Friday, March 16, 2012

Account Book for King William of Orange's Army Rediscovered

William of Orange brought an army of 35,000 men to Ireland in 1690 to fight King James II and VII (James II of England and Ireland and James VII of Scotland; he was the great-grandson of Mary, Queen of Scots).  William defeated James at the Battle of the Boyne and became King William III of England (he was Mary's great-great-grandson); his wife was Queen Mary II (James II's daughter), and the College of William and Mary was named for them.

A parchment account book recording payments made to William's 35,000-man army was found during renovations at Belfast City Hall.  The book includes a detailed record on each man in the army.  Apparently it was known that the book was there, but no one had realized the wealth of information in it.  The book has been given to the Orange Order, a Protestant fraternal organization.

A BBC article says that the book will eventually be on display at the Orange Order's headquarters in Belfast.  I hope someone will be permitted to create an index of the names in the book.
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 22, 2014 at 2:15 PM

    Very interesting what a wonderful find

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    1. Janice M. SellersApril 22, 2014 at 2:28 PM

      It really does sound interesting. I haven't seen anything else in the news about the book since the announcement two years ago, though.

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  2. AnonymousDecember 4, 2014 at 7:33 PM

    Very suspicious that there is nothing in the news about this and why would it be turned over to the Orange Order and not placed in archives or a museum, etc

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    1. Janice M. SellersDecember 4, 2014 at 7:44 PM

      I'm not sure you think it's suspicious that there's nothing currently in the news about it. The original BBC article was dated 2009, so it's old news now. There was nothing in the article suggesting the book was going to be digitized, so there's not much to update. It was probably given to the Orange Order because of the order's connection to William of Orange.

      Delete
  3. UnknownSeptember 1, 2016 at 9:32 AM

    I'm wondering if there is anyone available to look up names?
    When my gggGrandfather (William Seaman) came from Ireland to Canada, he copied this note from the family bible. "in 1690, 7 Seaman brothers came from England to Ireland as guardsmen to Prince Wm of Orange in the Battle of the Boyne. 2 remained in Ireland while 5 returned to England"
    And info on the SEAMAN surname from this account book would be most welcome. Or contact info for someone to ask.
    Many thanks.

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    1. Janice M. SellersSeptember 1, 2016 at 2:32 PM

      I have seen no further information about the book since the 2009 BBC article. I suggest you contact the Orange Order (http://www.iloi.org/) and ask them if they can look up the information for you. If they say no, the next question should be if they allow researchers to look at the book.

      Delete

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