Sir Francis BRYAN [Lord Chief Justice of Ireland] was born about 1490 in Cheddington, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, ENGLAND. He was buried in Feb 1550 in Waterford, IRELAND. He died on 2 Feb 1550 in Clonmel, IRELAND. Knight, Chevalier Baronet, he was educated at Oxford and was a personal friend of the King Henry VIII, for whom he performed important missions and personal services. He was a member of the privy council until the close of the sovereign's riegn and accomplished many important naval and military services. Shortly after his marriage, he was named Lord Marshal (Governor General) of Ireland in 1548, and sent to Dublin. In 1549 he was made Lord Chief Justice. He held large estates in County Clare which the crown had given to him upon the dissolution of the monasteries. An account of his career is contained in The Dictionary of National Biography. He was married to Lady Joan FITZGERALD [Duchess of Ormond] in 1548.

Lady Joan FITZGERALD [Duchess of Ormond] was born about 1509 in Desmond, IRELAND. She died on 2 Jan 1564/65. She was buried in Askeaton, Limerick, IRELAND.
Merged General Note: She is Joan, dowager Duchess of Ormand, daughter and heiress of James Fitz-John Fitz-Gerald, eleventh Earl of Desmond. Her father was of the family of GERALDINES, one ot the prominent lines of Anglo-Irish lords who settled in Ireland in the time of the second Henry. Children were:




joan firz-gerald (lady) one possible spelling