Godfrey baronets

The Godfrey Baronetcy of Bushfield in the County of Kerry was a title in the Baronetage of Ireland.[1] It was created on 17 June 1785 for William Godfrey, member of the Irish House of Commons for Tralee. The title became extinct on the death of the seventh Baronet in 1971.[2]

The Godfrey family had arrived in Ireland during the Cromwellian conquest. Major John Godfrey of Kent was an officer in the New Model Army, and was granted the estates of Killagha Abbey following their seizure from the Catholic Walter Spring.[3] The estate amounted to approximately 7,000 acres.[4] One of Major Godfrey's descendants, also John, founded the settlement at Milltown to serve as the economic focal point for his holdings. His eldest son was Sir William Godfrey, 1st Baronet, who rebuilt the family's principle residence at Bushfield House, Milltown, and renamed it Kilcolman Abbey, in reference to Killagha Abbey. His grandson was Sir William Duncan Godfrey, 3rd Baronet.

Godfrey baronets, of Bushfield (1785)
Escutcheon of the Godfrey baronets of Bushfield

References
  1. "No. 12660". The London Gazette. 2 July 1785. p. 317.
  2. Complete Baronatage, p.408
  3. James Carmody, 'The Abbey of Killagha, Parish of Kilcoleman, County Kerry', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Fifth Series, Vol. 36, No. 3, 285-296
  4. John Knightly, The Godfrey Estate During the Great Famine http://www.kerryhistory.ie/documents/5.%20Godfrey.pdf (Accessed 25 February 2014)

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