The Barons Digby of Geashill in the King's County derive their title from Lettice, the only daughter of Gerald, Lord Offaly, eldest son of the Earl of Kildare (1559-1580). Lettice married Sir Robert Digby of Coleshill, Warwickshire. He died in 1618 but Lettice, Lady Digby, then laid claim to the barony of Geashill and the estates of her grandfather, the Earl of Kildare, as heir general. The case was decided against her and in appeasement, James I created her Baroness of Offaly for life and awarded her the barony of Geashill. Her eldest son, Robert, was created Lord Digby of Geashill in the Peerage of Ireland in 1620. The title passed in direct descent until the death of Edward, 8th Baron Digby who died without issue in 1856. It was then passed to his cousin Edward St Vincent, 9th Baron Digby, from whom the present Lord Digby derives his title. In 1765, the 7th Baron Digby was also created 1st Baron Digby in the Peerage of Great Britain. In 1790, he was also created Viscount Coleshill and Earl Digby. The viscountcy and the earldom became extinct on the death of the 8th Baron in 1856, but both baronetcies (Baron Digby of Geashill in the King's County and Baron Digby of Sherbourne in the County of Dorset) continue to the present day.
He succeeded his father in the earldom in 1793. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Dorset for nearly fifty years, from 1808 to 1856. On 20 May 1824, he appointed himself Colonel of the Dorset Militia. He resigned the colonelcy at the beginning of 1846. He never married and on his death in May 1856, aged 83, the viscountcy and earldom became extinct. However, he was succeeded in the two baronies of Digby by his first cousin once removed Edward Digby, who became the 9th and 3rd Baron
Edward St. Vincent Digby, 9th Baron Digby of Geashill was born on 21 June 1809.He was the son of Admiral Sir Henry Digby and Lady Jane Elizabeth Coke. He gained the rank of Lieutenant in the service of the 9th Lancers. When his cousin, Edward, the unmarried 8th Baron and 2nd Earl Digby died, he succeeded to the title of 3rd Baron Digby of Sherborne, Dorset and to the title of 9th Baron Digby of Geashill, King's County on 12 May 1856. It seems his cousin was a very laissez faire landlord. Residing in his splendid residence at Sherbourne. He rarely visited Geashill and granted tenants very long and generous leases. However, because these grants extended beyond his own life-time, he was deemed to have exceeded his legal powers. This would prove to be a problem for his successor. When Edward St Vincent took up his new position he felt that his late ancestor had “no right moral or legal, to lease away his Irish lands for two thirds of their real value”. The new landlord was therefore determined to break the leases, which his predecessor had granted. This was to create much anxiety and upheaval at Geashill where the tenants were faced with loss of tenure, which they previously considered secure. Acting upon his legal rights, the 9th Lord Digby embarked upon breaking these leases, leading the tenants to look for redress and compensation to the executors. It was in the midst of this dispute that William Trench’s services were engaged.
When assessing his time in Geashill, the barony underwent a vast transformation with Lord Digby achieving both national and indeed international recognition for improvements carried out on the estate.The Geashill estate was much improved with bigger and better quality farms, improved cottages, a new school and estate office. It was perhaps no coincidence that the estate underwent a major transformation as Lord Edward Digby was the grandson of Thomas Coke, first earl of Leicester, who was not only a British politician but a noted agricultural reformer. Coke became famous for his advanced methods of animal husbandry used in improving his estate at Holkham in Norfolk. As a result he was seen as one of the instigators of the British Agricultural Revolution.
Edward St. Vincent married Lady Theresa Anna Maria Fox-Strangways, daughter of Henry Stephen Fox-Strangways. He died on 16 October 1889 aged 80.
Edward Kenelm Digby was born in 1894, the eldest son of 10th Baron Digby. After Eton and Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards in 1915. He fought at the battles of Aubers Ridge and Loos in 1915 and was promoted to second-in-command at the age of 21, after his CO was killed. He took part in the battle of the Somme in 1916, when tanks were first used; 11 officers of his battalion were killed on one day in September 1916 and all the others were wounded except him. In 1917 he fought at Passchendaele and played a major role in the occupation and final defeat of Germany in 1918.
