Ralph Briggs the soldier

Here are two examples of the often-recycled Briggs stories:

Lisburn Standard, 25 Dec 1886                       Lisburn Standard, 4 April 1891

Almost every part of these stories, starting with the Welsh origin, needs independent checking. The 1891 obituary states that Edward 1st Viscount Conway (c. 1564-1631) brought Ralph Briggs over, and reads as if Ralph was in the initial party c. 1627. The words “who had been with him in the army of James the First, and aided in the sacking of Cadiz” are confusing. James I reigned over England 1603-1625. Cadiz was sacked in 1596 and raided in 1625. The 2nd Viscount Conway (c. 1592-1655), not the 1st, commanded a foot regiment in the 1625 raid.

Readers should be appropriately sceptical, and should consult a reliable summary of the Conway descendants and the complicated Conway/Hertford/Seymour inheritances affecting the estates near Lisburn. Some grasp of the titles lord, earl, viscount and marquis (marquess in English) will help. But “Briggs” does feature alongside “Conway” – at this failed raid in 1625 (still in the reign of King James), not the sacking in 1596 (improbably early for a soldier who was still in service under the third Lord Conway):

         The “regimente” of Colonel Horwood or Whorwoode, which emerged from the 1625 Cadiz fiasco with more credit than most by withdrawing in reasonable order, included Bridges and Briges; they are named here between the regiments of Conway (the 2nd Viscount) and Burgh. It does not help that all these names can be confused; “Burgh” in a thick Irish or Scottish pronunciation is very like “Brigg”; and “Bridges” or “Brydges”, also near enough, was the surname of the Chandos line who had soldiers serving at that time. Conway’s colleague and agent Edward (Ned) Burgh, well attested and often active on the Lisburn estates, is positively not Briggs even if there may be occasional confusion. But an unproven possibility is clear: Conway was impressed by, and so recruited for work in Lisburn, a soldier whom he had seen in action at Cadiz.

A section of the State Papers (SP 16/285/19) has received attention from Brenda Collins, Daniel Starza Smith and others:

“Account of payments by ­­­---- Burghis [Burgess], servant of Edward Viscount Conway, on account of household expenses of Lord Conway from 7th July 1634 to this day. It contains the expenditure of Lord Conway and a retinue of twelve servants on a journey from Lisnegarvey to Dublin, thence crossing to South Wales, and so proceeding by Bath and Reading to London…”

The Lisburn-England journey to which most of these itemised payments refer – there are some odd ones for e.g. Michaelmas rent – was the return* leg, following the outward transfer of family members to Lisburn (for which, annoyingly, no accounts are known). At least some of the retinue mentioned in the list (Mr Chambers, Francis Edgiocke) appear in other Rawdon/Conway documents.

Reading all the surnames in this section that resemble Briggs – Burgis, Burghis, Burgess, Borgis? – as written then deciphered from the 1630s script, we are not clear how many distinct people are involved, or how many refer to Ned Burgh. Perhaps he could be described as a "servant" and "Mr Burgis" in context, despite his military rank. But perhaps there really was a separate man Briggs whose scribbled name has become e.g. "Burgis". A trusted retainer may, in any case, have been more likely to stay around Lisburn than to join the return leg to England. There is not enough here to allow any confident Briggs detection.

         McCall writes of the 1641 Rebellion: the leading men of Lis-Na-Garvagh [Lisnegarvey, an old name for Lisburn] collected funds to support the desolated people; and, in November, 1641, when nearly all the houses were burned down by the retreating rebels, leaving many families destitute and homeless, the generosity of local philanthropy was actively exerted. Lord Conway who fought at the head of his own troops during the terrible years of that insurrection returned home in the December of that year. Ralph Briggs, his favoured henchman had erected tents for the burned out poor, and his lordship had workmen collected from different parts of the country to aid local builders in raising houses on the sites of the former ones. Food was provided for the poor…

         “Henchman” then and now might mean a page or an attendant and need not connote brutality.

         The 1855 obituary for another Ralph Briggs does not explicitly state descent from Ralph the Welsh soldier, and indeed mentions ancestors “brought over from England”, but adds that more than one served in 1646:

DEATH OF AN OLD RETAINER. ­– Died, on Saturday last, at his residence, Causeway End, near Lisburn, Mr Ralph Briggs, in the 91st year of his age. His ancestors had originally been brought over from England to this country by the first Baron Conway, about two centuries ago, and were among the retainers of Colonel Conway at the celebrated sortie with Owen Roe O’Neill, where the Royal troops defeated the latter named chieftain at Clones, in 1646. On the death of Earl Conway, nearly half-a-century afterwards, and on the “territories” of Killultagh and Derryvolgie passing into the hands of the Seymour family, the Briggs continued to serve under the new dynasty. The late Ralph Briggs was a remarkable stout and energetic man, and only a short time before his death could have walked a couple of miles with ease. He entered into the service of the Hertford administration at Lisburn about seventy years ago, and for a long time past had been relieved from the duties of office. The present marquis granted him a pension sufficient to keep him comfortable in his later years.

-         Banner of Ulster, 14 April 1855.

         The 1886 Lisburn Standard article above states that a Ralph Briggs represented Edward Conway (1st Earl of Conway, c. 1623 – 11 August 1683) as host at Lisburn Castle at Christmas 1682. This is about 57 years after Cadiz, 47 years after the 1634/5 journey, and 41 years after the Rebellion.

         Altogether this McCall tale of Briggs origins is unproven, but more credible than the floods of 19th century newspaper inaccuracies might at first suggest.

*The Calendar summary does not make this clear, but Brenda Collins [2] does. She reads for “Burghis” Edward Burgh (not “Burgess”). George Hill in The Montgomery Manuscripts (1869) notes that Ned Burgh appears as “Capt. Edwd. Brugh” or “Brauff”.