Richard Dixon (1540–1594) was
Bishop of Cork and Cloyne
The Bishop of Cork and Cloyne was an episcopal title which took its name after the city of Cork and the town of Cloyne in southern Ireland.
History
The see was formed by the union of the bishoprics of Cork and Cloyne in 1429. Following the Refo ...
and
prebendary
A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...
of
St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
Saint Patrick's Cathedral () in Dublin, Ireland is the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral, also a Church of Ireland cathedral in Dublin, is designated as the local cathedral of ...
.
Early life
Richard Dixon was born in 1540 in Furness Falls, to William Dixon (1493–), who was granted the Carmelite of Cloncurry by Henry VIII in 1544 after the dissolution of the monasteries. His brother, William Dixon (1535–1608), established an estate at Heaton Royds, Yorkshire, in the 1500s.
He was a descendent of
Thomas Dixon, 1st Baron of Symondstone
Thomas de Keith was born in 1247, scion of Clan Keith, by his father Richard de Keith (1225–1249), the Lord Marischals of Scotland, and Clan Douglas (by Margaret Douglas, daughter of William, Third Lord Douglas).
Thomas was created Thoma ...
.
Career and deprivation
Dixon was first chaplain to Lord Deputy
Henry Sidney
Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586) was an English soldier, politician and Lord Deputy of Ireland.
Background
He was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst (1482 – 11 February 1553) and Anne Pakenham (1511 – 22 Oc ...
. Dixon was appointed Bishop of Cork on 6 June, 1570, by the influence of the Archbishop of York
Edwin Sandys, his paternal first cousin.
On 16 April 1571, Irish Chancellor
Robert Weston
Robert Weston ( – 20 May 1573) of Lichfield, Staffordshire, was an English civil lawyer, who was Dean of the Arches and Lord Chancellor of Ireland in the time of Queen Elizabeth.
Life
Robert Weston was the 3rd son of John Weston ...
, archbishop of Dublin
Adam Loftus (bishop)
Adam Loftus (c. 1533 – 5 April 1605) was an English Roman Catholic priest from North Yorkshire who conformed to Anglicanism following the ascension to the throne of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Loftus subsequently served as Church of Ireland ...
, and Lord Justice
William FitzWilliam joined in a report to
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (13 September 15204 August 1598), was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State (England), Secretary of State (1550–1553 and ...
, advisor to
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
, that Dixon, despite being a married man, had ‘''under colour of matrimony, retained a woman of suspected life as his wife''’. He was removed from office on 8 November 1571, for attempted bigamy.
Dixon died at Heaton Royds in 1594.
Legacy – Knights Dixon and
Borrowes baronets
The Borrowes Baronetcy of Grangemellon in the County of Kildare, was a title in the Baronetage of Ireland. It was created on 14 February 1646 for Erasmus Borrowes, High Sheriff of Kildare in 1641. Erasmus was the son of Henry Borrowes of Gilltown ...
Bishop Richard Dixon's only son was Robert Dixon (1573-c. 1598), born at
Gledhow
Gledhow is a suburb of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, east of Chapel Allerton and west of Roundhay. It sits in the Roundhay ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds North East parliamentary constituency.
Etymology
The name ''Gledhow' ...
, another family seat. His grandson was Sir Robert Dixon (1600–1654), Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1633.
His son was Sir William Dixon (d. 1666), who had two sons.
Sir Richard Dixon (1628–1684), married Mary, niece of
Maurice Eustace (Lord Chancellor)
Sir Maurice Eustace (c. 1590 – 22 June 1665) was an Irish landowner, politician, barrister and judge of the seventeenth century who spent the last years of his career as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. This was an office for which he felt himself t ...
in 1662, obtaining
Barretstown Castle
Barretstown Castle is a castle in Ballymore Eustace, County Kildare, Ireland. It stands on the site of a late 12th century Anglo-Norman castle. It now hosts the Barretstown camp for sick children.
History Early history
The first historical ...
and an estate at
Calverstown
Calverstown () is a small village in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies south of the town of Kilcullen and about from each of the towns of Athy, Kildare, Naas and Newbridge, County Kildare, Newbridge. It is an old settlement ...
, County Kildare. Eustace was Dixon's uncle, having married Cicely Dixon (1606–1678), daughter of Sir Robert Dixon, Lord Mayor of Dublin, in 1633.
Colonel Robert Dixon (d. 1694) was MP for Randalstown. His son
Robert Dixon (Irish politician) (1685–1732), was a barrister and politician (ed. Trinity College), called to the bar 1711, became a Kings Counsel in 1716, then
Second Serjeant-at-Law, . He inherited Calverstown estate from his father.
Robert Dixon died childless, so the estates of Calverstown and Barretstown were left to his aunt, heiress Elizabeth Dixon, who married
Sir Kildare Borrowes, 3rd Baronet
Sir Kildare Borrowes, 3rd Baronet (c. 1660 – May 1709) was an Irish politician.
He was the son of Sir Walter Borrowes, 2nd Baronet and his first wife Lady Eleanor FitzGerald, daughter of George FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Kildare and Lady Joa ...
, bringing to an end "''this short but brilliant line of Dixons, famed in the field, the senate, and at the bar''".
[ The Historical and Genealogical Account of All Scottish Families and Surnames (1888), Vol. 2, James Macveigh, P. 3]
The Dixon name was added to
Borrowes Baronets, Borrowes, until Sir Eustace Dixon Borrowes, 11th Baronet (d. 1939).
References
Bishops of Cork and Cloyne
16th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland
{{Ireland-Anglican-bishop-stub