On his return home, he married Constance Pamela Bruce, daughter of 2nd Baron Aberdare in 1919 and inherited Minterne from his father when he died in 1920. He couldn’t afford to live at Minterne, so he took the post of Military Secretary to the Governor of Australia from 1920 to 1923. With his bank balance restored, he came back to Minterne, where he bred Channel Island cattle and established a thriving dairy herd. On the outbreak of war in 1939, Minterne was taken over by a naval hospital, and the family moved to Cerne Abbas. During the war, he and Lady Digby delivered the milk around Cerne Abbas.
Following in his father’s footsteps, he bred rhododendrons and azaleas, sponsored collecting expeditions abroad. He was appointed President of the Royal Show in 1949, and President of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1959. He was Lord Lieutenant of Dorset from 1952 until his death. He was appointed Gentleman at Arms 1939, and a member of the Household Body Guard in 1952, resigning on grounds of ill-health. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1960.
He died in 1964 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Henry Kenelm, 12th Baron Digby.
Born in 1846, the eldest son of 9th Lord Digby, he was educated at Harrow and then joined the Coldstream Guards, where he made his career, rising to the rank of Colonel and serving in the Sudan from 1885 to 1889. He also served as M.P. for Dorset from 1876-1885. On the death of his father in 1889, he resigned his commission and came home to Minterne. In 1893 he married Emily Beryl, daughter of Col. the Hon. Albert Hood and they had three sons and three daughters.
He became involved in local affairs, accepting the appointment as Chairman of the Board of Herrison Hospital, Charminster and serving as a J.P. and local magistrate, Chairman of the Dorchester Agricultural Society and honorary Colonel in the Dorset Regiment. He planted the rhododendron gardens at Minterne and sponsored plant expeditions to China and the Himalayas, breeding his own varieties in his glass houses and becoming a member of the Royal Horticultural Society.
The house at Minterne suffered from damp and dry rot, and in 1906 he fulfilled his promise to his wife to build a new house. He employed the architect Leonard Stokes, who had built Post Offices and was famously difficult to get on with. However, Lord Digby’s friendly and practical approach charmed him and he produced a marvellous design for his only country house which is still comfortable to live in.
He took an active interest in his estate at Geashill, and was saddened when the Irish Land Act of 1903 resulted in the end of the link with a number of his tenants, some of whom had been on the Digby estate for generations.
Edward Henry Kenelm Digby, 12th Baron Digby was born 24 July 1924. He is a British peer, and retired British Army (Coldstream Guards). He is the son of Edward Kenelm Digby, 11th Baron Digby of Geashill and Hon. Constance Pamela Alice Bruce. He was educated at Eton College, Windsor, Trinity College, Dublin, and Oxford University. He also studied at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire. He fought in the Second World War and in the Malayan Emergency between 1948 and 1950. He was Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief, Far East Land Forces between 1950 and 1951 and Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief, British Army of the Rhine between 1951 and 1952. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset between 1957 and 1965. He held the office of Justice of the Peace for Dorset in 1959. He succeeded to the titles of 12th Baron Digby of Geashill, King's County, and 6th Baron Digby of Sherborne on 29 January 1964. He was invested as a Knight, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (K.St.J.) in 1985. He was invested as a Knight Commander, Royal Victorian Order (K.C.V.O.) in 1998. He married Dione Marian Sherbrooke, daughter of Rear-Admiral Robert St. Vincent Sherbrooke, V.C. and Rosemary Neville Buckley, on 18 December 1952, with whom he had three children. He died on 1 April 2018.
Mathew DeRenzy married Mary Howse of Cloghbemon, County Wexford, daughter of Richard Howse. He settled in Wexford and from 1699 on, he used the lands in Tinnycross to raise revenues by way of mortgages and leases. His father-in-law, Richard Howse is named as a party in many of these deeds and his wife, Mary is a co-signee. DeRenzy eventually sold his interest in the lands in 1704 to Reverend James Cox, Archdeacon of Ferns, thus ending the DeRenzy family’s interests in Offaly.
(Given the span of time, it is also possible that this could be Sir Mathew de Renzi's grandson, son of Mathew DeRenzy. This is not clear from records.)
Rector of Tullabeg; 8 December 1870-6 October 1880