John Rawson, 1st Viscount Clontarf

At the Reformation, with no apparent reluctance, he surrendered all his Order's properties to the English Crown in return for a pension and the title of viscount.

In 1511 he was appointed Prior of Kilmainham; this was a position of considerable political power, entitling him to sit both in the Irish House of Lords and on the Privy Council of Ireland.

[1] The seat of the Order of St John of Jerusalem was Rhodes, and as the Ottoman Empire moved to seize the island, Rawson was summoned to its defence.

He quarrelled with Skeffington's successor as Lord Deputy, Viscount Grane, and was one of those responsible for bringing about his downfall and execution for treason in 1541.

[3] Henry VIII decided to dissolve the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and after lengthy negotiations, Rawson in 1541 surrendered the Priory of Kilmainham in return for a payment of 500 marks and the title of Viscount Clontarf.

His natural daughter Catherine brought her husband Rowland White a large dowry, involving substantial assets at home and also in Spain, Germany and Flanders.

Rowland was a merchant who built up a flourishing business, but later suffered serious losses and was imprisoned for debt in Ludgate, before making a new and successful career as a political writer.