Philip BIGOE ¹

  General Notes:

Sheriff Kings County in 1662
or Bygoe, of Newstown, King's Co
From a family originally from Lorraine, France~
See also: The Huguenot Settlements in Ireland By Grace Lawless Lee

Philip Bygoe or Bigoe was a glass manufacturer and a native of the Province of Lorraine of France. A Hugenot and one of those who were forced to leave France during one of the purges of that religous order, Bygoe was somehow connected to the Royal Family of France, and arrived in England with some of his assets. Queen Elizabeth of England granted him a considerable estate in King's County, Ireland. He had four glass-houses built in Kings County, one at Newtown, one at Gloster, one at a place still known as Glasshouse, near Shinrone and another place also called Glasshouse near Portarlington. Bygoe had three daughters, the eldest was Mary. His second daughter married Colonel Evans of the County of Limerick, the youngest was married to Ananias Henzell of King's County.

Rootsweb ID: I2772
Name: Philip Bigoe or Bygoe
Sex: M
Birth: 1631 in From a family originally from Lorraine, France 1
Death: JUN 1685
Residence: Newton, King's Co, Ireland
Occupation: High Sheriff King's Co 1662
Note: 2 2 3

I have speculated that Marys father Philip Bigoe is the same Philip Bigoe of Newton (b 1631) who Bridget Herbert married as her 2nd husband.
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Until the mid-sixteenth century the glass industry in England and Ireland was virtually non-existent, glass being imported from France. As an example of how precious glass was at that time, it is reported that "when the Duke of Northumberland left Alnwick castle the steward was accustomed to take out the glazed windows and stow them away safely until the Duke's return".
In 1567 a Huguenot, Jean Carre, obtained a permit from Queen Elizabeth I to establish a forest glass industry in the Sussex/Surrey region [Alfold]. The workforce was recruited from experienced glass-making families centered in the Lorraine region. Among those recruited were the Hennezells (Henseys) and the de Bigaults/Bigots (Bigos).
In 1586 Queen Elizabeth I granted Captain Woodhouse suit for a privilege to make glass in Ireland. His assistance to George Longe and Ralph Pillying in erecting and maintaining two houses for glass making'. This was followed by the granting of a monopoly in 1589. In October 1589, a petition from George Longe to Lord Burghley stated that 'he has spent his time wholly in the trade and has found stuffe meet and brought to perfection the making of glass in Ireland'. Longe had bought the patent for glass-making from Captain Woodhouse in that same year. There are also references to land being granted to Philip de Bigo in County Offaly during the Elizabethan period.
By the early seventeenth century English manufacturers had developed coal-fired furnaces based in towns which were beginning to replace the wood-fired furnaces. An Englishman, Admiral Sir Robert Mansell, held the monopoly on this new technology. Furthermore, owing to the enormous depletion of woodland a royal proclamation in 1615 banned the use of wood fuel in glasshouses in England. The increased competition of Mansell, who also ensured the strict enforcement of the 1615 ban, pushed the French families out of the glass-making industry. In order to ply their trade, some of these French families moved to other countries which were not prohibited from using wood, Ireland included.
In 1619 Mansell issued an arrest for Sir William Clavell and Abraham Bigo. This may have been as a result of Clavell and Bigo's joint venture to establish a glasshouse at Church Knowle in Dorset in 1618. Four years later, in 1623, Abraham Bigo appears in Birr, Co. Offaly, [Ireland] having leased land from Lawrence Parsons to construct a glasshouse in the townland of Clonbrone, near Birr. Under the conditions of this lease Bigo could not 'set up any glass house or glasswork on any other land, or buy wood of any other for his glasswork but only of me'. In the reign of Charles II (1660-85) a namesake and descendant of the earlier Philip Bigo was granted land in Ballyneshragh, Carrowmore, Feddane and Newtown in Lusmagh, Co. Offaly (formerly called King's County), and according to local tradition he established some glasshouses in these areas.
http://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/48/1/Forest-Glass-Furnaces-in-County-Offaly/Page1.html
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The rank ordering of the towns and villages in co Offaly in 1660 puts Birr firmly at the top with almost three times the size of Philipstown and having a population close on 700.
... The influence of industry albeit short-lived, could be seen in Gloster in Lusmagh parish north west of Birr, where Philip Bigoe operated a glass works.
http://www.offalyhistory.com/content/offaly/offaly_towns.htm
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The Hennezels brought over the de Bigot family, makers of ?petit verre? (vessel).
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Having secured from Sir Robert Mansell the right to make green glass on payment of £100 a year, Abraham Bigo persuaded Sir William Clavell of Purbeck to supply him "with a howse Roome a ffurnace & coales for making greeene glass" all to be paid for in finished glass.
In 1618 Sir William Clavell tried to establish a glasshouse for making green drinking glasses. I know nothing about the venture but it does not seem to have lasted long because Bigo turns up in Ireland a few years later.
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The physical development of the town of Birr began with the granting of 60 leases by Sir Laurence Parsons [qv] in 1620. Among the new leasheholders was Abraham Bigo who developed glassworks at Clonoghill which is said to have supplied Dublin with drinking glasses and window glass.
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Jean Carre, a merchant from Antwerp, who died 27th May 1572, was one of the last of the French glass makers. Jean Carre was responsible for introducing into this country [England] glass makers from Lorraine [France] in 1567, and he obtained a license to manufacture 'glass for glazing such as is made in France, Burgundy and Lorraine'.
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This Philip Bigo was High Sheriff of the King's County about 1662.and from him are descended, on the female side, the Armstrongs of Garrycastle, Buchanans of Ballycumber, and Eyres of Eyrecourt Castle.
(The early history of the town of Birr, or Parsonstown: with the ... Thomas Lalor Cooke, William Antisell Cooke. 1875.)
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In 1637, Philip Bigoe, a Frenchman, of Birr, King's County, was naturalised in Ireland.
(The Scottish antiquary: or, Northern notes & queries: Volumes 7-8. Arthur Washington Cornelius Hallen, John Horne Stevenson. 1893.)
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The arms of Philip Bygo were: Azure, on a chevron between two mullets in chief and a ferret passant in base argent, a mullet between two ferrets passant gules. They will be found under ' Bigoe ' in Burke's ' General Armory ' (1884)
(Notes and queries. 1901.)

_UID: F1232431A2644EE9A65C0237485E2811C021
Change Date: 10 MAY 2013
Marriage 1 Bridget Herbert
Married:
Children
Has Children Mary Bigoe or Bygoe
Sources:
Type: Web Site
Author: Jennie Macfie
Title: Rootsweb WorldConnect Project
Type: Book
Periodical: The Glass Industry of the Weald
Author: G H Kenyon
Publication: Leicester Univ Pess
Date: 1967
Type: Web Site
URL: www.irishmidlandsancestry.com

Philip married Bridget HERBERT, daughter of Sir George HERBERT Bt. and Frances FITZGERALD. (Bridget HERBERT was born in 1599 in England, United Kingdom ².)