David Roche
d. 1581
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About
David Roche, fifth Lord Roche of Fermoy, was one of the Norman-Irish magnates of the Blackwater, and his daughter Jane married the fifteenth Baron of Kerry and Lixnaw. The Roche country on that river is the same stretch of north Cork that turns up elsewhere in this family's records.
Research notes
✓ DOCUMENTED as to the relationship (Burke's LANSDOWNE lineage): DAVID ROCHE, 5TH LORD (VISCOUNT) ROCHE OF FERMOY - father of Jane (m. 15th Baron Kerry). The Roches of Fermoy: Norman-Irish magnates of the Blackwater - the same river as Castle Hyde. Pedigree recoverable (Burke's FERMOY). Direct ancestor. Added 21 Jul 2026. ||FERMOY ARTICLE READ 6 Aug 2026 (Burke's P&B pp.1413-14) - HONEST NEGATIVE|| The modern Barony of Fermoy (Burke Roche, cr. 1856) article EXPLICITLY disclaims proven connection to the medieval Lords ROCHE of Fermoy: 'No connection exists between the ROCHEs who held it and those who became Lords Fermoy in the mid-19th century.' So it contains nothing for our David, 5th Lord Roche - the medieval viscounts need older sources (CP 'Fermoy', the Roche pedigrees in JCHAS). Door stays open, unfed. ||CP FERMOY READ 6 Aug 2026 (pp.326-29)|| Now identified as DAVID (ROCHE), 5th VISCOUNT ROCHE OF FERMOY (fl.1550s); m. Ellen Butler of Dunboyne (I100221); son of Maurice the Mad 4th Viscount. The ascent to the 1st Viscount and the DESMOND GATEWAY (Joan, heiress of the Earl of Desmond) now wired above him. ||CP AUDIT 26 Oct 2026|| ✓ CP V 'Fermoy' p.293: 'David (Roche), Lord Roche of Fermoy, s. and h.'; pardons 1551, 1553; knighted at Limerick 30 Mar 1567; 'He m. Ellen, da. of James Butler, of Dunboyne, co. Meath, by Joan, da. of James Butler, of Dunboyne. He d. between Nov. 1581 and Nov. 1582.' Father of Jane (I99148) who m. Patrick Baron of Kerry (CP VII p.211). Source: Complete Peerage 2nd edn vol. V (1926), 'Fermoy' pp.292-294, read 26 Oct 2026 (archive.org djvu text). ||26 Oct 2026|| Second daughter wired: Ellen Roche, 1st wife of David Barry, Viscount Buttevant (CP I p.442), mother of Ellen Barry (I101747) and grandmother of Honor FitzGerald, Lady Kerry (I99142).