 228661424. – Canonteign to Cutts
• Corp, Edward T. (2004). A Court in Exile: The Stuarts in France, 1689-1718. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58462-0.
• Handley, Stuart (2004). "FitzJames, James (1650/51–1712)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 19. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 881–884. ISBN 0-19-861369-5.
• Henning, Basil Duke (1983). The House of Commons 1660–1690. London: Secker & Warburg. ISBN 0-436-19274-8.
• Humphreys, Jennett; Wynne, S. M. (2004). "Bulkeley [née Stuart], Lady Sophia (fl. 1660–1718)". In Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 8. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 579–580. ISBN 0-19-861411-X.
• Lever, Tresham, Sir (Bt) (1952). Godolphin: his Life and Times (1st ed.). London: John Murray. OCLC 1149314542.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Sainty, Sir John Christopher; Bucholz, Robert O. (1997). Officials of the Royal Household 1660–1683: Department of the Lord Chamberlain and Associated Offices. London: University of London, Institute of Historical Research. ISBN 978-1-87134-840-8.
• Seccombe, Thomas; Elliot-Wright, P. J. C. (2004). "O'Brien, Charles, styled fifth Viscount Clare (1670–1706)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 41. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 353. ISBN 0-19-861391-1.
• Venn, John; Venn, J. A. (1922). Alumni Cantabrigienses: Part 1: From the Earliest Times to 1751. Vol. I. London: Cambridge University Press. OCLC 1039474173. – Abbas to Cutts
• Woods, C. J. (October 2009). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "Richard Cantillon". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 1 November 2023.

Further reading

• Rochester, Dryden, and the Rose-Street Affair; J. Harold Wilson; The Review of English Studies, Vol. 15, No. 59 (Jul., 1939), pp. 294–301
• The Irish chieftains; or, A struggle for the crown; C.J. Blake Forester; 1872.

• 1640s births
• 1698 deaths
• Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
• Bulkeley family
• English Jacobites
• English MPs 1679
• English MPs 1680–1681
• English MPs 1681
• English MPs 1685–1687
• Members of Gray's Inn
• Masters of the Household
• Members of the Parliament of England for Beaumaris
• Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Wales
• Tory MPs (pre-1834)
• Younger sons of viscounts