222 CLANCONNELL were duly sealed and handed to the Lord Chancellor [I.], who was then in England,(^) and the State Papers contain a reference to the new Earl's robes and coronet.() It is however equally clear that no Patents either for the Barony or Earldom were ever delivered to him. In these documents there are blanks left not only for the dates and names of witnesses, but also for the date of an agreement between the O'Neill and the Deputy; presumably the Commissioners held that the creations were contingent on the execution of the agreement, and, no agreement having been made, withheld the patents. On 4 July 1579 he petitioned to be President of Ulster, Earl of Armagh, and Baron of the Benburbe, and in July 1582 (unless the document be wrongly calendared under this date) to be Baron of Clogher and Earl of Clanconnell (the titles already granted). In the Spring of 1587 there was an idea of creating him, in accordance with his wish, Earl of Omagh (i.e. Armagh) for life, and of giv- ing a Barony to such person as he should nominate to be his heir.('=) One suggestion was that his son. Sir Arthur O'Neil, should be Baron of Strabane.C') In a petition ascribed to July 1587, he recites that it had heretofore pleased the Queen to grant him by Letters Patent the title of Earl of Clanconnel and Baron of Clogher,() and desires to be cr. Earl of Omagh ["Omey"]. He was knighted as a commoner in Nov. or Dec. 1 588, and is described by the Lord Deputy, on 18 June 1591, as "the dutiful old knight." He m., istly, ( — ), by whom he had issue, but he "dis- avowed" Sir Arthur, the eldest s. of this marriage, as his s., in 1589, and adopted Con, s. of Shane O'Neill. He m., 2ndly, Sep. 1569,^) Agnes, widow of James MacDonell, of Antrim, illegit. da. of Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll, by Janet, da. of Alexander (Gordon), 3rd Earl of HuNTLY. He d. 9 Sep. 1596.(8) His ist s., by his ist wifCjC") Sir Arthur, I^. before 1570, was living 20 Oct. 1597. CLANDEBOYE or CLANEBOYEQ VISCOUNTCY [I.] I. James Hamilton, of Bangor, co. Down, s, y >. and h. of the Rev. Hans Hamilton, Vicar of Dunlop, Ayrshire, by Janet, da. of ( — ) Denholme, Laird of {-) Id., p. 134. e) Id., p. 145. (') Id., 1586-1588, p. 277. (d) w., pp. 335, 375, 415. (') Id., p. 375. (') Id., i509-i573>P- 420. (6) He was an habitual inebriate, and on one occasion remained so long in a drunken stupor as to be reported dead. V.G. C") Not by the 2nd wife, as stated in Did. Nat. Biog., vol. xlii, p. 216. V.G. (') " Claneboy, or Clandeboy, a quondam territorial name of part of the counties of Antrim and Down. In the reign of Edward III, the sept of Hugh Boy O'Neill imposed upon it the name of Clan-Hugh-Boy, the sept of yellow Hugh, afterwards abbreviated into Claneboy." [Pari. Gazetteer [I.], 1849).
