William Brabazon, 1st Earl of Meath

(c.1580 - 18 December 1651) was an Anglo-Irish peer.[1]

Brabazon was descended from an English family that were seated in Leicestershire from the reign of the Henry III.[2] He was the son of Edward Brabazon and Mary Smith. His father had been created Baron Ardee in 1616. His grandfather, also William Brabazon, had served as vice-treasurer of Ireland for 23 years and the family owned large estates there.

Brabazon was knighted in 1604 by James I. On 7 August 1625 he succeeded his father as Baron Ardee.[3] He was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1627 and held various appointments in the government of Ireland. He also served as Custos Rotulorum of County Dublin. On 16 April 1627 he was created Earl of Meath in the Peerage of Ireland, with remainder in default of male heirs to his brother Sir Anthony Brabazon and his male heirs.[4] In 1644, at the height of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Brabazon was sent by the Irish Parliament to the Royalist court at Oxford to consult with Charles I. He was subsequently taken prisoner by the Parliamentarians and imprisoned in the Tower of London for 11 months.

He married Jane Bingley, the daughter of Sir John Bingley, and together they had one son, Edward.[5] He succeeded his father in his titles in 1651.[6]

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