Mabel Digby, Lady of Dromana and Decies (dates of birth and death unknown) was an Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish

Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...

 noblewoman being the eldest daughter of Sir Robert Digby and Lettice FitzGerald, 1st Baroness Offaly

Lettice Digby, 1st Baroness Offaly

Lettice FitzGerald, 1st Baroness Offaly was an Irish noblewoman and a member of the powerful FitzGerald dynasty. Heiress-general to the Earls of Kildare on the death of her father, the title instead went to the next FitzGerald male heir when her grandfather, the 11th Earl of Kildare died in 1585...

. She was the wife of Sir Gerald FitzGerald, Lord of Dromana and Decies. In 1642, during an Irish rebellion, she was openly sympathetic to the Irish and entertained them at Dromana Castle. She later handed the castle over to them.

Family

Mabel was born on an unknown date sometime after 1598 in Coleshill, Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, England, the eldest daughter and one of the ten children of Sir Robert Digby and Lettice FitzGerald, suo jure 1st Baroness Offaly. Her eldest brother was Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby

Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby

Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby was an Anglo-Irish peer.Digby was the son of Sir Robert Digby of Coleshill, Warwickshire and Lettice FitzGerald, of Geashill, Ireland, granddaughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare. John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol, was his uncle, and Essex Digby, Bishop of...

, and another brother was Essex Digby, Bishop of Dromore

Bishop of Dromore

The Bishop of Dromore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the market town of Dromore in County Down, Northern Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church the title still continues as a separate bishopric, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bishoprics.-History:The...

Marriages and issue

She married her first husband Sir Gerald FitzGerald, Lord of Dromana and Decies on an unknown date. He was the son and heir of Sir John Og FitzGerald, Lord of Dromana and Decies, and Elinor Butler. She was described as having been "suitably English and Protestant". She was said to have dominated Sir Gerald. They made their principal residence at Dromana Castle, County Waterford, and together had three children:

• Sir John FitzGerald, Lord of Dromana and Decies (died 1 March 1664), married firstly Katherine Le Poer, by whom he had his only daughter and heiress Katherine FitzGerald, Viscountess Grandison
  Katherine FitzGerald, Viscountess Grandison
  Katherine FitzGerald, suo jure Viscountess Grandison , was a wealthy Irish heiress, being the only child of Sir John FitzGerald of Dromana, County Waterford. She inherited the Dromana estate in 1664 upon the death of her father. She was married three times; firstly to John Le Poer, 2nd Earl of...
  
  ; he married secondly, Helen McCarthy
• Lettice FitzGerald, married Parliamentarian
  Roundhead
  "Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
  
   Major Richard Franklyn of Coolbach
• Daughter whose name is unknown, married Thomas Walsh of Piltown, Co. Waterford

Upon the death of her husband on 6 August 1643, Mabel married secondly Donagh O'Brien of Arragh.

Rebellion of 1641

On 23 October 1641, a major Irish rebellion broke out in Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...

, and by December had spread to County Waterford

County Waterford

*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...

. (See main article: Irish rebellion of 1641

Irish Rebellion of 1641

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...

).

Although her husband sided with the English, Mabel showed herself sympathetic to the Irish rebels and in 1642 entertained them at Dromana Castle serving them "beefes, muttons, bread and beere". In mid-September 1642, she handed the castle over to them; however, it was shortly afterward besieged and captured by the English.

Death

Mabel died on an unknown date at Dromana. Her granddaughter, Katherine, inherited the entire Dromana estate upon the death of Mabel's only son in 1664. The FitzGeralds had managed to keep their estates intact during the Cromwellian

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

settlements due to their Protestant religion and the influence of Mabel's Parliamentarian son-in-law Richard Franklyn, who served as a major in Oliver Cromwell's army.