Unusual will 1624

[ElizabethHerts]

I am transcribing a will for one William Hale of Rabley Heath, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, which is not of the usual form. It's not written in the normal will format, because he is about to travel to Ireland and he is making provision for his son William Hale, a tailor at Hertford, and his wife, Margaret.

The will was written on 26th July 1624 and proved in July 1625, but I can't find William's burial in the PRs so he might well have died in Ireland.

What would take a middle-aged yeoman to Ireland in 1625?

His wife remarried in 1626.

[Shona]

It could be connected to the confiscation of Irish land by the English crown. Under James I and Charles I, thousands of people from England either settled in Ireland on these confiscated lands or went to help defend the settlements. Co Longford, Offally and Laois were 'planted' during this time, for example. Also, James I approved of plans for the Plantation of Ulster. Associated with this, many Irish titles were given to English noblemen. Perhaps your chap was associated with a family given an Irish title and required, as part of his yeoman duties, to go to Ireland. There was unease in planter communities, so if he was a yeoman in the military sense, he may have been required to serve in Ireland to defend the settlers.

[ElizabethHerts]

Thanks for the input, Shona. I have been reading up about James I and the land confiscation. I don't know much about this chap, as I got his will in the hope he might be connected to OH's ancestor Agnes Hale. They came from the same parish so they are probably related, but he's probably not significant for us, but I am very interested all the same.