William Maybury of County Kerry, Ireland

There is a strong tradition among the Mayburys and Mayberrys of County Kerry, Ireland that their Maybury ancestors were part of a plantation established by Sir William Petty in 1670 as part of England's plan to populate and develop the southwestern part of Ireland in the mid 17th century. One family tradition says that these early Maybury settlers in Kerry were ironworkers.

In recent years the research of William and Doris Maybury, of Herefordshire, has firmly documented the fact that one of Bill's early ancestors, William Maybury, was an ironworker and that he was an original member of the plantation of English Protestants established in County Kerry under the Cromwells. William Mabury (sic) was employed as a hammerman in the Kenmare iron works. The colony was established by Sir William Petty who had been granted 40,000 acres in Ireland and later added more land to his holdings. Petty's agent was a man named Richard Orpen, who with his father-in-law, the Rev. Thomas Palmer, managed both the Petty holdings and the iron works at Kerry. William Maybury married Richard Orpen's sister, Rachel and became the ancestor of all the Maybury/Mayberry families who later lived around Kenmare in County Kerry and spilled over into County Cork to the east.

We have found a few details about the recruitment of William Maybury by Sir William Petty. It is contained in a paper presented to the Royal Irish Academy by T. C. Barnard, of Hertford College, Oxford. Dr. Barnard says that William Maybury, whom he calls Thomas Maybury, was already working as a hammerman at the Enniscorthy Ironworks in County Wexford, Ireland in 1671 when he was hired by Petty, or one of Petty's agents, to join the newly established colony of English Protestants in County Kerry. Maybury was being paid 2s 6d for each ton of iron at Enniscorthy but Petty offered to pay him up to 10s 6d per ton and also to provide him with a house with a garden. Maybury was also given the right to use the forge for his own purposes! Barnard's use of the name Thomas Maybury with reference to Enniscorthy may be of some significance. One descendant, who has researched this extensively, believes that there was more than one Maybury working at Enniscorthy. This is certainly possible since skilled ironworkers during this period passed their trade on to other members of their immediate family and the means of employment was often through such family connections. It is thus possible that Thomas Maybury (about whom we have found no additional information) was a brother or perhaps even the father of William Maybury who was hired by Sir William Petty.

Petty established the settlement on his own lands at Kerry at the head of the bay of Kenmare. Forty-two houses were built for the English settlers which was the beginning of the town of Kenmare. Macaulay wrote that the population amounted to a hundred and eighty. The land round the town was well cultivated. The cattle were numerous. Two small barks were employed in fishing and trading along the coast. The supply of fish was plentiful, and would have been still more plentiful had not the beach been, in the finest part of the year, covered by multitudes of seals, which preyed on the fish of the bay. Yet the seal was not an unwelcome visitor: his fur was valuable; and his oil supplied light through the long nights of winter. An attempt was made with great success to set up ironworks. It was not yet the practice to employ coal for the purpose of smelting; and the manufacturers of Kent and Sussex had much difficulty in procuring timber at a reasonable price. The neighbourhood of Kenmare was then richly wooded; and Petty found it a gainful speculation to send ore thither.” He looked also for profit from the variegated marbles of adjacent islands. Distant two days’ journey over the mountains from the nearest English, Petty’s English settlement of Kenmare withstood all surrounding dangers, and in 1688, a year after its founder’s death, defended itself successfully against a fierce and general attack.

When Richard Orpen sublet the land in Kerry in the continuing effort to populate the area with Protestants from England, William Maybury was granted a tenancy called "Drumughty".

But conditions changed with the Restoration of the Monarchy and particularly with the coming of James II to the English throne in 1685. The Protestants suffered greatly and many were forced to relinquish their leases. Of the anarchic period of 1688-89, Richard Orpen, himself said:

…of all the County the Protestants in Kilmare (Kenmare) have endured the greatest persecution ... so that by the beginning of January following [1688-89] they were bereft of all their Cattle and Haggards of Corn, their Barns and Granaries stripped and robbed, and all the substance they had without Doors forced from them, and nothing left them to live upon but what little Provision they had in their Houses.

