Alexander Colville (clergyman)

Alexander Colville (c. 1597 - c. 1679) was a

clergyman in seventeenth-century Ulster, who became a wealthy landowner in the province. Gossip attributed his remarkable good fortune to his trafficking with the Devil

.

Life

He was probably a cousin of

ordained in 1622 and became a Doctor of Divinity

in 1636.

He moved to Ireland, and under the patronage of his kinsman Bishop Echlin, he became

Galgorm Castle in Antrim from Sir Faithful Fortescue

. He made some improvements to the castle, which became the main family residence.

He was not a popular man, and his increasing wealth attracted much envious gossip. Unwilling to admit that he was simply a shrewd man of business, his enemies maintained that he was in league with the Devil, and had later contrived to cheat him out of a roomful of gold. A former servant in Colville's house, who was charged with witchcraft, insisted that she had learned the dark arts from her employer.

In fact, so far from being a

Presbyterian. Since the Church of Ireland, especially in Ulster, leaned increasingly towards Presbyterianism, this led to bitter clashes between Colville and many of his clerical colleagues, who unsuccessfully sought his excommunication

.

He probably died in 1679 (some sources say 1670), and was succeeded in his estates by his only son, Sir Robert Colville, a member of the Irish House of Commons and the Privy Council of Ireland. Robert by four wives had numerous descendants, including Earl Mount Cashell and the Earl of Clanwilliam.

Family

He was cousin to his namesake Alexander Colville and because of their similar dates and backgrounds may be confused.

Little is known of Alexander's wife, except that she differed from her husband on religious issues, and tried to persuade her son to embrace the Presbyterian tradition.

Sources

Dickson, J. M. "The Colville Family in Ulster" (1898) Ulster Journal of Archaeology 2nd Series Vol. 5 pp. 139–44
Lunney, Linde "Colville, Alexander" Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography