Sir Henry BAGENAL, Knight

(Marshal of Ireland)

Born: 1556

Died: 14 Aug 1598

Father: Nicholas BAGENAL

Mother: Eleanor GRIFFITH

Married: Eleanor SAVAGE 1577

Children:

1. Griffith BAGENAL

2. John BAGENAL

3. Roger BAGENAL

4. Eleanor BAGENAL (m.1 Robert Salisbury - m.2 Thomas Needham)

5. Mary BAGENAL (m. Thomas Bodville)

6. Elizabeth BAGENAL

7. Jane BAGENAL (m. Robert Griffith)

8. Anne BAGENAL (m. Lewis Baily, Bishop of Bangor)

9. Arthur BAGENAL (b. BEF 1599) (m. Magdalen Trevor)

Sir Henry Bagenal, of Newry, co. Down, Norley Castle and Stoke, Staffs. First surviving son of Sir Nicholas Bagenal by Eleanor, dau. and coh. of Sir Edward Griffith of Penrhyn, Caern. Educ. Jesus, Oxf. 1572-3. Kntd. 1578; suc. fa 1590. Marshal of Ireland 1590; chief commr. for Ulster 1591. Bagenal's career was spent in military service in Ireland, where he was knighted and, in 1583, obtained the reversion to his father's office of marshal. His feud with the Earl of Tyrone, following the latter's elopement with Bagenal's sister, Mabel, in 1591, culminated in his death in action on the Blackwater.

Bagenal inherited from his father property in Staffordshire, Ireland and Anglesey, where his estates included Plas Newydd, though it is not certain whether he ever lived in the house. His long absences in Ireland endangered his estates, both in Staffordshire, where he sought Privy Countil intervention to prevent encroachment, and in Anglesey, where his neighbour Owen Holland was later accused of defrauding him in a bargain over adjacent coal-bearing land.

He married Eleanor, dau. of Sir John Savage of Rocksavage, and Elizabeth Manners.

While on a short leave from Ireland in 1585, Bagenal conceived a desire ‘for my learning's sake to be made a Parliament man’ He first thought of Anglesey, because of his family connexions with the Bulkeleys. However, the Privy Council was encouraging the return of as many Members as possible of the previous Parliament, so he asked his wife's cousin, Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland, for a seat and was returned at Grantham. In the event he was also returned for Anglesey, which he preferred. He was appointed to a committee on the Norfolk election return (11 Nov 1586). When Bagenal was killed on 14 Aug 1598, his estate was so confused that the Privy Council looked into the matter at his widow's request. Administration was granted her in 1604.