Alexander Cosby
Killed in the battle with the O'Moores, Queen Co., Ireland. Alexander Cosby, Esq., of Stradbally Abbey, appears to have been engaged most of his time in clan warfare with the O'Moores, the hereditary princes of Leix. Camden, in his "Life of Queen Elizabeth," recites that he was once taken by Rory Oge O'Moore near Leighlin, and that he was rescued by Harpole when bound to a tree, but not before being badly wounded by Rory Oge's knife. The feud with the O'Moores endured in all its lawless violence until it came to an issue in 1596, when Anthony O'Moore, the chief of the clan bearing his name, demanded a passage over Stradbally bridge and made preparations to force it, but the demand, being deemed by Cosby to be a challenge, was promptly denied. The attempt being made by the O'Moores, on the 19th of May, 1596, the Lord of Stradbally, at the head of his Kernand accompanied by his eldest son and heir, Francis Cosby, engaged in combat on the bridge, the contest being witnessed from a window in the abbey by Dorcas Sydney and her daughter-in-law Ellen. Francis Cosby had married about a year before, Ellen, daughter of Thomas Harpole, Esq., of Thurle, and had a son, William Cosby, but nine weeks old. In the conflict Alexander Cosby received a mortal wound which instantly turned the tide of battle. Francis Cosby, fearing that he would be entirely abandoned, went over the bridge in the hope of making good his retreat to the abbey, but the instant that he cleared the battlements he was mortally wounded and fell dead into the river.
These scenes, one would suppose, would have appalled the now widowed ladies who witnessed them, yet it is recorded that Ellen Harpole, with cool presence of mind, cautioned her mother-in-law to retain her recollection how the elder Cosby fell before his son, her husband, who had thus inherited the estates for a few minutes, entitling her to her thirds of dowry. It is not stated how the ladies escaped, but the infant, William Cosby, was carried off and preserved by his nurse. O'Moore, pursuing his victory, took possession of the abbey and, after sacking it of its valuables, consigned it to flames.
Richard Cosby succeeded to the estates and became captain of the Kern and was eager to avenge the deaths of his father and brother. He challenged the O'Moores to a pitched battle and the contending clans met once more (1606) in the Glyn of Aggrabily under the Rock of Dunnamace, when a most bloody conflict ensued, terminating in the triumph of Cosby and the total defeat of his foes who were never afterwards able to defeat him. Capt. Richard Cosby received so many wounds in action that he could not be moved to Stradbally and was carried to Dysert House, then the seat of Sir Robert Pigot. His daughter, Elizabeth Pigot, nursed him with so much kindness and so much care that he asked her hand in marriage and she became his wife soon after his re-establishment at Stradbally.
In order to repair the fortunes of the family occasioned by the loss of family records at the time of the burning of Stradbally Abbey, Richard Cosby obtained under commission of King James for the remedy of defective titles, a new title of the same import of the old one, which is still extant.
Richard Cosby and Elizabeth Pigot left children, some of whose descendants still are living in Ireland. Governor William Cosby, of New York, and Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, was descended from Richard Cosby and Elizabeth Pigot.
*** information provided by Charles Demastus, [email protected], Sept. 1997