Heraldry at Rokeby Hall (Stained-Glass Window)

On visiting Rokeby Hall one is struck by the beautiful stained-glass window. 

I'm grateful to the owners at Rokeby for kindly allowing me to visit for the first time, in 2005 and have been back several times. On the house website, under 'restoration' you will see how the window was restored. It was installed by Sir John Stephen Robinson and his wife Lady Sarah Robinson sometime after they inherited Rokeby in 1847.

http://www.rokeby.ie/

The window at Rokeby accounts for three or four generations of the 'Rokeby Hall' Robinson family. On the top is the Robinson crest. Beneath this are the impaled shields representing the brothers, Primate Richard and Sir Thomas Robinson. The arms of Armagh Archdiocesre impale those of Robinson. The arms of Robinson impale those of Howard. Beneath this is a larger clearer circle that obviously at one stage contained some coat of arms, most likely that of Robinson impaling Denny for Sir John Robinson who probably installed the window. Beneath this are two coats of arms, those of Robinson. Also the arms of Robinson impale those of Moore of Mount Cashell. Finally beneath these arms are the arms of Freind.

The Robinson family resided at Rokeby House. By 1785 Archbishop Richard Robinson of Armagh had acquired his estate at Marley and the house was quickly completed and renamed Rokeby.  The architect Francis Johnston resided there from 1786 until 1793.

There are three titles associated with Rokeby that make things somewhat confusing. The titles being Baronet of Rokeby, Co York, Baronet of Rokeby Co Louth and Baron Rokeby, created in 1777 for Richard Robinson, Primate of Ireland.

The first of these titles to be created was Baronet of Rokeby, Yorkshire, 1730 when Sir Thomas Robinson became the 1^st Baronet. His son William became 2^nd Baronet in 1777 and William’s brother, Richard, born at Merton, near London in 1709, held several ecclesiastical appointments before becoming Chaplain to the Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in 1751.  Through the Duke’s influence, he became Bishop of Kildare in 1761, eventually becoming Primate of Ireland in 1765 as Archbishop of Armagh. He became 3^rd Baronet in 1785. He already had been created Baron Rokeby in 1777. He then carried both titles and on his death, they passed over to his 3^rd cousin in Yorkshire.

The other title associated with Rokeby was created when John Friend, nephew of Richard became the 1^st Baronet of Rokeby, Co Louth in 1819 and changed his name to Robinson.

On top we have the crest of the Robinson family

Armagh and Robinson, This shield represents Primate Richard Robinson. The Robinson shield has a mullet for difference to distinguish the particular son. While the Primate was a fourth son, the third son, Henry was killed in Carthagena in 1741, the mullet represents a third son, he was the third baronet succeeding two of his brothers.

Robinson and Howard, this shield represents, Thomas Robinson (c. 1699-1777), he was created first baronet of Rokeby, Co York, on 10 March 1730. He married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Charles third Earl of Carlisle on 25 October 1728. He was succeeded by his two brothers.

The insignia of the Order of St Patrick comes next. The Order was created in 1783 by George III, The badge as displayed contains a red saltire surmounted by a trefoil (shamrock) charged with three crowns. Surrounding all this, is the motto and date Quis Separabit MDCCLXXXIII.

                             

Taking a further look at the Howard arms, the detail of the smaller shield on the bend, called an escutcheon, is actually another coat of arms, in this case those of Scotland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_family

Next we have the Robinson arms with a martlet for a difference representing a fourth son, and then Robinson impaling the quartered arms of Moore. It is Moore in the 1st and 4th quarters and Colville in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and Colville is further quartered again, this time for Colville and Lindsay.

The arms of Robinson (notice the design on the stained glass called diapering)

Robinson and Moore, represents the marriage of Sir Richard Robinson, second baronet, Lady Helena Moore daughter of Stephen Moore, second Earl of Mount Cashell. The Moore coat of arms is quartered with the Moore arms in the first and third quarters and the Colville coat of arms in the second and fourth quarters. Stephen Moore, the second earl was grandson of Stephen Moore (1695-1766), first Viscount Mount Cashell who married Alicia Colville (d. 1762). Alicia was daughter of Hugh Colville, son of Sir Robert of Newtown, Co Down.

 

The arms of Robinson impale the quartered arms of Moore and Colvil(l)e, where Colvile is further quartered into Colvile and Lindsay

                                       

                        

The Colville arms are quartered again, this time Colville and Lindsay, this represents a fifteenth century marriage in Scotland.

http://www.venitap.com/Genealogy/WebCards/ps34/ps34_414.html

Sir Thomas Colville b. c. 1365 married Lady Margaret Lindsay b. c. 1374.

The final shield on the Rokeby window is Freind

Freind: The arms are gules (red) a chevron argent (silver) between three bucks' heads ermine (type of animal fur).

Grace Robinson (1718-66), sister of the archbishop, married in 1739, Rev William Freind, Dean of Canterbury, their son, John Freind (1754-1832) assumed name Robinson in 1793, was created Baronet of Rokeby, Co Louth (1819), married in 1786, Mary, daughter of James Spencer, Rathangan, Co Kildare.

Finally

It is a question of what must have been in the centre, 

Remember Sir Richard Robinson, second baronet, married in 1813, Lady Helena Moore. Their son, Sir John Robinson (1816-95), third baronet, married in 1841, Sarah Blackett Denny, daughter of Anthony Denny and Mary Patience Collingwood.

Their children were, Sir Gerald Robinson (1857-1903), fourth baronet and Maud Helena Collingwood Robinson (1855-1912) who married Richard Johnston Montgomery of Beaulieu.

There are shields displayed on velvet, at Beaulieu, one has the impaled arms of Robinson and Moore as at Rokeby and another the impaled arms of Robinson and Denny. It is  likely that the Rokeby depiction would have been similar.

Beaulieu as at Rokeby: The arms of Robinson impale the quartered arms of Moore and Colvil(l)e, where Colvile is further quartered into Colvile and Lindsay

Beaulieu and likely Rokeby? The arms of Robinson impale the quartered arms of Denny and Collingwood.

The Collingwood Connection

Mary Patience Collingwood Denny. was granddaughter of Anthony Denny and Sarah Collingwood. Sarah (born in 1792) was daughter of  Cuthbert Collingwood (1748-1810), the British naval commander who was Nelson's second in command at the Battle of Trafalgar. Cuthbert married Sarah Blackett, a granddaughter of his old Captain, Admiral Roddam.