“In the Parliament of 1639, Sir John Bellew of Willystown, was Knight for the County of Louth; married Mary, 2nd Daughter to Robert Dillon of Clonbrock, Esq and had Sir Patrick Bellew of Bellew-Mount, otherwise Bermeath (sic) in that County, who had a Grant of Lands under the Acts of Settlement in 1678, and 6 January 1684 another Grant under the Act of Grace, of the Town and Lands of Clonoraneitragh, to be called Castle-Bellew, with other Lands in the Counties of Galway and Louth … By the Interest of John, Lord Bellew, he was created a Baronet; for, when the Earl of Tyrconnel came from England L L being desirous to have more of the Irish advanced to Dignities and Titles of Honour, than formerly had been, he consulted, among others, with the Lord Bellew, what Persons in the County of Louth were fit to be created Knights and Baronets; when his lordship named Sir Patrick Bellew as a Person, whom he thought proper to be made a Baronet; and intending about that Time to go to England, Tyrconnel wrote by him to the Secretary of State, to make out a Warrant for that Honour, which bears date at Whitehall 25 April 1687, and the Patent at Dublin 11 December 1688.” (The Peerage of Ireland, 1754)
The relationship between John, Lord Bellew and Sir Patrick was not close. Their common ancestor is Sir Patrick’s great-great grandfather. And when the Earl of Tyrconnel sought Lord Bellew’s counsel it was not as a long-serving member of the Irish Peerage, as we shall see.
”Sir John, the eldest Son, was honoured with Knighthood by King James II, who also by Privy Seal, dated at Windsor 19 July, and by Patent at Dublin 29 October 1686, advanced him to the Peerage, by the Title of Baron Bellew of Duleeke: After which he was called into the Privy Council, and sat in his Parliament; and the Exigency of that King’s Affairs requiring his Appointment of L L and D Lieutenants of the County of Louth, and his Majesty reposing great Confidence in his Lordship’s Integrity, Courage, and Circumspection, constituted him L L and Governor of the County by Commission, dated at the Castle of Dublin 27 January 1689; at which time he commanded a Regiment of Foot in his Army, and for his Services was outlawed in the County of Meath 16 April 1691, and forfeited his Estate, which was afterwards regranted.” (The Peerage of Ireland, 1754)
James II came to the throne in 1685 and was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when he fled to Ireland hoping to reign there if he could not conquer England. To that end he needed all the help he could get from Catholic Irish families and bribed the Bellews with a Peerage and a Baronetcy. James II has a fine funerary monument, by Canova, in St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. We will see how the Bellew Barons fared tomorrow.