William Sambach

He was the son of John Sambach of Broadway, Worcestershire and Elizabeth Aston, daughter of Sir Edward Aston of Tixall, Staffordshire and his second wife Anne Lucy, and sister of Walter Aston, 1st Lord Aston of Forfar. The Astons were one of the most prominent Roman Catholic families in England, [1]but the Sambachs as far as is known conformed to the Church of England. His parents' marriage took place in 1600.

Broadway, Worcestershire, where William grew up

The surname is probably a variant of Sandbach. The family has been settled at Broadway for some generations. Since that family preserved a collection of his papers[2] it is likely that they were related to the Sandbachs of Tarporley, Cheshire, later famous as the owners of Hafodunos Hall.

Little is known of his early career, but he probably arrived in Ireland in 1633 with Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to whom he seems to have been personally close. He became Recorder of Carrickfergus and then Second Serjeant in 1637. Unusually he was allowed to hold both offices at once, probably because his salary as Serjeant was inadequate.[3]

In 1640 he was elected to the Irish House of Commons as member for Carrickfergus and in the same year became Solicitor General for Ireland.[4] After the downfall and execution of Strafford for treason in 1641, Sambach continued to defend his policies; during the comprehensive attack by the Irish Parliament on Strafford's rule known as "the Queries", Sambach was one of the few MPs to speak in Strafford's defence, and to denounce the Queries. Precisely when he stepped down as Solicitor General is unclear: in the confusion of the times the office simply seems to have lapsed, and he was not replaced until 1657.

During the Irish Rebellion of 1641 he remained a committed Royalist, and by his own account suffered much damage to his property as a result.[5] He lived at Balyna, near Moyvalley, County Kildare: in 1642 he petitioned the Crown for redress for the great loss and damage he had suffered, which he estimted at 33800 [6]

He had returned to England by 1649, when he purchased an estate at Bretforton in Worcestershire.[7] He is heard of acting as a justice of the peace in that county in 1651, which suggests that like many former Royalists, he had made his peace with the Cromwellian regime. He died in 1653.[8]

Bretforton, where William spent his last years

He was married: little is known about his wife, except that she outived him and was buried at the older Sambach family home at Broadway in 1670. He had at least one daughter, who married John Moore of Croghan, County Offaly, and had five children, including

• one surviving son Thomas, who was the father of John Moore, 1st Baron Moore, and grandfather of Charles Moore, 1st Earl of Charleville,
• two daughters, Margaret, who married Richard Woodfall and Jane, who married Geoffrey Lyons of Killeen, County Laois.[9]