Sir Henry Piers
1628 – 1691
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Sir Henry Piers of Tristernagh Abbey in Westmeath was knighted at Dublin Castle in November 1658 by the Lord Deputy, Henry Cromwell, and created a baronet after the Restoration in February 1660, which is a fair summary of how a careful Irish gentleman survived that decade. He sat in Parliament, served as sheriff of two counties, and wrote a description of Westmeath in 1682 that historians still use.
Research notes
✓ DOCUMENTED (Burke's Peerage PIERS article; Cokayne Complete Baronetage III pp.308-09): SIR HENRY PIERS, of Tristernagh; b. about 1628; suc. his father 1638; KNIGHTED AT DUBLIN CASTLE 30 NOV 1658 BY THE LORD DEPUTY HENRY CROMWELL; Sheriff of cos. Longford & Westmeath 1657-58; M.P. 1659 and 1661-66; created a BARONET OF IRELAND 18 FEB 1660/1 (patent at Dublin, Privy Seal Whitehall 18 Jan); m. in or before 1653 MARY, dau. of DR. HENRY JONES, BISHOP OF MEATH, by the Bishop's 1ST wife Jane Cullum; "eight sons and six daus."; d. 19 Sep 1691 aged 63, will pr. [I.] 1691. AUTHOR OF THE CHOROGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF CO. WESTMEATH, 1682 (pub. 1770 in Vallancey's Collectanea - Cokayne note b). Family tangle worth remembering (Cokayne note a): the Bishop's 2ND wife Mary (m. 31 Dec 1646) was SIR HENRY'S OWN SISTER - the Bishop was simultaneously his father-in-law and brother-in-law. Named daughters (article footnote): Anne (m. 1st Ald. Patrick Gough, 2nd Ald. Nicholas Dowdall), Cecily (m. SIR DUDLEY LOFTUS - the Loftus network again), Margaret (m. Sir Edward Dowdall of Monkstown), Jane (m. Henry Jones of Newton), Elizabeth (m. 1st John son of Sir James Ware; 2nd Wm Fitzgerald of Gortine), Frances (m. George Lowther of Skrine); among the sons, Theophilus (5th) m. Christian Bedford, "said to have been her 7th husband". Direct ancestor. Added 21 Jul 2026.