In 1689 most of the Protestants, including William Maybury, were forced to flee to England.

James Waller, Lady Petty's brother, foreseeing the probability that the Protestants would not be allowed to remain in the country, left two small barques of near 30 tons to carry them off. Into the vessels they all packed, only to find the sails had been taken to prevent the ships putting to sea, and they were eight days' 'Packed like fish, one upon another'. Owing to the violence of the weather the hatches were kept closed until at last Maurice Hussey, Captain-Lieutenant to Governor Browne, a man somewhat more compassionate than the rest, told them they were stopped for the fear they would sail to England. Whereupon Richard Orpen was forced to pass a bond for £5,000, conditioned they would sail for Cork and deliver themselves to the Governor of that city. At last on 10th March they sailed and ignoring the forced bond decided to sail for Bristol. Fortunately they did not meet King James, who escorted by a strong French squadron, landed at Kinsale on 12th March. After some delays from calms and contrary winds, both ships arrived at Bristol on March 25th. The Mayor of Bristol caused collections to be made for their relief. As may be imagined, they were in pitiable plight. Three of them died from exposure and hardship, and most were affected with various distempers. The account concludes, in the present tense, as follows: "The greatest part of them, being come up to London, were relieved and entertained by the Right Honorable, the Lady Baroness of Shelbourne, some are waiting before the Commissioners for distributing relief to the distressed Protestants of that Kingdom, and the rest according to their capacities, have disposed of themselves in the army, designed for the reducing of Ireland."

When the worst was over late in 1691, Richard Orpen returned to Kenmare to try to bring some order out of the shambles. Records indicate that William Maybury returned to Kerry in 1693 to find that, in his absense, Drumughty had been leased to Teige Sullivane, nephew of one of the original proprietors. Maybury was backed by his brother-in-law, Richard Orpen, when he sought to be repossessed of his land. Five years later, in 1698, Orpen executed several lifetime leases for some of the former proprietors of Kenmare, with the usual condition that such leases were renewable in perpetuity. These were all persons of English origin representing members of Sir William Petty's former plantation or their descendants. They included twelve O'Sullivans, two Harringtons, a McCarthy, a Lyne, a Gill, two Mayburys, a Murphy, a Downing, a Burrell, a Duckett, a Rawling and one who signs himself "Donoh na Kark", being a tenant of the Karks, near Dauros Tuosist.

The name of Wm. Mabury appears as a witness on five of the original leases signed in the early part of 1697/98. His own lease, executed about the same time was signed "Wm. Mabury" and, for whatever reason, was in a very shaky hand. The lease, to "William Mabury of Currabeg" was for Drumoughty in Tuosist and called for a rent of £16 (another document says the rent was £18 3s). Under its terms Mabury was obligated to construct one good house to the value of £20 within four years and several good houses to the same value; to fence in two enclosures of six acres, etc. within two years. To oblige his undertenants, etc. to plant 3000 oaks and bring in 3 Protestant families; to keep one iron krow, etc. The witnesses were William Kennington, Bas Aldwell, Rob Orpen, [Rich?] Orpen, Wm. Bowen and Geo. Orpen.

Another document dated 19 Feb 1721/22 provides the information that Drumoughty had earlier been leased to Tiege O'Sullivan, "a nephew to one of the old proprietors" and that O'Sullivan had been ousted from Drumoughty some years previously by Richard Orpen, in favor of his (Orpen's brother- in-law, William Mabury (deceased by 1722). Later, Mabury, being in debt to Orpen, let Drumoughty to O'Sullivan for the terms of his own interest at £25, 13s, 4p. per anum, being the rent plus the mortage, which was to be paid by O'Sullivan direct to Orpen.

Four additional leases, three of them affecting lands in the parish of Kenmare, were executed by Orpen between 1705 and 1712. The lessees in these cases were of English Protestant background and had probably all been connected with Sir William Petty's original plantation. One of these was a lease in July 1716 for Gurtalinny to Richard Maybury, the son of William Maybury and Rachel Orpen.

