William FitzMaurice Fitzgerald, 1st Baron of Naas

White, or Whyte (Leixlip, co. Kildare; descended from Walter Whyte, who accompanied Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke (Strongbow) at the invasion of Ireland, 1170.... Argent a chevron engrailed between three roses gules barbed and seeded or. Crest (Reg. Ulster's Office) — A demi lion ramp. sa. holding betw. the paws a flagstaff ppr. flag ar. thereon the cross of St. George gu. Motto — Echel agus corule.

These arms belong *exclusively* to the Irish branch(es) of the family. Other branches have different arms.

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The following information on the origins of the White family is taken from Volume 9- Notes & Queries of the Waterford & S.E. Ireland Archaelogical Society Journal. “The family of White originally crossed to England from Saxony in the 5th century, and were then known as Vitus, Wite, or Weight (Bede). They held a distinguished position in Wales in the reign of Henry II., where Ethebert Whyte governed the southern province as Justiciary or Proconsul. His son, Chevalier Gautier White, and his brothers assisted “Strongbow," Earl of Pembroke, in the invasion of Ireland. The Whyte family established themselves in Co. Waterford and different parts of Ireland (Abbe MacGeoghan). Sir Nicholas White, Master of the Rolls, in reign of Queen Elizabeth, and owner at that time of Duncannon Castle There is a pedigree of Sir Nicholas White's family in the College of Arms, London, with White crest and coat of arms (hand and dagger as crest, coat of arms argent a chevron between three roses gules).” (Apparently the chevron was originally plain.)

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Walter Whyte: Walter Whyte, of Wales, was made knight by Henry II. (Genesis of the White Family, 1920, Emma Siggins White, page 7).

"Abbe Mac Geoghegan, after mentioning Sir James Wares having published in 1675 a little work at London, in which he assigns a very remote origin to the WHITES OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND (or from the establishment of the Saxon race of the Viti, in the former country in the fifteenth century), then states that Chevalier Gautier (or Walter) White, a Governor under Henry II. of the southern portion of WALES, transplanted himself, along with his brother, into Ireland. The Whites, he continues, 'established themselves in the different Counties of Ireland, in which they held a distinguished rank among the noblesse. Camden, in his description of Ireland, placed them in the Counties of Kilkenny, Wexford, and Down.' Among the different families of the Whites, concludes the Abbe, 'That of Lexlip was the most celebrated for its opulence, magnificence and illustrious alliances.' In the reign of James the II. I find Charles White, Esq., of Lexlip, a member of the Royal Privy Council of Ireland, a Deputy Lieutenant to William Dongan, Earl of Limerick, as Lord-Lieutenant for the County Kildare. * * * * Of the 'Baronial residence of the White family' of the Castle of Lexlip, an interesting notice, in 1840, alluding to that edifice as so 'magnificently situated on a steep and richly wooded bank over the Liffey,' etc., says, 'This Castle is supposed to have been erected in the reign of Henry II. by Adam de Hereford (Adam White of Hereford), one of the chief followers of Earl Strongbow, as a gift to the tenement of Salmon Leap, and other extensive possessions.'"

(Hist. of the Irish Brig. in the Service of France, by John Cornelius O'Callaghan, p. 330.)

William FitzMaurice FitzGerald, 1st Baron of Naas was born on c. 1150 to Maurice FitzGerald de Windsor and Alice de Montgomery. William married Aline "Alice" De Clare and had a child: William Fitzwilliam FitzGerald, 2nd Baron of Naas.

Source: 1. [http://www.mostyn.com/wc07/wc07_145.htm]

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