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I believe Aubrey in Brief Lives states that Boyle agreed with Fenton a betrothal when Catherine was still a nursing infant. Shtove 21:53, 14 February 2020 (UTC)
You made me look it up! The anecdote is here on p.117, when he was a widower and Catherine under 2 years old. It's from a quoted sermon, which in turn claims to rely on Catherine's own word. The previous page also has a rough note suggesting they married without the father's consent, but I can't make sense of that. From your link, the dates are substantially out. Interesting.
ps. The 2004 article on Geoffrey in the DNB has this: "Fenton married Alice, daughter of Dr Robert Weston, formerly lord chancellor of Ireland, and widow of Dr Hugh Brady, bishop of Meath, in June 1585. They had one son, Sir William Fenton, and a daughter, Catherine, who married Richard Boyle, later first earl of Cork, on 25 July 1603 ..." So that timeline fits with the WP articles and Catherine's birth, and either the sermon in Aubrey is confused in its dates or, perhaps, there's some shenanigans in how Boyle set himself up and in what he later told Catherine.
pps. Hang on - I think I see. The anecdote is set c.1590, and the arrangement probably had no legal effect. Case closed? Shtove 23:00, 14 February 2020 (UTC)
Dear article volunteers: Why does this article refer to Catherine Fenton as “Boyle” but her husband as “Richard” rather than calling her by her actual names? This is some kind of -ism, you pick which. Suggest the editors ought to do as DNB does (look above in Talk) and call her Catherine and not her husband’s family surname. 2600:4040:5AEF:B400:566B:65F9:F652:8F96 (talk) 05:00, 4 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]