The Venerable Wettenhall SNEYD M.A.

  General Notes:

THE VENERABLE WETTENHALL SNEYD, M.A., 1686-1745 , was born at The Birches, Burslem, Staffordshire, and sent to Ireland at a young age in the care of his cousin, Bishop Edward Wettenhall, see above. Details of the Bishop's career are given in the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB). Wettenhall Sneyd was educated in Cork by Dr. Evan Jones. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1696, was B.A. in 1699, and M.A. in 1703. From 1710 to 1740 he was Vicar of Killesherdiney, and from 1720 until his death he was Archdeacon and Chancellor for the Diocese of Kilmore and Ardagh, the seat of which is by the town of Cavan in Co. Cavan.

At the same time he held the living of the Parish of Wolstanton in Staffordshire. The Archdeaconry of Kilmore was regarded as being one of the most desirable appointments within the Church of Ireland, and may have come about not only because of his closeness to the Bishop, but by virtue of the family connections he gained by marriage.

In 1713 Wettenhall Sneyd married Barbara Marsh in the Parish of Kilmore. She was the daughter of Captain Charles Francis Marsh and Susannah Rogers, daughter of John Rogers then of Shakestone, Writtle, in Essex. For full information on the Marsh family, see the summary on Marsh, but Barbara was the granddaughter of Francis Marsh, Archbishop of Dublin, see DNB, and Mary Taylor, the daughter of Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore, also see DNB.


Francis Marsh shared grandparents of the Aylesbury family with Frances Aylesbury, wife to Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, and chief minister and adviser to King Charles II at
The Restoration. The daughter of the Earl of Clarendon and Frances, Anne Hyde, married James, Duke of York, but died before he succeeded to the throne. However, their daughters became Queen Mary II, wife to King William III, and Queen Anne. Jeremy Taylor, also Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin, was one of the foremost intellects in the Church of England in the 17th Century. Barbara Marsh, in consequence, brought to her marriage some valuable connections.

In the parish of Kilmore the leading landed family were Nesbitt of Lismore, who were of Scottish Borderer origin, and the children of Wettenhall and Barbara became closely involved with the Nesbitt's and their relations. In the next generation, a son Jeremy Sneyd would find himself making his fortune in London at the highest level in the Civil Service, the personal aide to Prime Minister's and close to the Court, and a close friend to Oliver Goldsmith, who with the Nesbitt's and Sheridan's, were involved in the literary, political, and financial life of the capital.

Wettenhall and Barbara had twenty-one surviving children, and another document lists the information known about them and their families. The next in this descent is a younger son, Ralph Sneyd.

Wettenhall married Barbara MARSH, daughter of Charles Francis MARSH and Unknown, on 6 Aug 1713 in Kilmore, Ireland. (Barbara MARSH was born in 1682 in Ireland ¹.)