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 GORHAMBURY — GORMANSTON. 55 GORHAMBUKY. Sec "Verulamof Goriiambury, co. Hertford," Barony (Grimstuu), cr. 1790. GORIXG OF IIURSTPIERPOIXT. i.e., " Goring of HuiiSTPiERroiNT, co. Sussex," Barony (Goring), eft 1C28 ; see " Norwich " EarMom, cr. 1644 ; ex. 1671. Sir Henry Coring, Bart., was cr. a Viscount [VISCOUNT GOR- ING ?] in 1722, by the titular Kiug James 111. See vol. i, p. 59, note " b," sub " Albemarle, for a list of these "Jacobite Peerages." He sue. to the Baronetcy 1713, and d. 1732, being ancestor of the succeeding Baronets. GORMANSTON, and GORMANSTON OF "WTIITEWOOD. Barony [!.} j. Sir Robert Preston, of Gormanston, co. Meath, I 13C5i ""'^ U ure uxorit) of Carbery, co. Kildare, said to be son of Roger or l'rcstoiijC 1 ) one of tlie Justices (1333) of the King's Bench [1.3 ; was , nqn King's Bergeant [I.] and subsequently, 1342, second Justice o£ 10 JV. Common Pleas [I.], being Chief Justice thereof 1308 to 1378. He had been knighted (in the field) by the Duke of Clarence in 1361 and had purchased the Lordship of Gonnanston in 1363. In 1388 he was Lord Keeper [I.], being (as such) from 13S9 to 1391 one of the two Vicerogeuts of Ireland, during which period, probabl y,(i>) he received a peerage as LORD GORHANSTON or LORD PRESTON OF GORMANSTON [I.] From 1391 to 1392 he was Lord Chancellor [I.] He )h. Margaret, sister and h. of Walter, only da. of Walter de Berjunoham, of Kells in Ossory and of Carbery, co. Kildare, Chief Gov. of Ireland, 1346 and 134S, by Elizabeth, widow of Robert Harington, da. of Thomas (de Multon), Lord Multon. She ti. 19 July 1361, and was bur. in the Monastery of Friars Preachers, Drogheda. He d. 1396. Inq. post mcn-tem (1396-97). 20 Hie. II. ( a ) Mr. J. Horace Round writes 12 Feb. [188S ?] the following elucidation as to the ancestiy of the Judge. " I wasted some time over the Preston charters and found that 40 years before the purchase of Gormanston the family were in two closely connected branches — the English, who were Tailors at Preston and the Irish who were Shopkeepers in Booth street, Drogheda. I fancy they must have effected their rapid rise through the Law. The said charters throw little light on the Kcl/s mystery, [see note " b " next below], only enough to make one wish for more." ( b ) There is considerable difficulty in fixing the date of this peerage Barony. It is quite certain that the first person of the Preston f-.imily who was ennobled was the Lord Chief Justice, yet we find his great-grandson (who afterwards was, in 1478, cr. a Viscount) under the style of " Robert Preston, Chivaler, Lord of Gormanstown," obtaining a decree from the Pari, held at Dublin in 1462 " that the said Lord Robert and his heirs at Lord of Kells in Ossory should have their places in Pari, and grand councils and sit above David Fleming, now Baron of Slane and his heirs, and all other Barons of Slane who shall be hereafter." It appeal's also that tho' the petitioner (" thro' fear and compulsion ") had sat in the Pari, of 1451 below the Baron of Slane, yet that his father " Christ. Preston, Chivaler," had sat above " Lord Christ. Fleming, Baron of Slane," and his great grandfather "Lord Robert Preston " had satofcorc "Lord Simon Fleming at that time Baron of Slane." This Simon Fleming d. apparently (Inq. y. mortem, 45 Ed. III.), about 1370, so that the creation of the Gormanston Barony (if antiquity of creation governed the precedence) must have been some 20 years before 1390, the most probable date of its creation. This, however, could he met by fixing the date at the possible one of (say) 1365, but the great " crux " is why tho precedence should be allowed to the "Lord Robert" as " Lord of Kells in Ossory." See vol. i, p. xvi, note " a," for some remarks on the Lordship of Kells as to which Sir W. Betham in his " Dignities " [vol. i, pp. 36S-375] enters fully, stating (inter alia) that " this Lordship of Kells in Ossory was a title in fee acquired by marriage with Margaret Birmingham, mother of Christopher Preston, Lord of Kells, and grandmother of Christopher Preston, Lord of Kells, father of Robert, the petitioner, who in her right became Lord of Kells in Ossory," adding that "it must have been a mere personal dignity originating in the summons and sitting in Pari, of Walter de