The Plunkets of Rathbeale Family Tree

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Note: the Plunket family in Dublin was already there when Henry II arrived in Ireland in 1172. His appointments to the first English government of Ireland that year included Thomas Plunket, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas of Ireland. King Henry VI appointed Sir Christopher Plunket as Chief Governor of Ireland in 1432. (History of the City of Dublin, Vol. 1)

The senior lines of the Plunkett family remained Catholic when Henry VIII established the Church of England in 1534. They were some of the leaders of the 1641 Rebellion and were senior officials in the Kilkenny Confederation which was the provisional government of Ireland from 1642 until Cromwell occupied Ireland in 1649. After that their lands were seized from them for redistribution to the 'Adventurers' who had accompanied or financed Cromwell's army. Many of them fled the country to avoid arrest. However, some of the junior lines adopted the Protestant official state religion thus allying themselves with the English and held prominent positions within the government.

William Plunkett was a Protestant and a Royalist. When the Catholic rebels established their provisional government in 1642, Charles I acted to strengthen his hold on Dublin. In a decree, clearly ordered by rank, Charles appointed a body of Commissioners responsible for the identification, registration, disarmament and, when possible, eviction of every Catholic in Dublin. William Plunkett appears in the list immediately after the Mayor, Knights and Aldermen of Dublin.

Generally the Catholic Plunketts used the double 't' while the Protestant Plunkets spelled their name with just the one 't'. Many transcriptions and indexes do not keep the surname spelling from the original sources though so that rule cannot always be relied on. However, the Plunkets of Rathbeale were Protestant as stated in the ca. 1680 Books of Survey and Distribution for County Dublin-Nethercrosse Barony - Swords Parish which includes ‘Plunket of Dublin Protestant Rabeale’ and ‘Sir Walter Plunkett a Prot:’.

William Plunket, Esq. of Rathbeale Family Tree

William Plunket, Esq. of Rathbeale, Dublin b. ca. 1595 (Protonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, MP for Wexford 1639)

m. Esther Hoey (Sir John)

Walter Plunket bp. Sept. 3, 1622 St John Dublin (of Rathbeale, heir to his father; MP for Wexford 1661; MP for Granard Borough, Longford 1692, 1695) d. 1702 (no children)