"Letters Patent Conferring the Title Viscount of Ely"
Date
23 April 1622
Artist/Maker
King James I
Dimensions
Height: 75cm
Width: 55cm
Width: 55cm
Caption
Adam Loftus (1568?-1643) was the first Viscount of Ely. Loftus was an eminent lawyer who became Chancellor of Ireland in 1619. The family's connections with Fermanagh began in 1736 with the marriage of Nicholas Loftus, Viscount, later first Earl of Ely, to Mary Hume, who had inherited the estate of Castle Hume on the death of her father, Sir Gustavus Hume, in 1731. Made of sheepskin, the Letters Patent bear the seal of King James I, with the King’s portrait on the top left. The document includes family coat-of-arms, five of which show the armorial bearings of the Ely family.
Credit
Bequest from Lord Ely's Estate
Object number
FCM_1980_117