Brief account of the Irvine family, County Fermanagh

CHAPTER VI.
Christopher Irvine, Laird of Bonshaw,
known previously as " Black Christie," married
Margaret, daughter of the Laird of Johnston,
and was succeeded by his eldest son Edward
Irvine, of Stapleton, ancestor of the Bonshaw
family, who married Mable, daughter of Gra-
ham of Eske. His second son, John Irvine of
Robgill, married Mary, daughter of John-
ston, Laird of Newbie, and died at an early
age, leaving a son Christopher. This latter
Christopher Irvine was intended for the Bar,
and as the accession of King James VI. to the
throne of England led many Scotchmen into
that country, he entered the Temple in Lon-
don with the view of becoming a lawyer or advo-
cate as it is termed in Scotland. He was con-
nected with the Carletons, an English Border
family of Cumberland, and the Carletons were
related to the Lowthers, some of whom were
high in the legal profession in England.
But in the year 1610 King James appointed
one of the latter, Gerard Lowther, to be a
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland.
And this circumstance led to the settlement
•in that country, not only of Gerard Lowther
himself, but also of his relatives, Lancelot