In 1763 those who had inherited the old long term leases were required by the Earl of Shelbourne to relinquish the terms of those leases and sign a new lease under different terms. Among those who signed an agreement to that effect on 13 May 1763 were: John Mayberry, August Maybury and William Maybery for the 18 gneeves of Dromughty (sic); John Mayberry, 1 gneeve of Gortrousky; and William [&] August Mayberry, 6 gneeves of Gortnadulah. New leases were then signed on 11 May 1764 as follows: John Mayberry, 1 gneeve of Gortruska for a rent of £1, 10s. (witnessed by John Godfrey and John Powell); William and Augustus Maybery, 6 gneeves of Gortnadalah for a rent of £9 (witnessed by John Godfrey and John Parker); and John, William & August Mayberry, 18 gneeves of Droumoctee for a rent of £46 (witnessed by John Godfrey and John Parker).

But even the leases did not always guarantee peaceful possession and use of the land. Disputes with some of the original proprietors. In 1769, a certain Murtagh, acting with the O'Sullivans of Bonane, raised a force of 160 men "armed with guns, pistols, blunderbusses and other instruments of death" which effectively prevented John Mayberry of Greenlane, Kenmare, from undertaking the felling of the woods of Glanerought which had been sold to him by Shelburne. Also in the year 1769 the name of Duckett Mayberry of Greenlane, Kenmare, appeared as a witness on a document. These documents clearly establish the continuing presence of the Mayberrys in Kerry during the 18th century.

The next Mayburys to appear in the records in County Kerry seem to have been born between about 1770-1785. By this time the family had significantly increased its numbers in Kerry and also spilled over into County Cork. The following have been found in the rental papers of the estate of the Earl of Shelboure and are dated 18 May 1783. All rentals were from 1 May 1773, unless otherwise stated, and ran for 21 years:

• Dromoughty - 750 acres - £486 rent - to John, William and Augustus Mayberry.
• Gortaruska - 40 acres - £1 11s 6d rent - to John Mayberry.
• Gortnadallagh - 250 acres - £9 9s rent - to William and Augustus Mayberry.
• Kenmare - 30 acres - £ 28 7s rent - commenced 01.05.1765 - to John Mayberry.
• Kenmare - House - 5s 3d rent - commenced 01.05.1765 for 31 years - to John Mayberry.

[Source: Gerard J. Lyne, "Landlord-Tenant Relations on hte Shelburne Estate in Kenmare, Bonane and Tuosist, 1770-75", The Journal of the Kerry Archaelogical and Historical Society. Vol. 12 1979, p. 59f.]

In the 19th century several member of the Maybury family in County Kerry and County Cork emigrated to settle in the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Others returned to England. We know, for example, that there several in the family of John and Honora Maybury of Green Lane in Kenmare who emigrated to England and to the United States:

One of their sons, Thomas Maybury (ca 1813-1886), joined the police force at age 18 and was later posted to London and then, about 1840 to Manchester. Later, two of Thomas Maybury's own sons, George Thomas Maybury (born 1838) and William Maybury (born 1845) emigrated from England to the east and west coasts of the United States, respectively. Other descendants of Thomas Maybury still live in England today.

Two other sons, James Duckett Maybury and John Maybury (born ca 1805-12) left Kenmare to settle on the east coast of the United States.

We also know of a Thomas Maybury (born 1808) and Henry Maybury (born 1810) who emigrated from County Cork, Ireland to Detroit Michigan before 1850. Both Thomas and Henry Maybury were listed as "Capitalists" in the 1880 census of Detroit. Thomas' son, William Cotter Maybury (born 1849) was Mayor of Detroit from 1897 to 1901 and later served in the United States Congress. These families had close ties to the family of Henry Ford, the famous Detroit automaker.

The "Maybury" spelling has been retained by most of the family in Kerry, with the exception of of one branch "who took to spelling their name Mayberry consequent upon a family row in the early years of the 19th Century or very late in the 18th".

February 2009